Corinthians celebrates ten years of the second World Cup with nostalgia for Tite and disdain for Guerrero

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Argentina will seek, next Sunday (18), to be the first South American team to be world champions in ten years. The last one was Corinthians.

Lionel Messi leads his team in an attempt to break the dominance established by the Europeans in the last four editions of the quadrennial World Cup. In the annual Club World Cup, representatives of the old continent have won nine in a row.

The most recent victory by a team from South America in the tournament completes a decade this Friday. On December 16, 2012, Corinthians, engineered by Tite, scored 1-0 at Chelsea, a goal scored by the Peruvian Paolo Guerrero, and was twice.

The coach is still loved by almost all the black and white fans. Who put the ball in the net, no.

If he couldn’t repeat a success the size of the one obtained ten years ago, the coach tightened his ties with the club and won new titles in black and white. Hired by the Brazilian national team in 2016, he has since heard the recurring appeal “come back, Tite”.

Recently, he heard this request from the president of the association, Duilio Monteiro Alves. After the departure of Vítor Pereira, the manager checked the availability of the gaucho, who, he had already announced, would leave the national formation regardless of the result in the World Cup.

“I don’t deny to anyone that there’s a guy I’d like to work with, with whom I’ve worked, which is Tite. But he made it very clear that he’s not thinking of working in Brazil now”, said the top hat, last Wednesday (14 ).

Duilio is certain that the justification is true. Pereira’s was not.

The Portuguese had a proposal to renew his contract with Corinthians until the end of 2023. He refused, saying he needed to return to his country and pay attention to his sick mother-in-law. Then he settled with Flamengo – which until the publication of this text had its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, not in Lisbon.

“The guy lied. But Corinthians is much bigger than everyone else and goes on with its life”, declared the president.

Something similar to what was said in 2015, when Guerrero left Corinthians for Flamengo. The Peruvian did not name any sick relatives, but he broke a promise he had repeatedly made that he would never play for another Brazilian club.

The guarantee was initially given in an interview with Gazeta Esportiva, in January 2013, still in the heat of the recent World Cup conquest. Then, until he left for Rio two and a half years later, he said again, on multiple occasions: “In Brazil, I only have one team”.

“And he kept his promise! He didn’t play for any other team in Brazil”, laughs black and white Mauricio Poyatos, 45. “He didn’t play for Flamengo, he didn’t play for Inter. And he didn’t play for Avaí”, laughs the clerk.

Paolo defended Flamengo from 2015 to 2018 and was at Internacional from 2019 to 2021. In 2022, aged 38, he wore the shirt of Avaí, relegated in the Brazilian Championship. He participated in ten matches, four as a starter, without a single goal.

“Corinthians believed in Guerrero, who wasn’t even that well known in Brazil and had the potential to grow here. But he sold out and nowadays he’s not remembered anymore”, says treasurer Priscila Clementino de Almeida, 35.

“To say that Guerrero wasn’t an important player in winning the title would be a lie, but he didn’t go to Japan alone. That was clear mainly from the work that Tite did with the squad, he motivated everyone there”, adds the fan.

The striker scored both goals for Corinthians in the championship. With his head, he defined the difficult 1-0 victory over Al Ahly, from Egypt, in the semifinals, in Toyota. Also with his head, in a crying, sweaty and whitewashed way, he established the triumph score over the English Chelsea, in the decision, in Yokohama, another 1-0.

Idolized by Fiel until the middle of 2015, he was not well received in the visits he made to the Itaquera stadium after that. In 2016, in a 4-0 black and white victory, with two goals by Ángel Romero, the crowd sang: “Doctor, I’m not mistaken, Paraguayans are better than Peruvians.”

The club has adopted the practice of wishing the old number 9 shirt happy birthday, on its internet pages, every January 1st. There are those who applaud, but the most common reaction is curses like “Guerrero mercenary” and questions like “whose idol?”

The hatred even cooled with time – and with the attacker’s diminishing relevance. Today, the sentiment is closer to a sneer. There is a portion of the crowd that bets on greater recognition for the player when he is retired.

But the celebration of the ten years of the bi does not take place in an atmosphere of love for the artilleryman. The affection is dedicated especially to Cássio, elected the best athlete of the 2012 World Cup. The goalkeeper continues to wear the Corinthians shirt, as well as Fábio Santos and Paulinho.

Other champions maintained a close relationship with the club. Alessandro is a leader. Danilo is coach of the juniors. Emerson once held a position in the football department. And Tite, ask the Corinthians, will still have it again.

“If Corinthians had a face in that golden era of the team, it would be Tite. He valued the collective, it was never just one. The goal move against Chelsea passes through all the players, including Cássio, until it ends in the header Guerrero”, remembers publicist Ronaldo Lopes Junior, 27.

“Come back, Tite”, cry Priscila, Duilio and many others.

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