Dorival rues Brasileirão run, praises academy’s fresh start

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Central do Timão

·8. Dezember 2025

Dorival rues Brasileirão run, praises academy’s fresh start

By Vinícios Cotrim | Central do Timão Editorial Team

Corinthians only managed a draw against Juventude and ended one of the worst campaigns in the history of the Brasileirão in the points system era, even without being relegated. Coach for most of the competition, Dorival Júnior spoke about the low success rate compared to the performance shown.

“The campaign, we are aware that it could have been better. I acknowledge that. We lacked many things throughout the season. We had many games like this one (against Juventude), where we created with volume, possession, had several chances and didn’t finish the match. Because of that, the opponents, suddenly, took important points from us,” began the coach.

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Photo: Rodrigo Coca/Ag. Corinthians

With this result, Corinthians secured only a spot in next year’s Copa Sudamericana, which negatively impacts the club’s finances. For Dorival, the positive point of this Brasileirão was the use of young players, such as Gui Negão, André, and Dieguinho.

“Of course, there’s a feeling of disappointment, for what we did throughout the competition, for what we would have liked to deliver to our fans. But, on the other hand, I’m happy. First, for having put several youth academy players on the field, something that hasn’t happened for some time at Corinthians,” he said.

“And I think that for a club to seek recovery, it depends on having youngsters who can give a good response, both technically and in the future. I have no fears or doubts about introducing new players. I’m sure that with the arrival of these boys, the team has become stronger and created a new foundation,” the coach added.

Another point addressed by the coach was the equalizer conceded in the second half against Juventude. The team dominated the first half, but saw the visiting team score in the final stage, resulting in a point for each side.

“It’s not related to physical performance. We had the ball for almost 90% of the match, we had most of the actions. We weren’t able to increase the score, which happened in many, many games in the Brazilian Championship. We would go one-nil up, wait for the right moment, create opportunities, not finish, and end up conceding a goal, naturally, due to the aggressiveness of the opposing team. So, we had everything to have had better luck throughout the competition,” emphasized Dorival.

Corinthians’ next match takes place this Wednesday (10th), in the first leg of the Copa do Brasil semifinal. The game is against Cruzeiro, at Mineirão, starting at 9:30 pm (Brasília time).

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