Corinthians rely on defence, aim for season’s longest unbeaten run | OneFootball

Corinthians is experiencing a positive moment under coach Dorival Júnior. At the start of this season, Timão has managed to find greater consistency compared to last year, mainly due to the stability achieved in the defensive sector. The attack also boasts good numbers, but the defense has been the main highlight of the team in 2026.

In the last six games, Corinthians has conceded only once. Timão has accumulated five wins and one loss, which came against Palmeiras, still in the first phase of the Campeonato Paulista.

So far this season, there have been only eight goals conceded in 12 matches, facing opponents such as Palmeiras, Flamengo, São Paulo, Santos, Bahia, and Red Bull Bragantino. The team has an average of 0.6 goals conceded per game, and the alvinegro defensive system kept a clean sheet in seven matches.

For comparison, in the same 12 games in 2025 (still under Ramón Díaz), Corinthians conceded 13 goals. In 2024, with António Oliveira, they had a poor start to the season and were breached 14 times. In this sense, there is a clear evolution in Timão’s defensive sector since the arrival of Dorival Júnior’s coaching staff in April last year.

The good moment is also due to the players who make up Corinthians' defensive system. Gustavo Henrique has maintained the consistency shown last season, while Gabriel Paulista arrived and quickly secured a starting spot alongside the number 13. The new signing has also already scored important goals, such as in the Supercopa do Brasil title.

“To have a strong team, we need to be secure. In the last six games, I think we conceded only one goal, against Palmeiras. That’s an important detail. We are finding consistency, scoring points at home and away, changing a bit the perception of having a team that is emotionally stronger, and that’s important. I don’t know how long we’ll maintain this stability, but we are searching for it every round, facing complicated situations, which is what has been happening at the start of this season,” analyzed Dorival Júnior.

“I expect that we can still evolve a lot and that these numbers can be replicated in future games. That’s the goal. When the team is very determined, we always find a way, as we did today. We had difficulties marking Athletico-PR, but we didn’t face very dangerous situations. That’s a positive point for our team, which is improving at every moment,” he added.

Timão challenges the streak and seeks the longest unbeaten run of the year

Corinthians will continue, in the coming days, with a series of away matches. Days after visiting Athletico-PR, Timão faces Portuguesa at Canindé, at 8:30 PM (Brasília time) this Sunday, for the quarterfinals of the Paulista. The alvinegro team will play away because they had a worse campaign than Lusa in the first phase of the State Championship.

Next, Alvinegro will face Cruzeiro, in Belo Horizonte (MG), for the fourth round of the Campeonato Brasileiro. Dorival Júnior’s men will then challenge the away streak in search of achieving, perhaps, the longest unbeaten run of the season.

Corinthians is coming off three consecutive wins against Red Bull Bragantino (Brasileiro), São Bernardo (Paulista), and Athletico-PR (Brasileiro). Timão matched the unbeaten streak from January, when they had two draws (against Santos and São Paulo) and a win over Velo Clube.

Now, the goal is to achieve a fourth consecutive victory to extend the unbeaten run, maintain the good phase, and advance to the quarterfinals of the Paulista.

Upcoming Corinthians matches

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