Andrade celebrates victory and regrets Toró's expulsion

Coach says playing with one man down also harms the team physically

By From the team at Flamengo's official website - in 11/03/2010 às 00:38

Flamengo returns from Venezuela early Thursday morning with three more points. The red-and-black team had to work hard, but managed to beat Caracas 3-1, maintaining its 100% record in the 2010 edition of the Copa Santander Libertadores.

Coach Andrade celebrated the result, having warned that he knew the match wouldn't be easy for the red-and-blacks. After all, Caracas has a passionate fan base behind them and hadn't lost at home in the Libertadores in 11 games.

"I knew it was going to be a tough game. Caracas is a good team, and they hadn't lost here in a long time. In the Libertadores, there are no easy games, but we knew how to wait for the right moment and we were lucky. We lost our heads after the sending-off and ended up conceding, but the team found its feet, played calmly, and managed to win," he analyzed.

Wednesday's game was just the first in a marathon that features three more decisive matches for Flamengo. Coach Andrade's team faces Vasco da Gama next Sunday, Universidad de Chile next Wednesday, and Botafogo the following weekend. With this in mind, the coach lamented Toró's red card in the match against Caracas, but celebrated the victory.

"This expulsion was the negative point of the game, because it creates a lot of wear and tear. The team had to run more, now they have a long trip, and on Sunday they face a tough game against Vasco... The marathon of games, in itself, is already exhausting, so if you can avoid this kind of thing, it's better," he observed.

According to Andrade, the victory in Venezuela was part of the coaching staff's plans to allow Rubro-Negro to work more calmly in the coming days.

"These three points were part of our plan, and they help our plan, which was to gain four points away and decide our classification at Maracanã. We know that in Chile it will be more difficult, with even more pressure, and we have to keep up the pace," he concluded.

The chartered flight with the Flamengo delegation lands in Rio de Janeiro this Thursday at 6 am.