http://0rz.tw/H8AX1
Hernanes: I’ll fight for my Brazil place
(FIFA.com) Friday 11 March 2011
The case of Brazilian midfielder Hernanes is something of a strange one.
Indeed, in a country where young talents are customarily swept off to Europe at
the first sign of promise, the gifted creator required several seasons at the
heart of the Sao Paulo engine room, as well as Brazilian national titles in
2007 and 2008, before a transfer to the Old Continent could be considered
inevitable.
Yet that slow-burning approach changed on arriving at Lazio in August 2010,
with the 25-year-old rapidly embracing the challenge of driving his new club’s
Serie A challenge. Thriving on the responsibility thrust upon him at the Roman
outfit, Hernanes’ mature displays subsequently earned him a recall to the
Brazilian national side coached by Mano Menezes.
Though his latest starting opportunity with A Amarelinha, in February’s
friendly against France, ended abruptly when dismissed for a high tackle on
Karim Benzema, the midfield maestro remains positive, as he outlined in an
interview with FIFA.com.
FIFA.com: When at Sao Paulo it took you time to cement a first-team place and
later to become a fans’ favourite, yet at Lazio that’s happened very quickly.
Why do you think that is?
Hernanes: You knew that people call me O Profeta (The Prophet), right? Well, in
the Bible, there’s a passage that says: ‘No man is a prophet in his own land.
’ That came to mind recently and I think that it fits, because it took me a
long time to earn recognition in my homeland. In Italy, in contrast, everything
happened really fast and I’ve become much-loved. Lazio have been stuck in
mid-table for a few seasons now, but they strengthened by bringing in players
such as Andre [Dias], [Sergio] Floccari, [Giuseppe] Biava, me and a couple of
others. That’s an important factor in the quick progress I’ve made.
Lazio topped the table for a short while, but have since dropped off somewhat.
Which is the club’s main priority: challenging for the title or clinching a
UEFA Champions League berth?
Our objective is to battle it out with Napoli, Roma, Juventus, Palermo and an
on-form Udinese side in order to finish in the Champions League qualifying
places. Winning the title is a long shot, because Milan are some way ahead and
playing really well.
You’ve been playing in a more advanced position than at Sao Paulo, is that
something you’ve enjoyed? Would you say you’re now definitively an attacking
midfielder rather than a deep-lying playmaker?
I’m really enjoying it and I want to keep on playing in this position. I’m
making a lot of progress and I know I’ve still got room for improvement. And I
want to take advantage of the fact that playing in this role got me called up
to A Seleção. But I’m versatile and I can play a bit deeper if required.
Football is changing. In the past, for example, you’d have wingers whose game
was just about dribbling, getting to the byline and crossing the ball. Nowadays
everybody has to be more versatile and be able to carry out more than one role.
Is your best position as subject to as much debate in Italy as it was in Brazil?
There was some discussion about it at the start, because they didn’t really
understand what the role of a Brazilian deep-lying playmaker was. But in any
case, here my job is to be a midfielder who plays off a front-man, and that’s
set in stone.
In Jota Alves, you have a man who is virtually your personal trainer. What work
do you do with him and how much impact has it had on your career?
He’s helped me a lot. Before I met him, I followed some specific exercises
that he’d set out for another player and they really worked. I got stronger, I
was able to jump higher and I even scored a headed goal. After that we started
to work together. He’s a student of the game, he analyses attacking and
defensive behaviour and is able to identify and pinpoint techniques that most
players do instinctively.
You’ve been in-demand for several years now but only made the move to Europe
in 2010. Why the wait?
The fact is that I didn’t want to just use Sao Paulo as a stepping stone. I
wanted to win titles, leave my mark, and have my photo framed on the wall at
the club, as I’d seen other players do. And I didn’t want to drop everything
and leave as soon as I started to catch the eye. There was also my family
situation to consider. In the end it turned out great for me, because I think
that I did what I’d set out to do at Sao Paulo and grew matured as a player
and a person.
Now, at the age of 25, do you feel you’re at the high point of your career so
far?
No doubt about it, but I don’t think I’ve hit my peak yet. Over the last few
days I’ve been thinking about how much I can still improve, because my
goalscoring rate is getting better every year. I’m not sure how long that can
last, but I always aim to improve on what I did the previous year. I’m going
to have a real struggle on my hands to do that from now on! (Laughs).
In purely technical terms, what do you need to work on before you feel you’re
the finished product?
When I came over to Italy I took on the challenge of playing in a more advanced
position, often with my back to goal, and I can now say I’ve overcome that.
Next up is continuing to improve my attacking ability, and to do that I need to
be better in the air. Once I start getting more headed goals, I’ll have
completed the cycle.
What are your main ambitions for your playing career?
My first thought is of 2014 and I’m going to pursue that dream with everything
I’ve got: I want to play in that World Cup on Brazilian soil. And, in order to
achieve that major objective, I’ve got other smaller ones too. I’d like to
get Lazio into the Champions League and I’d also like to play at the Olympics
again: that’d really be something.
Finally, turning to A Seleção, your red card in the friendly defeat against
France was something of a setback. Do you think that incident will damage your
national-team aspirations?
The world is cruel and unforgiving, but even so I don’t believe that one
mistake can destroy everything you’ve built up over many years. Several
mistakes could do that, but I think I’ve built up a solid reputation and one
error isn’t going to change everything. What happened is quite funny in a way,
ironic even. The Olympics (at Beijing 2008) aside, I’d never been given a
sequence of games or had a reasonable amount of time to prove myself with A Sele
ção. And then, when I get my biggest chance after waiting for so long,
something like that happened. But I’m convinced there’s room for me in the
team and I’m going to fight for my place.
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我在阿根廷時有個暱稱叫Joya，就是寶石的意思，我希望在義大利也能成為寶石。
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