Corinthians midfielder rues defeat, questions Ilha do Retiro pitch

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Central do Timão

·22 settembre 2025

Corinthians midfielder rues defeat, questions Ilha do Retiro pitch

By Daniel Keppler / Central do Timão Editorial Team

On the afternoon of this Sunday, the 21st, Corinthians returned to the field for the Brazilian Championship. In a match valid for the 24th round, Timão went to Ilha do Retiro to face the bottom team Sport and, after an uninspired performance, was defeated 1-0. With this, they remain with 29 points and, at the end of the round, will leave the top half of the national tournament standings.

After the match, midfielder Maycon spoke to the press in the mixed zone, where he lamented the setback. “I think our team has been on a very good upward trend, and today was a game where we needed the three points to be able to look upwards. Unfortunately, these small slips we've been making during the games have been costing us points. This has happened a few times in the championship. And the standings reflect these points we've been losing,” he said.

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Photo: Ciro Hey/Central do Timão

He continued, explaining what he thinks was missing for Corinthians: “I think we need to keep our heads in the right place. We know it was a game where our team lacked in some aspects. But we are on an upward trend during the season. I think we've had good results. And this result gives us a big alert. But we have all the conditions to resume what we've been doing.”

Maycon also talked about the preparation for the duel, where warnings about Sport were made. “I think every day Dorival's staff warned us. We players also had our internal demands because we knew it was a tough game. Sport's team is also on an upward trend. We saw quite a few positive games from them that sometimes didn't result in a win. Warnings were not lacking,” he explained.

According to the midfielder, Alvinegro didn't know how to handle the home team's pressure after the break, and then couldn't react: “I think the return of the second half also lacked warning because we knew the start would be pressure again like the first half. Unfortunately, we couldn't withstand it and conceded the first goal. Then, in the game against a closed team, on a difficult field, we still tried to impose ourselves. We had some opportunities, but unfortunately, we couldn't find the goal.”

Finally, Maycon opined on what influence the pitch at Ilha do Retiro had on the result. “I'm not going to make (this) excuse because the opposing team also played on the same pitch and won the game. But it's a different pitch, difficult to play on. If I say we lost the game because of that, I'll be criticized, but we had to adapt. I think we had some positive points, of course, it's a different pitch, a difficult pitch. And unfortunately, we couldn't overcome this difficulty,” he concluded.

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