William Batista hails Corinthians in U20 Paulista, urges respect | OneFootball

Corinthians wrapped up the first phase of the Paulista Under-20 Championship with a convincing performance and heads into the knockout stage with a campaign praised by William Batista. After the 4-0 thrashing of América-SP last Saturday (12), the coach highlighted the team’s progress throughout the competition and stressed the importance of maintaining the same level of seriousness in the upcoming rounds.

With the result in the 15th round, Timão finished the opening stage in second place in Group 1, with 32 points, and also ended up sixth in the overall standings. The team is now waiting to find out its opponent for the next stage of the state tournament.

Photo: Rodrigo Gazzanel / Ag. Corinthians

In an interview with Meu Timão after the match, William began his analysis by highlighting the way Corinthians managed to pressure América and win back possession in the attacking half. Despite the lopsided scoreline, the coach felt the team could still have made better use of the chances it created.

“We managed to impose ourselves. We were very effective in winning the ball back, in our high press. We planned to keep our line a little higher, and we managed to do that. Because of that, we were able to win back many more balls than we might have against teams that attack in behind more consistently. And with the opponent down a player, that became even more evident.”

“Maybe, as an area to improve, we need to be a little more efficient. We’ve been creating a lot of chances and, at times, we end up missing some goals that, if we scored them, could have made the scoreline even more emphatic.”

Overall standings also factor into the planning

In addition to ending the first phase with a win, Corinthians was also looking to improve its place in the overall standings. The cumulative performance could become important in the knockout rounds, especially in determining home advantage in the ties.

When commenting on the scenario, William even mentioned that Timão had finished fourth overall, but the team actually ended the qualifying phase in sixth. Even so, the coach stressed the importance of staying among the best campaigns in order to try to bring future deciders home.

“It’s an important match because the overall standings in the championship were at stake. If I’m not mistaken, we finished fourth overall. It’s important for us, it’s important for the team, and it gives us the chance to keep fighting to move up a little more as the knockout rounds go on. The concern remains for us to be in a position to decide at home in the upcoming rounds.”

The next black-and-white opponent has not yet been defined. Corinthians could face XV de Jaú or União São João, depending on the outcome of the match involving the Araras side and São Paulo, which had to be postponed because of heavy rain.

William calls for the Paulista to be valued

The Paulista Championship has now become the only competition left for Corinthians’ Under-20 side in this final stretch of the season. For William Batista, that increases the importance of approaching every match with maximum focus.

The coach said that teams simultaneously involved in the Brazilian Under-20 Championship may, even unintentionally, end up giving more attention to the national competition. He also mentioned the difficulties Corinthians faced away from home during the first phase, especially because of the condition of some of the pitches.

“First, we want to value the Paulista Championship. Many times you play in the Brazilian Championship and, because the level of demand is very high, you end up easing off a little in the Paulista unconsciously. It’s not deliberate. In matches where you need to go all in to win, if you don’t do that in the Paulista, you end up not winning. A lot of that is because the opponents are usually in a good position, and also because, for example, as visitors, we played on many poor pitches during our Paulista campaign. Even so, we managed to be consistent, value the competition and earn a good number of points.”

The current campaign also represents an improvement compared to the previous state tournament. William recalled that, in 2025, Corinthians advanced with a lower overall placing and emphasized that the priority now is to avoid looking too far ahead and focus attention on the first knockout match.

“Last year, we qualified with the 15th or 16th-best campaign, if I’m not mistaken. This year, we had the second-best campaign until the previous round and ended up finishing fourth. We have to try to value it game by game and give our best in every match. Think about the first knockout tie and show a lot of respect for the opponent. We’ve been preaching respect for the opponent, respect for whoever is on the other side, and respect for the game. I believe the best way for us to achieve something good in the championship is by respecting the championship.”

With the first phase now over, Corinthians is shifting all of its preparation toward the knockout stage. Timão heads into the next stretch of the Paulista Under-20 with 32 points and trying to turn the consistency of the qualifying phase into a long run in the playoffs.

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