William Batista on Corinthians Under-20 absentees and youth pathway | OneFootball

On the night of last Tuesday (19), Corinthians hosted Palmeiras at Estádio Alfredo Schürig, Fazendinha, in a match valid for the 13th round of the qualifying stage of the Brazilian Under-20 Championship, and were beaten 1-0. The setback kept Timão in 10th place in the national tournament with 18 points — five wins, three draws and five losses — with 16 goals scored and 15 conceded. Only the top eight teams advance to the knockout stage of the competition.

After the match, Corinthians Under-20 head coach William Batista gave an interview to Meu Timão and commented on the difficulties of dealing with Timãozinho’s absences. The coach stressed that this scenario is nothing new in the category, since in recent seasons the Alvinegro has ended up “promoting” youngsters from lower age groups, such as the Under-17s, to the older team. William argued that he chose not to repeat that process this season so as not to hinder the development of the younger players.

Photo: ©Rodrigo Gazzanel / Agência Corinthians

“I closely followed the club’s category over the last few years. Every time the Under-20 team had an unstable result, the Under-17 players were the ones responsible for stepping up and solving the problem. That happened over the last two years, and we’ve been careful not to do the same thing. Because the younger player of today is the older player of tomorrow. In other words, last year, Nícollas was the guy who solved the problem, he was an Under-17 player in the Under-20s. It was Pedro Thomas, from the 17s, solving the 20s’ problem. It was Cauê, who has already left, who was from the 17s and solved the 20s’ problem. It was Tupã, who solved the 20s’ problem,” he began.

He continued by citing the examples of midfielder Lucca Caramico and forward Léo Amistá, two of the main standouts in the Under-17 category: “And then, this year, we can’t make the same mistake by suddenly speeding up the process for Caramico, Amistá or other players. Because it’s important, for their development process, that they be where they should be, take on the responsibilities of their category and perform in it. Even if we suffer a little and pay some price to stabilize Corinthians’ Under-20s and keep the Under-17s strong, the Under-16s strong, the Under-15s strong. So that today’s younger players don’t become tomorrow’s older players without having delivered performance. So we have to take special care not to repeat that kind of herd effect, which I think happened in recent years,” he continued.

Against Palmeiras last Tuesday night, Corinthians could not count on defensive midfielders Caraguá and Luiz Gustavo Bahia, as well as forward Luiz Fábio “Favela,” all suspended, and as replacements Pedro Thomas, Luiz Eduardo and Nicollas were used, respectively. Finally, William Batista highlighted Pedro Thomas’ (2008) development process. The youngster has 67 matches for Timão’s Under-17 and Under-20 teams combined, with his contract running until October 2027. In 2025, at just 16 years old, he was a starter in the Filhos do Terrão’s Copinha campaign — runners-up.

“We’ve been working a lot on Pedro Thomas’ development. He improved his game on the ball, his build-up play, which was the main thing we wanted him to improve. He had a very good game today. He came into a situation where he didn’t need to take on responsibilities, because I think those need to be given to the older players. But he was part of what the older players could build with him. I think that’s why he was able to perform the way he did today, without receiving the pressure of having to solve the problems of our category,” he concluded.

After losing to Palmeiras at Estádio Alfredo Schürig, in Fazendinha, Corinthians remain focused on the Brazilian Under-20 Championship. Next Thursday (28), at 3 p.m. (Brasília time), Timãozinho will visit Red Bull Bragantino away from home for the 14th round of the qualifying stage of the 2026 Brazilian Championship in the category.

Check out below other answers from Timãozinho’s coach in the interview:

Analysis of the Derby and strategy after right-back Guilherme Pellegrin’s sending-off

“I think we did everything we could do within our game model: press high, be aggressive, be intense, be competitive, not be cowardly, not drop our lines, not defend deep. A club of this size cannot spend years the way it did, playing in a low block and defending, at times even being a cowardly team strategically, as happened before. I closely followed the other Derbies, and I think we were completely different from that. In the first half, we played up to Corinthians’ size and greatness. I think we managed to impose our game, not drop our lines, and push the press higher. We had a clear chance to score before they did, with Pellegrin. It’s a shame, it would have been a great goal if it had gone in.”

“With the sending-off, we changed the strategy a bit. It’s harder to press high when you’re a man down, so we stayed in a mid-block, in a 5-3-1, trying to block the passes they could play through the middle, press out wide and create a few counterattacks. We even managed to have some counterattacks, and maybe we could have been a little clearer in the final action to try to make it 1-0, like we did against São Paulo.”

Better performance compared to other Derbies in recent years

“Today we showed signs that the next Derbies will be different from what they had been. It’s not criticism of the others, but I think Corinthians, because of its size, has to look straight ahead, always with its chin up, and face matches against any opponent the way they should be faced, and I think we managed to do that today. The opponent created very little and scored from a very circumstantial play, from a slight deflection. We’re not happy with the result, obviously not, we’re not satisfied with putting in a performance like that and losing, but we know we took a small step forward for the next matches.”

Inconsistency in the Brazilian Under-20 Championship, the fight for qualification, and a better campaign than in the last two editions

“We know the competition is balanced. We had spent all those rounds inside the top eight, and now we dropped out in the latest round, but level on points. Now maybe the gap opens to one, two, or even three points. We still have some matches left to play, and we need to get four wins. With twelve points, we get to thirty points, and I think that will be enough to qualify, because thirty points usually gets you through. I think the matchups are manageable and we can go for the win.”

“We feel the need to improve our performances at home. We have the second-best away record. At home, we don’t have a good record, and that really bothers the group. We have to find that balance to pick up points at home and keep picking up points away. But we also know that, since the start of the year, it’s been a rebuilding process. Last year, Corinthians got 20 points in 19 matches. This year, we already have 18 in 13 matches. In 2024, Corinthians got, if I’m not mistaken, 17. We’ve already earned more points than in 2024. Anyway, I think it’s a better campaign than the others. We really want Corinthians to fight for titles, but knowing what we’ve built compared to previous years is also important so we can keep expectations in check for what we can build during the season.”

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