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Brazilian William de Oliveira moved to Russia 15 years ago, played at different levels in the outback and He eventually became Sergei Semak's indispensable assistant at Zenit. The Russified South American spoke in an interview with Sport about the Russian soul and the “Brazilian” Zenit.
“Kuzyaev helped develop the potential of our Brazilians”
—You have been in Russia for 15 years. What does such an anniversary mean to you?
— First of all, it’s very nice. When you come to Russia young enough, you never know what will happen next. I dreamed that my life would be the way it is now. But I didn't expect this. I am grateful to the country and those people who helped me. Probably, Russia is the best place where I could end up.
— Fyodor Tyutchev wrote: “You can’t understand Russia with your mind «. Can you say that in such an impressive period of time you understood our country and its people?
— Yes Yes Yes! I can say I represent the country and how people live here. I have many more friends in Russia than in Brazil. I understand life in Russia perfectly.
—Another poet, Evgeniy Dolmatovsky, wrote the poem “The Mysterious Russian Soul.” Is she a mystery to you?
— I was lucky — I have been to many places in Russia, even where many Russians have not been. Therefore, I understand the Russian soul — it is a mystery, but only half.
— Does it ever happen that upon returning to your homeland, words in Russian and not Portuguese appear in your speech?
— Constantly. When I speak with my parents, I can say a couple of words in Russian and not even notice it. And then they ask: “What did you say? We didn’t understand at all.”
— How complete do you consider the process of your Russification?
— 98%, there is always room to grow. I can no longer live without Russia.
— Malcom and Daler Kuzyaev left Russia. Did their transfers break Zenit?
— This is a significant loss. Malcolm was our main weapon in attack, Daler moved actively and helped develop the potential of our Brazilians. But after they left, we tried to adjust our game. New guys arrived who could not immediately understand our requirements, so we were looking forward to the training camp. We hope everything will be better now.
— How much did the fact that Wendel returned from Brazil during the season influence the team’s results at the start of the season? Without him, it seems, this is one team, and with him it’s completely different.
— I would say not only about Wendel, who arrived later, but also about Rodrigao, who was injured, and about Erakovic, who came to the team later. There were football players who played for their national teams and therefore joined later. We had a little problem filling out the squad, not only because of the loss of Wendel, but also because of other players, so we had to make the decision to play under a different system. But I wouldn’t say that we did a bad job. We are in the race, we have enough points.
— Is everything okay with the winning mentality? How to maintain it, given that the team is updated from season to season?
— It is important that “hungry” football players come to us. You always need renewal, you need fresh blood, because it happens that you have one squad constantly playing and calming down, while others who don’t play then cannot show their maximum. But new players must be better than those who exist.
“We do not consider most proposals from Brazil seriously”
— Year after year, Russian and Brazilian media send leading players «Zenith» to certain clubs. Sometimes rumors become true, as in the case of Robert Renan and Do Queiroz. Were there any other players who could leave during the winter window?
— Yes, there are a lot of comments in the Brazilian media about our players, because we try to take the best. There is always a lot of talk and rumors, but there is no decree that our Brazilians are not leaving. The situation with Robert and Do Queiroz suited the club; we believed that the players who had stopped showing their maximum needed to get playing practice.
< br>And rumors arise when we are not ready to release players based on the offers that are received. There were a lot of unrealistic initiatives from Brazilian clubs. It's impossible to even look at them. Many people don’t know how things are in Russia and think that they can easily take the players from Zenit. But that's not true. We do not consider most proposals from Brazil seriously.
— If you look at Wendel, sometimes you get the feeling that he is bored in the RPL and is looking elsewhere . In the winter there was talk about Flamengo, and it seems that he is not eager to play for Zenit
— I wouldn't say that. For us, Wendel is a top football player who shows how well he plays in Russia year after year. Of course, maybe he has a desire to play in European competition. I have no doubt that he has the potential to play for European giants. But there were no such offers, and the club did not like the offers from Brazil. That's why Wendel is here for now. I wouldn't say he's bored. It’s just that sometimes football players have the feeling that they want a change of scenery. I think that was the case with Wendel, but he is with us and works well. We really like the way he trains and how he helps the team.
— In winter, three Brazilians joined the team — Nino, Arthur and Pedro. How is the adaptation of newcomers to the team going?
— They came to the team, in which there are many Brazilians. This greatly helps them adapt. The guys are starting to communicate better with both foreigners and Russians. They are kind and calm, listen to coaches and work to the maximum.
— Information appeared that Arthur’s transfer was not agreed upon with the coaching staff and the decision was made directly by the club’s management. Is this so?
— Of course, this is not so. We have been following Arthur for a very long time. We considered signing him before, but it didn’t work out then. It was important for us to have a left-footed player in this position. He plays very well offensively, he finishes, he has a shot. Back at Red Bull Bragantino he had a very good connection with Claudinho.
—What difficulties does the coaching staff of a team dominated by Brazilians face? ? After all, they say that even three Brazilians in a team is already a lot.
— Here you need to pay attention not to who is from which country, but to the personality of each person. And Dougie, and Rodrigao, and Nino, and Barrios, and Mario themselves are very calm — they are different from the Brazilian culture, they were brought up differently. Sometimes they look more Russian than South American. I would focus on their personalities, how they feel about themselves. I wouldn’t say that they are together all the time, that we have a Brazilian group. They are friends with everyone.
—Even with the departure of Renan and Do Queiroz, there are now nine Brazilians in the team, two of whom have received Russian passports. Are you ready for a new wave of conversations about Zenit from Rio de Janeiro, as Artem Dzyuba described the team a year ago?
“We only have Wendel from Rio de Janeiro, and there are no such conversations.” “Zenith” is St. Petersburg, these are our fans and our culture, our blue-white-blue colors. And it doesn’t matter what country the player is from, the main name will be “Zenith”.
“Malcolm misses Zenit”
—Malcolm stopped by the team’s training camp in Qatar. What did he tell you about life in Saudi Arabia?
“He’s happy to be playing in Saudi Arabia, but he really misses our guys, our city and our team. We'll see in the future. Maybe he'll come back. We don’t rule out this option at all. We won’t wish anything bad for Malcolm, but if things don’t work out there, the doors are always open for him here.
— How unexpected was the news that Danil would leave the team in the summer Circular?
“We were counting on him and thought that he would sign a new contract with us. Nevertheless, he chose this path. We shouldn't discuss anything. Time will tell whether it was the right decision or not. We can thank Krugovoy for the time he spent here and wish him good luck. We have our own understanding, he has his own. If he chose this path, it is on his conscience.
— How did they react to his decision and the subsequent transfer of the player from the Russian national team to the Second League team?
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—This is a management decision. There is nothing we can do here.
Zenit also kept an eye on Ugalde
— How important were the games at the Equality Cup organized by Zenit and Winline in preparation for the second part of the season?
— We really liked this tournament because there were good opponents , good conditions, wonderful stadium. It was precisely the atmosphere of an official international tournament that is missing at the training camp. I hope there will be even more teams of an even higher level in the future.
— Do you agree with the opinion of Alexander Ivanovich Medvedev, who after the match said that Zenit did not play enough to win, and Spartak deserved a draw?
— What do you see as the reasons that Zenit left the field without a goal for the first time in 25 RPL matches and 58 home games?
— We always set the goal to score and win. Unfortunately, it didn't work out this time. No matter how trite it may sound, every series ends. It's a pity that we couldn't score in a game like this, but we have to give credit to Spartak, who defended well. We had a lot of approaches, but, unfortunately, we couldn’t convert them into goals.
— Was there any underestimation of the opponent? After all, “Spartak” came to St. Petersburg without its main star, and the head coach could not be on the bench due to disqualification.
— There is no underestimation in our team at all. We always treat any opponent with respect and analyze him. “Spartak” prepared well for our system, and it was difficult for us in the final stage.
— Could Abaskal’s absence on the coaching bench have affected the game? Spartak»?
— I can’t say anything about Abascal, because we don’t know what’s going on inside Spartak. His assistant said that he had already done this before and the team won, so he did not want to change the preparation. Since the team did not lose, it turned out well.
— How did they react when the club found out that he would not be at the stadium on the day of the match?
< br>—No way. We were preparing for Spartak, sorting out all the players and didn’t pay much attention to it.
— What are the first impressions left by Spartak newcomer Manfred Ugalde?
— This is a striker who knows how to score and perform well in someone else’s penalty area. It’s not for nothing that he scored so many goals in Holland. We also watched him at Twente.
— The club didn’t voice the goal of taking the treble? The Super Cup is already here, the struggle in the championship and Cup continues.
— I won’t say that the management set an ultimatum that we must win all three tournaments, but the goals are always set to the maximum. The desire of the players and coaching staff is to win everything.
—Working in the strongest club in the country has status. But do you have a desire to try yourself as a head coach?
— There are such ambitions, but at the moment they are insignificant. I feel like a fish out of water here, Sergei Bogdanovich (Semak) gives me complete freedom, and I like being on his coaching staff. He is my friend and brother, I will always be grateful to him for this opportunity.