Corinthians boss on tactical switch, praises defence in Copa do Brasil | OneFootball

After Corinthians' victory over Athletico Paranaense by 1 to 0, in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Copa do Brasil, coach Dorival Júnior commented, in a press conference, about the decision to start the second half with three defenders, promoting Cacá in place of Charles. According to the coach, the change was motivated by the scenario of the final stretch of the first half.

"First, it was the final 15 minutes of the first half that, in fact, forced us to make a decision and a change of position. From our team, I believe it was necessary, especially because, when everyone says that putting three defenders makes the team defensive, in fact, the opposite happened: we gained offense. We advanced our marking a little and, with that, we found our goal. I think it was fundamental, it was important", explained Dorival.

Photo: Rodrigo Coca/Ag. Corinthians

The commander also analyzed the final minutes of the game, when Athletico began to dominate possession and create more opportunities. For Dorival, the drop in performance was a consequence of the physical wear and tear accumulated in the last commitments.

"Naturally, after that, we had a drop, especially in physical performance, also due to the last match we played against Vasco, two and a half days ago. It was a very heavy game at São Januário, very difficult and quite complicated. With today's match, we already imagined that we would have problems at a certain point in the game. Athletico's team loosened up, came forward and we had the opportunity to neutralize most situations, except for a beautiful header that was well defended by Hugo (Souza), which gave us the possibility of a very important result", he said.

Dorival also highlighted the defensive solidity of Corinthians in the Copa do Brasil, a competition in which the team continues without conceding goals. Despite this, the coach admitted that the team has been facing difficulties when it comes to finishing the plays.

"I think that in many games of the Brazilian Championship this has also happened (defensive consistency). What has been lacking, because we have had, in most matches, control of the games. We have had a great percentage of ball possession and it is not 'possession for possession' only. It is a possession with conditions of creation. What we lack and has been lacking in many moments were the definitions, the main point, the goal, and this was not happening. With this, suddenly, a draw or a defeat put us in a very negative situation, because the result does not appear, everything that was being developed and worked is erased", pointed out the coach.

Finally, the coach stressed that the high ball possession of Timão is not a result of chance, but the result of a structured and well-executed game system. He recognized the difficulties generated by the loss of important players, but said he trusts in the squad's ability to adapt.

"I think that a team is not the second team in the championship in ball possession by chance; it is because it has organization, it has a well-defined game system. We have players who perform important functions. Now, throughout this process, we lost players who were fundamental at certain moments, and we had some difficulties due to the characteristics they presented, so that we could have other values with other ways of playing that did not complete what we needed. We continue looking and waiting, in expectation, that, even within the squad, we can find players who, suddenly, can discover that these functions are also possible situations to be realized on the field", he concluded.

With the result, Corinthians takes the advantage of the draw for the return match. If Timão is defeated by a goal difference at home, the decision of the spot will be defined on penalties. The team's next commitment takes place this Sunday, at 9:30 pm, at Neo Química Arena, against Palmeiras, for the 21st round of the Brazilian Championship.

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