Dorival on starting midfielder, notes Corinthians' second-half fatigue

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Central do Timão

·23 January 2026

Dorival on starting midfielder, notes Corinthians' second-half fatigue

By Vinícios Cotrim | Central do Timão Editorial Team

Corinthians ended in a draw against Santos in the fourth round of the Paulistão. Despite controversies with the refereeing, the People’s Team was superior throughout the match, largely due to the changes made by Dorival Júnior. For the derby, the coach decided to remove a forward and strengthen the midfield, bringing in Matheus Pereira as a starter for the first time since his return.

“Matheus (Pereira) played in his position, played creating, organizing our team. We had everything we wanted to have. Ball possession, variation, switching sides, penetrating from one side, from the other. Twice we managed to get ahead of the opponent, suffering a very dangerous foul and, in my opinion, even worthy of a sending off, because we were in the lead,” evaluated Dorival Jr. in a press conference.

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Photo: Raul Baretta/Santos FC

“It was the right choice. We had what we needed. Ball possession, moving from one side to the other, switching plays. Matheus very well positioned, playing very close to Bidon. Bidon, Matheus, and Carrillo gave us a very high level of possession. I think that was important. And we didn’t stop being an offensive team, because we freed André so he could get forward and he penetrated many times. Naturally, we lacked increasing the score so we wouldn’t give the chance for direct interference, as happened.,” he added.

Even with dominance after taking the lead, Corinthians had to make changes. According to the coach, the substitutions were made based on the players’ fatigue, who started training on January 3rd.

“In the first half, we really pulled away. We had a very high gain. In the second half… honestly, we have eight days of preparation. There’s no way to keep up the pace of a match for 90 minutes. We’re doing everything we can to keep the team on the field. The substitutions, I didn’t need to make changes. All of them were due to fatigue. The need for changes came at the players’ request. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have changed anything, because the team was doing very well on the field. Even though, in the second half, the numbers were a bit lower, we still had the best chances and a bit more control of the match.,” he explained.

Now, Corinthians shifts its focus to the match against Velo Clube in the next round of the state championship. The match comes before Timão’s debut in the Brasileirão, as well as the Supercopa do Brasil clash. The ball rolls on Sunday (25th), starting at 8:30 PM (Brasília time).

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