It was sideways, but it drew attention because Fernando Diniz, 49, almost never smiles in public. The question about “what was missing” for Fluminense amused even the coach, sometimes praised, sometimes criticized for being too serious.

“You are a demanding guy…”, he replied to the reporter.

Fluminense had just beaten Volta Redonda, in the semifinal of the Carioca Championship, by 7 to 0.

The same question “what was missing” used to drive the coach out of his mind.

only national name quoted to direct the Brazilian national team, he could reach his first major title in his career this year. It’s in the state finals. This Saturday (1st), at 8:30 pm, your team will start deciding the tournament against Flamengoat Maracana.

This year, he has already won the Guanabara Cup, the equivalent of the state’s first round.

In 14 years as a coach, he also won the 2009 Copa Paulista and Série A3 (with Votoraty) and the same 2010 Copa Paulista (Paulista de Jundiaí). Since 2018 he has been working for elite clubs in the country, such as Athletico, São Paulo, Santos and Vasco, in addition to Fluminense.

If or Italian Carlo Ancelottipreferred by the president of the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), Ednaldo Rodrigues, not to score, Diniz may have a chance.

He would repeat, if it happens, the trajectory of Sebastião Lazaronihired to lead the team after winning the 1988 Carioca with Vasco.

Lazaroni drew attention to the incomprehensible expressions. Like “gathering parameters”, for example. When answering a journalist’s phone call, he said he couldn’t talk to that one because he was in a “little bar situation”. He was the “Lazaronese”.

Tite, recently left the CBF after defeat in the quarterfinals of the Qatar Cupalso had its own vocabulary, such as “opportunize”: the “titês”.

Fernando Diniz has “Dinizism”. But these are not words, but deeds. It’s his way of seeing football and his work, which he recognizes as transforming him into a unique character.

“I accept my uniqueness and I couldn’t do it differently. I do exactly what I feel, but for me it’s a common thing. Trying to improve, seeing the team. It may be something different in the eyes of others, but I try to do simply what I want. I believe”, he told FluTV.

Dinizismo was best known for its resistance to leaving the defense with long throws. The order is to exchange short passes, regardless of the circumstances of the match. But it’s not just that. It’s the constant pressure, trying to impose yourself, the speed of passing and movement. The belief in offensive football. These are characteristics that made him be praised and criticized in the same intensity.

Praised for its philosophy, it has already been mocked for its lack of results. In the Brazilian 2020, the São Paulo had seven points in the lead during the second round and wasted it. In clubs like Vasco, Santos and in his first spell at Fluminense (in 2019), he ended up being the target of complaints for the intransigence of ideas. For not having a plan B when something goes wrong.

The personality issue has already brought you problems. A member of the Santos board told the Sheet what the resignation of Diniz in 2021 it didn’t just happen because the team was skating on the field. It became a situation where you had to choose: the young revelation Angelo or the technician. There was no way the two could stay together, and there was no way they could drop a striker who could earn millions in the future.

At São Paulo, his conflict on the field, caught on TV cameras, with defensive midfielder Tchê Tchê, helped São Paulo lose the Brazilian. In expressions that were remembered for months, he called the player “little leg” and “mascaradinho”, slang for laziness and arrogance.

“It didn’t hurt just for me. I know who I am. But you see the proportion that the thing took, your father calling you crying, it’s totally against what I was raised. I’m not leggy, I’m not bad, I’m not arrogant. He was bad at that. Then we talked and I didn’t feel comfortable. Things didn’t turn out cool”, said Tchê Tchê to the podcast Podpah.

Diniz is able to latch on with the same faith to players he believes in potential. During his time at Morumbi, he saw enormous potential in Nestor and did everything to make him ready for the first team. He called Ganso, his midfielder at Fluminense, a “genius” and said he should have played in three World Cups by now.

The coach himself has joked, in the few interviews he usually gives, that he has a dual personality. Fernando Diniz on the edge of the field is different from everyday life. When he stood out as a coach, in the Audax campaign Vice Paulista 2016, even banned journalists from training. Not out of a desire to hide lineup or tactical options. But for the press not to hear the profanity he shouted at the athletes.

The love affair with Fluminense, if it ends up in a state title, can reinforce the certainty of the club president, Mario Bittencourt, that he should not release him in case of CBF interest.

With a degree in psychology, he has spent his career hearing praise for his teams’ football and criticism of the results. This year’s Carioca final could change that.