Luxembourg will have a final in its 11th game at Corinthians – 06/04/2023 – PVC

Vanderlei Luxemburgo completed his tenth match as coach of Corinthians, exactly the number of matches requested from the fans as a grace period for demanding good results. In the 11th appointment, Wednesday (7), in Quito, he will have his decision. Winning Independiente del Valle will leave Corinthians one game away from qualifying for the round of 16 of the Libertadores.

Losing will mean elimination in the group stage. Despite two falls in the preliminary stages, against Tolima, in 2011, and Guaraní, in 2020, Corinthians has not been eliminated in a four-team bracket since its first participation in Libertadores, in 1977.

Sometimes, in his press conferences, Vanderlei Luxemburgo recalls the lyrics of “Quase Sem Querer”, by Legião Urbana: “What I wanted most was to prove to everyone that I didn’t need to prove anything to anyone”. If he were at home, lying on his record for São Paulo and Brazilian titles, he wouldn’t have to.

It would talk about its glories and failures. Corinthians doesn’t seem like such a bad place to work as Vasco and Cruzeiro were, in 2021. It’s not easy either.

That’s why the fans celebrated and the press praised the performance against Atlético. As much as Eduardo Coudet contributed by putting Hulk on the bench and adopting a lineup with five reserves, Luxemburgo’s strategy worked. He was smart in protecting the defense and giving freedom to Fagner and, mainly, Renato Augusto.

In the past, Luxemburgo only used the three defenders in specific situations. The Cruzeiro of the triple crown, in 2003, started the year playing some matches like this. It gave freedom to Alex, the playmaker, strengthened the defensive system. When he achieved defensive stability, he gave up the system, and Cruzeiro flew to two national titles in the same year, Brasileiro and Copa do Brasil.

At Santos, champion of São Paulo in 2006, he set up the defensive system with Ávalos, Manzur and Ronaldo Guiaro, to release Kleber, his left-back and also his greatest talent.

At Corinthians, the choice is for the emergency.

There are two wins in ten games, five defeats in the requested grace period, and even then it is not possible to point all the blame to the coach.

From their debut in the Libertadores, with seven starters aged over 31, to the defeat against América, Luxemburgo reduced the average age and started to field three veterans. The defects continue, part of the coach’s responsibility, much of the cast’s assembly.

There were 11 goals conceded and only seven goals scored, five of them by Róger Guedes. More than half of those scored since the arrival of the coach. Thinking about the whole season, Guedes scored 18 of the 36 scored by Corinthians. If half of the goals are from a single player, things haven’t been going well for a long time.

No matter the fault, but the work. Wednesday’s rivals in Ecuador, Independiente del Valle have won two of their last four games. Lost at home to LDU, crashed in Montevideo to Liverpool. Unbeatable it is not.

It’s harder to believe in winning and qualifying for what the team didn’t do this year than for what they can do against Del Valle. Luxembourg asked for ten games. The 11th will be decisive.

ups and down

Dorival Júnior was the first São Paulo coach to reach the tenth game without losing since Muricy, in 1996. Now, the team drops in production, and the two defeats could dampen enthusiasm before the duel with Palmeiras. You can’t take it off course. São Paulo needs a title this year. It could be the Copa do Brasil.

Pressure on CBF

Ednaldo Rodrigues reached the pressure situation that he knew could happen. Ancelotti goes on to say he will stay at Real Madrid and plans to reform his squad. Ramon Menezes saw his under-20 team fail early in the World Cup. There is no unanimous coach, and the CBF is playing with the Brazilian team.

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