Back from injury, centre-back gets Diniz's special care at Corinthians | OneFootball

Corinthians return to the pitch next Thursday (23) at 7:30 p.m. (Brasília time) at Neo Química Arena to face Remo in a match valid for the 19th round of the Brazilian Championship. At the moment, after the partial completion of the round, Alvinegro sit in 12th place in the national competition with 24 points — six wins, six draws, and six losses — with 18 goals scored and 19 conceded.

For the return to matches after the World Cup break, Corinthians will once again have center-back João Pedro Tchoca available to the coaching staff. The defender has recovered from inguinal hernia surgery and in recent weeks has resumed training normally with the Timão squad. His last match was on March 19, when he played the full 90 minutes in a goalless draw against Chapecoense away from home in the seventh round of the Brazilian Championship.

Photo: Rodrigo Coca/Agência Corinthians

According to ge.globo, João Pedro Tchoca has been receiving special attention from coach Fernando Diniz during the mid-season training period at CT Dr. Joaquim Grava. In the friendly against FC Cascavel last Sunday (12), the center-back was rested for workload management and did not travel with the squad to Paraná.

Also according to the report, during field activities, the Corinthians coach frequently talks with João Pedro Tchoca and advises the player on positioning during the build-up from the back, working on his confidence. Like forward Gui Negão, he has not played since Diniz’s arrival, as the coach was hired in the first week of April after Dorival Júnior was dismissed.

This season, the No. 4 has made only five appearances, with one goal scored — in the 1-1 draw against Cruzeiro at Mineirão in the fourth round of the Brazilian Championship. In January, Corinthians had even agreed to his transfer to Torino of Italy, but the youngster failed the Italian club’s medical exams — despite coming off consecutive appearances for Timão — and ended up being reintegrated into the squad at CT Dr. Joaquim Grava.

In addition to him, Corinthians have the following options in defense: Gabriel Paulista, Gustavo Henrique, André Ramalho, and Iago Machado — the latter is a starter for the Under-20 side and has already been included in first-team matchday squads, and could soon get minutes at senior level. A product of Corinthians’ youth academy, Tchoca has totaled 100 matches for Alvinegro’s Under-17 (18) and Under-20 (82) teams, with 61 wins, 19 draws, and 20 losses.

João Pedro Tchoca was promoted to Corinthians’ senior squad after winning the 2024 Copa São Paulo de Futebol Jr against Cruzeiro in the final. That year, he formed a center-back partnership with Renato during the title run. Initially, with the first team, he did not get many opportunities under Antônio Oliveira and Ramón Díaz. In August of that same year, he was loaned to Ceará for six months.

With the northeastern club, he played 10 matches and earned a starting spot in the final stretch of Série B, becoming an important piece in Vozão’s promotion back to the top flight of Brazilian football after two seasons. At the start of 2025, he returned to Corinthians and began to be used frequently by the Díaz family and later by Dorival Júnior, gaining importance in the squad’s makeup.

In total, wearing the Corinthians shirt, he has two goals and one assist in 37 matches (30 as a starter), with 19 wins, 12 draws, and only six losses — a 62.2% success rate. In addition, he was part of the title-winning squads in the Campeonato Paulista and Copa do Brasil, against Palmeiras and Vasco da Gama, respectively. During the Supercopa triumph against Flamengo in Brasília, he was undergoing medical tests in Italy.

João Pedro Tchoca will be important for Corinthians in the second half of the season. In addition to the Brazilian Championship, Alvinegro will also play in the Copa do Brasil and Conmebol Libertadores round of 16 against Internacional and Rosario Central-ARG, respectively, in August.

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