Corinthians Under-17 coach rues Paulistão exit, reflects on work in 2025 | OneFootball

On the morning of last Saturday, October 11, Corinthians hosted Red Bull Bragantino at the Alfredo Schürig Stadium, Fazendinha, in the second leg of the 2025 Paulista Championship round of 16, and were defeated by a score of 3-0. The result eliminated the “Filhos do Terrão” from the state tournament, as they were outscored 3-2 on aggregate over the two matches.

After the match, the coach of the Timãozinho U-17 team gave an exclusive interview to the Filhos do Terrão page and was asked to evaluate the team's 2025 season. In the Brazilian Championship, the Alvinegro was eliminated in the last round of the group stage after a home loss to Flamengo, despite spending most of the time among the top eight.

Photo: Rodrigo Gazzanel/Agência Corinthians

In the Andalusia U-18 Tournament, held in Spain in mid-September, the Alvinegro was eliminated in the quarterfinals after a penalty shootout loss to Barcelona by 5-4: “Regarding our sporting results, we were quite frustrated, quite disappointed with what we delivered. We know and are aware that Corinthians has to deliver more than this in terms of sporting results,” he began.

He then analyzed the defeat to the Bragança Paulista team, mentioning the advantage built in the first leg, played last Saturday (4th) in Atibaia, which was not maintained. The coach detailed the strategy for the decisive match, lamenting the loss of control after conceding the first goal to Massa Bruta.

“We got a good result there. We knew it was going to be a very tough match. The Red Bull team is a very qualified team. It was an even game: two teams with a lot of individual quality, a lot of collective resources, a lot of collective variation, and also a lot of individual talent. Both sides did good work. We knew that the 2-0 in the first game didn't guarantee anything. That's why our post-game attitude was very grounded, to work and focus on today's match. We used a strategy similar to the first game, and the first 20 minutes played out very much like the previous match. We were controlling the game well.”

“But from the moment we conceded the goal, things happened simultaneously. We conceded the first goal and our team lost a bit of verticality. We started wanting to keep the ball more to run down the clock and keep the game going. In doing so, we brought Red Bull further into our half, gave their team more confidence, and ended up losing control of the game. At the end of the first half, we managed to regain a bit of control, but at the start of the second half we conceded the second goal, and then we were emotionally destabilized again,” he continued.

Later, Laruccia mentioned the emotional component, which according to him, ends up interfering especially at this age group. The coach also answered whether the trip to Europe, in the midst of the Brazilian and Paulista Championships, interfered with both eliminations.

“At this age, the emotional component is very heavy, it interferes a lot in the game. The boys are being prepared for future challenges, but situations like this are common and happen at this age, losing emotional control. We often see it even at the professional level. The physical aspect is not something to look at and worry about. Because, as I said, both teams are well matched even in terms of schedule. The only extra thing we had was the trip to Spain, but it doesn't interfere much.”

Raphael Laruccia also highlighted the work done with the transition of some athletes to the U-20 category and even to the professional team, emphasizing that the work cannot be defined solely by whether the team won a certain tournament, since in youth categories, player development is the priority.

“When we look at results in terms of category transitions, of player projection, we were very satisfied. In the first semester, we had already achieved all our goals set for players moving up categories and for player projection as well. We believe we have greatly enhanced many players. Players who were little talked about in the youth system, few people knew them, today are considered great gems of the club. So we recognize that as well. We know the value of it and we are happy with the result.”

“When a player stands out, we are very satisfied because it is the result of work. It is also the result of our collective work and the individual effort and dedication of the player day by day. For believing in the work, buying into the ideas. We are very happy when several players start to stand out individually because we know this is the result of very well-done collective work. And the financial results as well. We had the sale of a player, I won't get into the merits of how the sale happened, but it was also money in the club's coffers that we managed to bring in. There was one last year, Denner, and another this year, Furquim. Like it or not, that's practically R$100 million coming into the club, and that is also an objective of our work.”

Finally, he emphasized that the team often suffered from absences, whether due to U-20 needs or even injuries, such as that of striker Gui Bom, who scored 11 goals in 14 games in 2025 and will only return to the field next year.

“What I look at is the number of players we lost throughout the year. If we compare the team that started and the team that finished, we lost players to injury, to transfers. The team changed a lot. We had difficulty maintaining the same lineup, giving continuity with the same lineup for a long time.”

“Some losses make us happy, we are glad because sometimes it's a player who moves up to the professional team, sometimes moves up to the U-20. This is very positive and part of our work. And other losses are due to injury, due to misfortune. And these are accidental injuries, collision injuries, trauma, which happen.”

Now, the Corinthians U-17 category, after a trophyless year, will only return to the pitch in 2026 for the Paulista Championship and the Brasileirão.

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