Botafogo head coach Oswaldo de Oliveira has been pleased with his team’s second half of the season and still believes that they can qualify for the Copa Libertadores but is aware that he will be judged on where they finish at the end of the season.
He told Globo Esporte: “This moment is always decisive. Football is a sequence. The season will be soon end, but what has been accomplished this year will serve for the evaluation for what is to be done next year.”
Oswaldo is enjoying life back in Brazil after 5 years away in Japan and spoke about the differences between the two leagues.
“They are two very difficult championships, each with it’s own peculiarities. In Japan, this year the league is between two teams that recently went up from the second division. Last year, a rose that won. It’s very balanced, as here.”
The coach also spoke about the standard of referee’s in the league, something that has come under scrutiny recently after the Palmeiras v Internacional incident.
“I spent a lot of time outside and that is a concern. I referred to it several times, when Botafogo was sometimes hampered with frequent errors. But they are humans and make mistakes. You need to understand what causes this frequency in to be so repetitive. This concerns mainly those who are aspiring to something and expect to have a better level.”
