After winning the Brazilian Serie A in 2015, Timao suffered a disappointing 2016 and finished outside the top six. They had done so well under the management of Tite in 2015 – even breaking the record for points won in a season – and they started their 2016 campaign similarly well, with four wins from their first six matches of the season. Yet disaster struck when Brazil crashed out of the Copa America earlier than expected. Dunga was duly dismissed and Tite was the man drafted in to replace him, leaving Corinthians worse off as a result. They hired Cristovao Borges as his replacement, but it simply wasn’t the same. He did, admittedly, get off to a bright start with five wins in his first six matches, but once the honeymoon period was over they managed just three victories in the next 11 matches and he was duly sacked. With Fabio Carille as caretaker coach and then with Oswaldo de Oliveira brought in for the final couple of months, things hardly improved as the final 13 matches brought just another three more wins. It would be unfair to pin all of the blame for the second half of the season collapse on the coaches, given that a number of star players were sold towards the end of the summer transfer market. Bruno Henrique was having the season of his life, but was sold to Palermo. Felipe had been paying well at centre-back, but was offloaded to Porto. Elias had been playing well enough to get into the Brazil squad, but was soon sold to Sporting Lisbon. And Luciano was sent across the Atlantic to Spanish side Leganes. Such asset-stripping proved unwise and Corinthians paid the price for the selling of their stars on the field.
Of the players who stayed behind, there were still some good performers. The excellent right-back Fagner played the most minutes out of the whole squad, even though he was often missing as he was away on international duty. There was a similar story with Angel Romero, who was playing so well in attack for Corinthians – five goals and six assists – that he was often called away to represent Paraguay. Marquinhos Gabriel and Marlone played well on the wings, with the latter having a breakout second half of the campaign, while Rodriguinho was consistently excellent in the centre of midfield.
One of Corinthians’ main problems, however, was that they lacked a true centre-forward. When Borges was in charge he often resorted to playing attacking midfielder Guilherme as a false nine, but that tactic had limited success and when Guilherme was injured – as he often was – then there was even less of an attacking solution. Angel Romero was more often than not employed out wide, even though he could play in the middle, while natural 22-year-old centre-forward Gustavo Henrique still has a lot to learn. Oswaldo de Oliveira appears to be the man tasked with coaching whatever squad is prepared for next season’s campaign, but his future remains in doubt. Corinthians won’t be able to find a coach as good as Tite, so Oswaldo de Oliveira might have to do. What is more realistic is finding a quality striker and if they manage to bring one in then they can be back in the title race next year.
