After the activities of this Wednesday (07) at CT George Helal ended, coach Zé Ricardo gave a press conference in the press room. Among the topics discussed, the coach spoke about the match that will mark the end of the Brazilian Championship, against Atlético-PR. His plans for 2017 were also discussed, commenting on his intention to take courses in order to expand his knowledge.

See the main excerpts

Confirmation of the final round of the Brazilian Championship.

The situation remains complicated in this regard, but we are complying with a directive. We are all professionals. We know that, despite the tragic event that occurred, our lives must go on. We are following a decision from the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) and the club regarding preparation for the final round. We will approach it with great respect, as we are aware that, in addition to defining our team's final ranking, it may also determine the positions of the teams vying for a spot in the Copa Libertadores preliminary round. We need to give it due attention because, especially when it involves third parties, our responsibility increases even more.

Today we worked on ball distribution, which aims to improve our build-up play. We have a few options. Last week we trained with Mancuello and Paquetá, today we trained with Alan Patrick. We still need to decide on Diego's replacement. Regarding the defense, because he plays better on the left and has played most of his career there, we have Juan. But we can also use Donatti or Léo Duarte. It will probably be Juan, however it's not 100% decided yet.

We need to try to adapt better to the pitch. We've only done the first part of the work on this field, in order to try to get the players used to it as quickly as possible. We've also asked our support staff to constantly water the field where we train, so that we can have the ball moving faster. Regardless of the type of pitch, we know we have a difficult game ahead. Atlético-PR has a very well-organized team, coached by one of the most competent coaches in Brazilian football, Paulo Autuori. We will certainly need to go into the match very focused to seek this victory.

I still intend to do these study exchanges. It was my idea, but I didn't want to say it would be now. I had the opportunity to receive an invitation to register for the CBF course. I would also like to thank the people at the organization. The course starts on Friday (09th), but I and three other colleagues, who are still competing in Série A, will only start on Monday (12th). In general, it's essentially a refresher course. The CBF has been leveling all categories and also all series of the Brazilian Championship, which is extremely important for us to advance in the qualification of these coaches. This way, we can increasingly improve our level of play, which is the desired objective.