The most important week of the red-black year
Fla begins preparations to face "La U", Thursday, in the quarterfinals of the Libertadores
By From the team at Flamengo's official website - in
This Monday, at 15:30 p.m., at Ninho do Urubu, the most important week of 2010 begins—at least for Flamengo's players. On Thursday, the team faces Universidad de Chile, against whom they've played three times this season and haven't won a single one. They need to beat their opponent by two goals away from home to advance to the semifinals of the Copa Santander Libertadores. The task isn't easy, but coach Rogério Lourenço believes that only through hard work will they be able to secure this qualification.
The players agree and know they'll need to have character and a strong will to beat La U, right in the Santa Laura stadium, the venue for the match. It's a modest, cauldron-like stadium. It only seats 18, and all tickets for Chilean fans have already been sold. Even so, Michael says the team won't feel the pressure.
"We know we'll be playing in a cramped stadium, with the fans cheering us on the whole time. But we can't let that get us down. We need to build a tough result, but we know we have a team qualified to beat Universidad de Chile away from home. We're going after the long-awaited qualification for the Copa Libertadores semifinals," he assured.
Still unsure whether he will start in the match against the Chilean team, the player guarantees that he is ready for this new challenge.
"I'm ready to help Flamengo whenever Rogério wants. I started against Vitória in the Brasileirão and I hope to be kept in the team for this Libertadores match as well," he added.
The players agree and know they'll need to have character and a strong will to beat La U, right in the Santa Laura stadium, the venue for the match. It's a modest, cauldron-like stadium. It only seats 18, and all tickets for Chilean fans have already been sold. Even so, Michael says the team won't feel the pressure.
"We know we'll be playing in a cramped stadium, with the fans cheering us on the whole time. But we can't let that get us down. We need to build a tough result, but we know we have a team qualified to beat Universidad de Chile away from home. We're going after the long-awaited qualification for the Copa Libertadores semifinals," he assured.
Still unsure whether he will start in the match against the Chilean team, the player guarantees that he is ready for this new challenge.
"I'm ready to help Flamengo whenever Rogério wants. I started against Vitória in the Brasileirão and I hope to be kept in the team for this Libertadores match as well," he added.