Diniz rues fatigue after Corinthians draw with Bahia, values point | OneFootball

Corinthians drew 1-1 with Bahia on the afternoon of last Sunday (26) at Arena Fonte Nova, in the 20th round of the Brazilian Championship. After the match, head coach Fernando Diniz gave a press conference and analyzed the team’s performance, highlighting the physical toll caused by the run of games, the quality of the opponent, and the players’ commitment throughout the 90 minutes.

When asked about Corinthians’ fourth consecutive league match without defeat and the team’s performance after taking the lead, Fernando Diniz emphasized how difficult the run of matches has been and said the context of the game must be taken into account.

Photos: Rodrigo Coca/Corinthians Agency

“First of all, good evening. To give some context, I think it’s important to say that in this fourth game without losing, we came here trying to win the ball back from Bahia more quickly. There’s something you might not ask about, but I’m going to mention it. Bahia played on Tuesday, and we played on Thursday night. Add to that the travel, the heat here, and the pitch, which is bad for playing. All of that creates a lot of uncertainty. In the first half, we scored early and then had trouble finding the right moment to press, because pressing high all the time is more difficult, and that was our intention. I think Bahia had more possession and played better in the first half, but they didn’t create major danger either. Hugo didn’t make any important saves, and their goalkeeper didn’t either. It was a very hard-fought game, without big goal-scoring chances.

It was very clear that the physical side weighed heavily. When we started making substitutions, we began to play better than Bahia. In the last 20 minutes, we were closer to scoring the second goal than they were. Every time we pressed, they had to hoof the ball away, which isn’t one of their characteristics, and we managed to win possession back higher up the pitch. So, looking at the game as a whole, I don’t see it as two points lost. Given how difficult the match was, how close it was to Thursday’s game, and the effort from the players, I think the team made a huge effort. There wasn’t even a drop of desire missing. The players were warriors. It was very difficult dealing with this schedule, playing on Thursday night and then at four in the afternoon on Sunday. There wasn’t enough time to recover.

Of course we wanted to have played better with the ball, like we did in the first half against Remo. Today we couldn’t, but the team knew how to overcome the difficulties and left here with one point. We wanted all three, but we move on. I didn’t think it was a bad game. It was a match in which we couldn’t fully control the action, but we faced a very qualified opponent, with investment, a strong squad, and a coach doing a great job.”

The altercation between players and the refereeing criteria was also discussed in the press conference. For Diniz, the match was calmer after halftime.

“I think things went a little too far there, but fortunately that didn’t happen in the second half. Bahia and Corinthians came back more focused on playing football than on creating confusion. The game remained hard-fought, I didn’t think it was a beautiful game, there were few goal-scoring chances, but it was a more controlled match with fewer arguments. I think the refereeing was consistent throughout the game, and that’s important. Maybe if a few cards had come out a little earlier, the temperature of the match would have dropped. But I don’t have any major complaints about the refereeing.”

The coach was also asked about Kaio César’s performance, one of the players most involved offensively for Corinthians during the match.

“Regarding Kaio, his development as a player and the maturity he’s been building at Corinthians are very clear. It’s not easy to wear the Corinthians shirt. Today he was the player who had the most advantage in individual duels. I think he could have had even more space if some fouls had been punished with yellow cards. There was more than one booking-worthy situation, and that might even have prevented the altercation that happened, because it started precisely after so many fouls suffered by Kaio César.”

Fernando Diniz also commented on the debut of semi-automated offside in the Brazilian Championship and assessed possible changes to the rules of Brazilian football.

“I see it in a positive light. It’s a good thing semi-automated offside has arrived, because it takes that pressure off the referees. Before, there was always that discussion about drawing lines, whether they got it right or wrong. Now the decision happens quickly, like it did today. I think that represents an important step forward.The way it used to be done in Brazil, I didn’t like it. We wasted too much time, there was too much discussion, and sometimes mistakes still happened. Now there’s practically no interpretation in this kind of situation, and that improves things a lot.

As for the other rules, I approve of most of them. This so-called ‘Vini Jr. Law,’ honestly, I don’t see much point in it. Sometimes a player covers his mouth to say something that isn’t a problem at all, so I think it’s an exaggeration. If it were up to me, that rule wouldn’t be applied. But overall, I believe the changes that came from the World Cup help improve football.”

Lastly, Diniz spoke about the options at left-back after Fabrizio Angileri’s suspension for receiving his third yellow card.

“Bidu has a chance to play on Thursday, and we’ll still assess the situation. We’ll also look at the youth academy to see whether there’s any option there, or use someone from the current squad. We still have a few days to decide.”

With the result, Timão reached 28 points in the competition and returns to the field next Thursday (30) at 7:30 p.m. (Brasília time), when it hosts Athletico at Neo Química Arena in the 21st round of the Brazilian Championship.

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