Cuca denies looking and says the possibility of going to Flamengo is speculation

Coach Cuca, 59, says he still has no proposals to return to football.

Appointed in recent days as a potential replacement for the Portuguese Paulo Sousa at Flamengo – who is under intense pressure -, he called speculation and untrue a possible conversation to take over the carioca club.

“I took this time off to take care of the family, take care of things and move forward with a project I have, a social project for children that is going very well. It’s in Brasília [a proposta do projeto] and to be approved to start here, it’s something I really want to do”, he told Sheet.

“I am imbued with this [projeto social]. Of course there are speculations [para voltar ao futebol], but that’s just speculation. There’s nothing truthful above these speculations,” he added.

In 2021, at Atlético Mineiro, Cuca won the Campeonato Brasileiro – a title that the team had not held in 50 years –, the Copa do Brasil and the Campeonato Mineiro. He has been without a club since the announcement of the end of his time with the Belo Horizonte club on December 28.

At the time, he pointed out family problems to the board and informed the impossibility of continuing with the contract until the end of 2022.

Atlético confirmed the version, explaining that it tried to dissuade him from the idea, seeking a path in which it was possible to reconcile private issues with work, and said that Cuca has committed not to work in any other team in 2022.

The repercussion around an agreement with Flamengo gained even more developments due to the recent leak of threats that would have been made by the coach’s younger brother, Amauri Stival, to a fan of the club on social networks.

In the content, he is charged about the police case experienced by Cuca in 1987, while a Grêmio player, on a tour of the Rio Grande do Sul club to Bern, Switzerland. He and three teammates –Eduardo Hamester, Fernando Castoldi and Henrique Etges– were arrested and convicted of sexual violence against a 13-year-old girl.

Cuca has already publicly sworn his innocence alongside the family, but the case still echoes whenever his name is considered in a new club. To sign him, Atlético treated the matter as “overcome”, saying they believed in his word.

Paulo Sousa, in turn, is experiencing a delicate moment in Flamengo. The risk of falling intensified after the 2-1 defeat to Fortaleza, in front of more than 63,000 fans at Maracanã, in a confrontation last Sunday (5), valid for the ninth round of the Brazilian.

The next matches, against Red Bull Bragantino and Internacional, both away from home, are considered essential for their permanence.

The coach normally commanded the training on Monday (6), at Ninho do Urubu, under the eyes of leaders Marcos Braz, Bruno Spindel, Fabinho and Juan.

One of the biggest obstacles to the break, according to Sousa, hired at the end of December after being terminated with the Polish national team, is still the estimated fine for the number of salaries until the end of the season: R$ 7.7 million. The agreement runs until December 2023.

In addition to the lack of results, the Portuguese coach undermined poorly digested statements in interviews. After the 3-0 victory over Universidad Católica, for the Copa Libertadores, he said that, the day before, goalkeeper Diego Alves would have met with Bruno Spindel to say that he was fit to play. Fact denied by the player, who was recovering from injury.

More recently, the coach attributed the defeat to Fortaleza to individual mistakes made by the players. Which is not usually well received by athletes.

“What happened in technical terms individually was something unprecedented that will not happen. It was very weak individually”, he said shortly after the match.

Since the departure of Jorge Jesus – who won five trophies in one year –, in July 2020, Flamengo has had four coaches: Domènec Torrent, Rogério Ceni, Renato Gaúcho and Paulo Sousa. Ceni stayed the longest – eight months and three titles won – but succumbed to the pressure.

Cuca has coached Flamengo on two occasions, the first in 2005 and the second in 2009. There were 39 games –19 wins, 13 draws and seven defeats–, with the conquest of a Carioca Championship.