Coach Andrade is certain: his team is on the right track. Despite the loss to Botafogo in the Guanabara Cup semifinal, the red-and-black coach maintains that he saw his team's best performance of 2010 last Wednesday. The Gávea team's manager believes the result didn't reflect what happened in the match and also says the defeat occurred while there's still time to recover. After all, the Rio Cup hasn't even started yet.

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In a press conference held this Friday following the red-and-black team's training session at Ninho do Urubu, Andrade once again analyzed the match against rival Botafogo. According to him, the team left the field frustrated, yes, with the result, but happy to have performed even better than expected.

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"The team played very well. Despite the result, I still think it was the team's best performance of the year, and that's why we're calm. Many times, we win a game but leave it unsatisfied with what we did on the field. This time it was the opposite. This shows that the team is on the right track. There was no lack of desire, there was no lack of playmaking, and that's very important," he said.

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The red-and-black coach recalled a stumble against Barueri in the second round of last year's Brazilian Championship, which also took everyone by surprise. After that 2-0 away defeat, the team never lost again and stormed toward its sixth Brazilian championship.

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"Flamengo lost when they could have lost. We still have the entire second half of the season to go. In the Brazilian Championship, we also stumbled against Barueri. Nobody expected it. But then we pulled through and became champions. The important thing is to have the experience to deal with this situation and know how to bounce back on Wednesday," he said.

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Another inspiration for Tromba comes from his playing days. For those wondering whether Flamengo will prioritize the fourth Rio de Janeiro title or the Copa Libertadores, here's a reminder: in 1981, the team of Zico, Andrade, Adílio, Junior, and company won the Rio de Janeiro, World Cup, and Copa Libertadores titles. All this in just 12 days.

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"They're two good teams. Today's team is experienced, with many national team players. But our team from '81 was very good too, so much so that it enchanted Brazil and the world. I think a duel between them to see who would win could only happen in a video game. Football has changed a lot," he concluded.