Coritiba has a relegation campaign at Couto Pereira and is betting on direct confrontations

Coritiba cannot turn Couto Pereira into an ally in this Brazilian Championship. With the 1-0 defeat to Cruzeiro, last Thursday (30), in the 21st round, Coxa fell to the position of second worst host in the competition. Furthermore, they fell to the second part of the table, in 11th place, with 27 points won.

Before the disappointing clash against Raposa, the fans prepared a special reception and threw a beautiful pyrotechnic party. It was no use. On the field, once again, Coxa did not respond to the support from the stands and ended up defeated.

In ten home matches in this Series A, Alviverde won just 12 of the 30 points played, with three wins, three draws and four defeats: a 40% success rate. Coxa appears ahead of only Chapecoense in the home team ranking.

The team was overtaken by Internacional, who added another point at Beira-Rio in the draw with Flamengo in the same round. The performance at Couto is that of a team fighting against relegation and contrasts with Coritiba’s campaign as a visitor, which is the third best in the championship, where Coxa has already won 15 points.

The last victory in front of the fans came in the 17th round, when the team led by Fernando Seabra sought a comeback against Bahia and won 3-2. Since then, Coxa hosted Palmeiras and Cruzeiro and were defeated in both matches.

After the defeat to Cruzeiro, Seabra admitted that the team was below the expected level, especially at the beginning of the match. For the coach, there was a lack of defensive aggressiveness against the Minas Gerais team.

“In this game against Cruzeiro, we also started without defensive aggression. And that was what worried me at the beginning of the game. It was clear that we weren’t able to produce our best as we were able to do”, he analyzed.

The coach also compared the performance with previous matches. Against Palmeiras, Coritiba managed to defend in an organized manner in the first half, but showed little aggression. In the final stage, they had more momentum, but lost organization.

Coritiba will have a decisive sequence at home

The next appointment at Couto Pereira gained even more importance. Coritiba will host Chapecoense, on Saturday (8), at 8:30 pm, precisely the only team with a lower home performance than Coxa in the Brazilian Championship.

In addition to ending the winning streak, Alviverde needs to overcome a direct opponent in the fight for permanence to regain confidence in front of the fans and avoid getting closer to the bottom of the table. Currently, Grêmio opens the Z-4, with 22 points achieved.

After the match against Chapecoense, Coritiba will still have eight other commitments as home team in the second round. In total, Coxa will face at Couto Pereira:

• Chapecoense, for the 22nd round;
• Corinthians, for the 24th round;
• Mirassol, for the 26th round;
• Athletico, for the 27th round;
• Botafogo, for the 30th round;
• Grêmio, for the 32nd round;
• Victory, for the 33rd round;
• Santos, for the 35th round;
• Flamengo, for the 37th round.

The sequence reserves clashes against teams that are also close to or below Coritiba in the classification, in addition to the classic Atletiba. Therefore, the games against Chapecoense, Mirassol, Vitória and Santos could have a decisive impact on Coxa’s main objective this season, which is to score 45 points and stay in Serie A.