Ituano and Corinthians face off at the Novelli Júnior stadium, in the city of Itu, in the interior of São Paulo, for the 2nd round of the group stage of the Campeonato Paulista. The confrontation is scheduled to take place on the evening of this Wednesday, January 24, 2024, starting at 7:30 pm.
Ituano
With the advantage of playing in front of their fans, at Novelli Júnior, the Ituano team, which is in the second national division and has been trying to claim a place in the national elite, also wants to surprise in the São Paulo championship, where it struggled last season to avoid relegation to Series A2.
However, in addition to qualifying for the quarter-finals, Itu’s team even defeated Corinthians themselves to reach the semi-finals of the tournament, where they faced Palmeiras, who would later become champions.
In the current edition, Ituano faced São Bernardo away from home and didn’t played well, losing 2-0 without offering much resistance to the negative result.
The result left it in the fourth and last position on the leaderboard of Group A of the Campeonato Paulista, still without any points won so far, being three points away from the G-2 of the competition.
Only 1 victory, 2 draws and 2 defeats were recorded in the last 5 official matches, beating Sampaio Corrêa, drawing with Avaí and Chapecoense, in addition to losing to Juventude and also to São Bernardo.
Playing as home team, at the Novelli Júnior stadium, in Itu, the Ituano team recorded a recent campaign with 3 wins, 5 draws and only 2 defeats in the last 10 matches played.
Conclusion:
Corinthians, led by coach Mano Menezes, arrives for this duel with the mission of maintaining 100% success in the competition and isolating itself in the lead, aiming to avoid further complications in the fight for classification.
In the opening round of the competition, Timão faced Guarani at the Neo Química Arena and even without presenting a brilliant performance, they still did enough to win by a slim score of 1-0, pocketing three precious points.
Currently, the black and white club is in first place of the leaderboard of Group C of the Campeonato Paulista, with 3 points achieved so far, two above Mirassol, which appears in second place.
In their 5 most recent official matches, they recorded 3 wins, no draws and 2 defeats, beating Vasco, Guarani and Coritiba, in addition to losing to Bahia and Internacional.
In the last 10 games played as a visitor, the Corinthians team recorded a performance of 4 wins, 2 draws and 4 defeats.
Conclusion:
Owner of a technically far more qualified squad than their opponents, Corinthians arrives for this match as favorites to win and justifies a pre-game bet in their direction, with the expectation of further improving the performance presented in their debut.