Corinthians preparations for the Fifa Club World Cup in Japan in December are fully underway and Tite, head coach of the current Brasileirão and Copa Libertadores champions, has admitted that a few places on the plane are still available and that he will use the next 2 league games to finalise the squad.
Corinthians have to submit their final list of 35 players to Fifa by the end of October, but will then be required to trim this to just 23 players later in November. While the coach has a core set of players who, barring injury, are guaranteed to be on the plane, he has left it open for some of the younger players, in particular the 18-year-old playmaker Giovanni, to fight for a surprise inclusion.
He said: “It is no exaggeration to say that the game in Varginha can be a passage to Japan [for Giovanni], but also along with training, other games, ten-minute entries in some other game … Everything counts.
“Due to injuries all spots are open, only mine is not. I will go; I will climb (laughs). We count the team, with 18 players, playing normally, with good performance."
