Very thoughtful and always convinced in his work, guiding the athletes often didactically, Arthur has his own and aggregating style. During the team’s stay at Granja Comary, in Teresópolis, for the first stage of training aiming at the Paris Olympics, the coach led several field activities and also technical meetings with the squad and his assistants. He got a good response.
There are still ten days until Brazil’s debut in the Games, against Nigeria, on the 25th, and until then the coach intends to refine details and make adjustments. His task is to leave the National Team able to have an excellent Olympics. Initially, the priority is to secure a place among the top two teams in Group C – which also has Japan and Spain.
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“I am very satisfied with the preparation. I perceive the group with focus, but this is just a component within our environment of deeper understanding of what needs to be done, in terms of the game model, so that we can be more consistent in all actions. We are working on game proposals, game plans that point to our different opponents.”
For the coach, the involvement and integration of all the called-up players is clear, which reinforces the concept of a group in the Brazilian National Team.
“The commitment is great and we have seen an increasingly stronger group in a unity of thought and coexistence, which is certainly an important factor for a team to advance in such a difficult competition and also win in the knockout stage.”
This is the central point of much of the training at Granja Comary and the observations made by Arthur Elias. Winning in the knockout stage is a mission that has not been accomplished by the National Team in the last three Olympics (2012, 2016 and 2021). On these three occasions, the team qualified well in the group stage and did not score any goals in the knockout matches that would allow them to dream of the highest step of the podium. That’s why he emphasizes the instructions to the forwards.
“Historically, we have this very poor track record when the National Team advances to the knockout stage. So the latest results are consistent with this, with early eliminations. We have a game model, an idea, and we are transmitting this, of seeing them more encouraged, more aggressive, even if, in a controlled way, we take some risks. We need to go step by step and know how to play creating goal chances, with confidence and a game spirit for the ball to go in.”
For Arthur, who called up 22 athletes for the Olympics, four of them as alternates, the planning that includes the preparation in Teresópolis, his choices and the response of the athletes allow him to state that the National Team will be quite competitive.
“The fan will certainly see a National Team with a presence in the game, with concentration, a National Team that will try to attack and be aggressive, that will play confidently, that will play trying to get the best out of each athlete, as they have different characteristics, an organized team on the field. This I guarantee that we will be able to see, regardless of the level of confrontation we will have, which is very high, but the Brazilian National Team will certainly have this identity.”
Women’s football at the Olympics is divided into three groups. Group A has France, Colombia, Canada and New Zealand. In Group B, the United States, Germany, Australia and Zambia. Brazil in Group C is accompanied by Nigeria, Japan and Spain. The top two teams from each group and the two best third-placed teams qualify for the knockout stage.
