Ceni seeks a sequel in São Paulo that only Diniz has had since Muricy

Rogério Ceni said he would not return to work as a coach at São Paulo while Carlos Augusto de Barros e Silva, Leco (2015-2020), was president of the club, after having his first stint in the position ended in just seven months.

Diego Aguirre, now at Internacional, left the tricolor team, under the same management, with a feeling of injustice for having been fired when he was fighting for a spot in the Copa Libertadores, five rounds from the end of the 2018 Brazilian Championship.

This Sunday (31), the two coaches are reunited with Morumbi, at 6:15 pm, still haunted by the coaches grinding machine that has also made other victims in the São Paulo team in recent years.

Separated by six points, São Paulo and Internacional are trying to meet with the regularity to cross this final stretch of the Brazilian Championship with a chance of getting a spot in next year’s Libertadores.

In a tangled tournament, Ceni’s team is also trying to distance itself from the last places – it has 34 points from 28 games and started the round 13th. Aguirre’s team has 41 points and started the weekend in sixth place.

Ceni and Aguirre had a different outcome as São Paulo athletes. Unlike the former goalkeeper, who is in the gallery of the main tricolor idols, the Uruguayan striker Diego Aguirre only played 17 games and scored seven goals with the team’s shirt from July to September 1990.

As technicians of the Morumbi association, however, the period was cruel for both. In his first stint, Ceni only spent seven months in the position, more precisely 37 games ahead of the team and with a 49% advantage. On the occasion there were 14 wins, 10 defeats and 13 draws.

Aguirre, on the other hand, led São Paulo in 43 matches, from March to November 2018, achieved 56% – with 19 wins, nine defeats and 15 draws. The team occupied 5th place in the Nacional on the day the Uruguayan said goodbye to the squad, at the Barra Funda training center.

The board’s explanations for each dismissal are different. Ceni left the team after six games without a win and in the relegation zone. Regarding Aguirre, despite the reasonable performance on the field, the summit claimed that it did not intend to continue with the Uruguayan for the 2019 season and, in order to start the new work as soon as possible, in November it terminated the contract that was valid until December of that year.

This is a symptom that persists in São Paulo since the departure of Muricy Ramalho, in 2015. Rarely does a coach manage to go through unscathed for a season in charge of the team.

Since then, Fernando Diniz has been an exception, debuting in September 2019 and being fired in February of this year. During this period, competitions were suspended for almost four months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Diniz participated in 75 games, with 34 wins, 20 defeats and 21 draws (54% success). He was the one who most supported himself in the position, something that more experienced professionals like Dorival Júnior and Cuca could not do.

He even led the Nacional, but the team faltered in the final stretch. The coach left the club on suspicion of relationship problems with the cast.

Not even Hernán Crespo, who arrived in São Paulo after a good job at Defensa y Justicia (ARG) and took the tricolor club out of the title row by winning this year’s Paulista, achieved a reasonable streak. It took only eight months in the role, with the team delivered close to the Brazilian’s relegation zone and a traumatic elimination in the quarterfinals of the Libertadores for rival Palmeiras.

With 57% success rate, lower than Muricy (60% from 2013 to 2015), the Argentine scored 24 wins, 10 defeats and 19 draws.

Between Muricy Ramalho and Crespo, São Paulo had ten permanent professionals – Juan Carlos Osorio, Doriva, Edgardo Bauza, Ricardo Gomes, Rogério Ceni, Dorival Júnior, Diego Aguirre, André Jardine, Cuca and Fernando Diniz.

Osorio, four months after his debut, accepted an offer from the Mexican national team, and Bauza, after eight months, received an invitation from Argentina. Doriva’s short passage is perhaps the most emblematic in this turbulent period.

Steering wheel in São Paulo by Telê Santana, Doriva was champion of Libertadores and Mundial as a player. On the edge of the pitch, as a coach, he arrived at Morumbi after a promising start – he had beaten Paulista (with Ituano, in 2014) and the State of Rio de Janeiro (with Vasco, in 2015). However, he spent no more than 33 days at Morumbi – seven games. He is currently assistant to Sylvinho at Corinthians.

Interestingly, Muricy is back at the club, now as coordinator of the football department, and tries to support Ceni to find time to work and show results.

With the former coach on the bench and the former captain’s goalkeeper, São Paulo lived its last great glories, with the three consecutive Brazilian titles (2006, 2007 and 2008).

The duo has plenty of history with the club’s shirt and the affection of the fans. This prestige in São Paulo – a reflection also of Brazilian football –, however, is not enough to preserve the job of a football coach. The results need to come out.

So far, in this second passage, Ceni has played three games: a draw (Ceará), a victory (Corinthians) and a defeat (Red Bull Bragantino).