Orlando Ribeiro: Work cut short at Corinthians U20, praises Gui Negão | OneFootball

Coach Orlando Ribeiro left Corinthians' under-20 team at the end of July. The club's management understood that the coach's passage was not bearing fruit and decided to fire the commander. For the first time, he spoke about his departure from Timão and classified it as an "interrupted job".

In an exclusive interview with Gazeta Esportiva's #TáNoJogo podcast, Orlando Ribeiro evaluated his time at Corinthians. This season, Timãozinho was runner-up in the Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior against São Paulo, but struggled against relegation in the Brazilian Championship.

"I don't consider it exactly a complete job, but rather an interrupted job. We were entering the second phase of a very difficult process that the club was going through. It was a short passage that, professionally, wasn't so good, because what we were building would only appear in the medium and long term," explained the coach.

(Photo: Rodrigo Coca/Agência Corinthians)

Orlando Ribeiro arrived at the club to take over the under-20 team in October last year, but was fired ten months later. At the helm of Alvinegro, the 58-year-old coach played 40 games, with 17 wins, 12 draws, and 11 losses - numbers that equate to a 52.5% success rate.

"We arrived at the end of October, we already knew about the problems and warned that we would need to speed up the process, mainly thinking about the São Paulo Cup. There was resistance, because the kids were very young, but we understood that it was necessary. We did that job, which even worked, but we didn't have time to move on to the second phase, when those athletes would have one more year and be more prepared," he said.

"In my view, we lacked about ten days to fully enter this second stage of the process. But the management understood differently. Director Nenê do Posto communicated to us that he would interrupt our work to give the group a 'boost'. We had already warned that the results in the Brazilian Championship and in some Paulista games would be difficult, because they were part of the process. Even so, this justification did not convince us," he continued.

So what led to the dismissal?

Corinthians, under Orlando Ribeiro, not only stopped in the first phase of the Under-20 Brazilian Championship but also struggled against relegation. With only 20 points accumulated in 19 games played, the team had to settle for 15th place and was far from the top eight, who advanced to the quarterfinals.

In the initial phase of the Paulista Championship, Timãozinho also accumulated some poor results, such as defeats against Red Bull Bragantino, Palmeiras, and Botafogo-SP.

"It's clear that in the under-20, the results draw a lot of attention. [...] What was passed on to us is that there was a lot of external pressure because of the poor campaign in the Brazilian Championship and some stumbles in the Paulista Championship. The director said he received many calls demanding. I don't know if there were political issues involved, but the impression is that there were. The fan, especially the Corinthians fan, is impatient, and the pressure arrives quickly," he pointed out.

Even after all the issues mentioned above, Orlando Ribeiro made it clear that he does not hold grudges against Timão.

"Even so, for me, it was a pleasure to work at Corinthians. In terms of career and resume, it helped a lot, but it was also detrimental, because this type of interruption is never positive for those who work in the base. At Corinthians, everything has great repercussions, and the ideal would be to show good things, results, positive reports. Unfortunately, at that moment, that didn't happen," he analyzed.

Orlando Ribeiro is now free on the market after leaving Corinthians. To occupy the position of under-20 coach, Timão agreed to hire coach William Batista.

Coach praises Gui Negão, shining in the professional team

Orlando Ribeiro also took advantage of the space on Gazeta Esportiva's #TáNoJogo podcast to praise Gui Negão, the son of Terrão. The coach had the opportunity to work with the striker in the under-20 team, who is now practically integrated into the professional team.

"Gui Negão is a striker with a lot of determination. There is no lost ball for him, he dedicates himself from start to finish. This fighting spirit is exactly what Corinthians looks for: an athlete who fights all the time. This, for me, is his greatest virtue," he praised.

(Photo: Rodrigo Coca/Agência Corinthians)

Gui Negão has been gaining opportunities as a starter at Corinthians amidst the absence of Yuri Alberto, who is recovering from an inguinal hernia. The young center-forward has been proving his worth and scored in consecutive games against Bahia and Vasco, both for the Brazilian Championship.

The Corinthians management, in fact, is already moving behind the scenes to renew the striker's contract, which is valid until May 2027. The talks, however, are still in the early stages.

"[Gui] did what he knows how to do: score goals. He has that presence inside the area, mainly in the small area, to put the ball inside. Even from afar, we've been following, and with the opportunities he's been having, I'm sure he'll help the professionals a lot," concluded the former under-20 coach.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.