Will Tite correct himself again after talking about Daniel Alves? – 02/26/2024 – Sandro Macedo

Tite was prepared to talk about Flamengo’s good performance, superior to Fluminense in the classic on Sunday (25), won 2-0. But the post-game press conference gave him a surprise, apparently unwanted: a question about his feelings regarding the conviction of Daniel Alves for rape in Spain.

To give credit, it was Igor Siqueira, a journalist from UOL, who asked the question — exempt journalists are increasingly rare specimens in press conferences, invaded by influencers, official club channels and unofficial sealers and clickbait.

Tite began his response like this: “I understand the question. I can’t make a judgment without having all the facts and true information (…)”, he said. “I can speak conceptually. Every error must be punished, conceptually. But I’m not a judge and I don’t have all the facts,” he continued.

What true fact or information exactly does the teacher need? Access to the bathroom camera where the crime took place?

Ok, no active athlete who has played with Daniel Alves will speak out against the condemned full-back. It’s the beautiful corporatism in the football world. It’s easier for someone to lend R$800,000 than to talk about the crime — something that also happened to the convicted Robinho.

However, Tite could give a less slippery answer. She could come away with something like “the Spanish court had access to the information and convicted Daniel. He now has to serve his sentence. I have nothing more to add.” It would at least be an admission that justice was done, as it was.

However, after being evasive, Tite did worse, comparing the case to an alleged sexual assault involving Neymar, when he was in charge of the national team. Neymar’s story was a setup. There is no possible comparison between the two cases. But when Tite puts the two in the same bag, it’s as if he doubts the veracity of the conviction — worse, he puts the victim’s testimony under suspicion.

Just saying that “those who make mistakes should be punished”, conceptually, is an understatement. Tite was questioned about his long history with Daniel. At the time of his call-up for the 2022 World Cup, he went so far as to say that the full-back “transcends football”.

Tite may not know it, but he is an influencer and occupies the position of Brazil’s main coach over the last 12 years. With a microphone the size of Flamengo’s fans, he needs to know that his opinion matters and reverberates.

In the same interview, the coach made a correction on another matter. The other day, he commented that the Carioca Championship was stronger than the Paulista. Now he says he didn’t want to compare the tournament, just the current moment of the top 4 in each state. If with such nonsense he needed to explain himself, perhaps he should return to the topic of Daniel’s condemnation.

Interestingly, the day before, Palmeiras manager Abel Ferreira gave a solidarity class. Without being questioned, he opened the interview by taking a stance on the absurd attack on the bus by Fortaleza players (perpetrated by Sport fans). Not even the players’ union (if it exists) was as direct as the Portuguese professor.

It’s time for Tite to transcend football.

A cheer for the biggest audience at Paulistinha, which was this weekend, at Morumbi, when Santos took more than 50 thousand people to a game on Sunday morning against São Bernardo… who would have thought.

The 19 of F1
The most sincere sentence of the F1 pre-season, which starts next Sunday, is from Fernando Alonso: “I think 19 drivers in the paddock already know that they will not be champions in 2024”. Still, we hope someone challenges Max Verstappen and his Red Bull, if only to give the Netflix series some grace next year — the sixth season was miserable.

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