Last Thursday (24), the red-black commander Zé Ricardo participated in the Footlink sports event, which promotes discussion on various aspects of Brazilian football, both on and off the field. The stage was shared with other professionals in the area, such as Paulo César Gusmão, who recently passed through the Portuguese League; Jair Ventura, current coach of Botafogo; and Rogério Micale, who won Olympic gold leading the Brazilian National Team at the Rio 2016 Games.

The central theme of Zé Ricardo's presentation was set pieces, an increasingly important aspect of modern football. He shared data on how teams in the Brazilian Championship's Series A and B take advantage of these types of plays, as well as videos of their players performing these moves during matches.

"Flamengo currently scores 30% of its goals from set pieces, but we have teams with a conversion rate of up to 44% from this type of play. It's a topic that needs to be constantly discussed, as it requires strategy, observation of what the opponent proposes and what type of marking they execute, the synchronization of your players, and a lot of training. I believe that, at the end of the talk, everyone agreed on the influence of this moment of the game on the final result of each match," commented the coach.

Brazilian football has always been recognized worldwide for its high technical quality, but the tactical aspect is becoming an increasingly fundamental part of the sport today. The coach discussed this scenario, highlighting the discussions promoted by events like Footlink.

"I believe that what was a bit lacking in Brazil compared to other centers is that here we discussed football very little. For a while, we thought that technical issues would be enough to decide matches. Meanwhile, elsewhere, we worked a lot on theoretical issues, the tactical dimension of the game. In this way, they managed to defend this characteristic of ours well, seeking to exercise supremacy within the organizational aspect."

Zé Ricardo explained, emphasizing the importance of events that seek to improve sport in the country.

"Initiatives like Footlink's have been trying to clarify and increasingly encourage this type of debate. Being alongside names like Professor Rogério Micale, PC Gusmão, Jair Ventura, or so many others who could be part of this table, is a sign that this is the line we need to follow so that we can organize ourselves as a whole, on and off the field," he added.

Finally, the red-black coach congratulated the event organizers.

"Congratulations to the event organizers, Professor Paulo Agioni, Eduardo Barroca, Eduardo Freeland and Marcelo Xavier for such important initiatives for the development of our game," he concluded.

*Collaborated under the supervision of Ricardo Taves