Sao Paulo advanced this Wednesday to the semifinals of the South American Cupin which the also Brazilian Atlético Goianiense will be measured, despite losing 2-1 on their visit to ceara and thanks to his greater success in the definition by penalties, in which he won 3-4.
The Sao Paulo tricolor team won the first leg at home 1-0 and a draw away from home in the second leg was enough to qualify, but ended up defeated by Ceará, who, led by Colombian Stiven Mendoza, narrowly celebrated qualifying historical.
The 2-1 victory was not enough for the locals who had to define the classification on penalties, in which they wasted three shots.
For Sao Paulo, Jonathan Calleri, Luciano, Diego and Patrick scored their penalties, but Igor Vinicius hit his on the crossbar and Igor Gomes wasted it. Ceará’s penalties were hit by Victor Luis, Matheus Peixoto and Erick but Guilherme Castilho missed on the first shot and Vina and Fernando Sobral on the last two.
After a confusing start and with jostling between the players, Stiven Mendoza made clear his intention to lead Ceará’s comeback and after 3 minutes he managed to get rid of his markers in a beautiful play and throw a ball to Vina inside the area, but goalkeeper Felipe Alves intercepted him in time.
In the first few minutes the hosts pressed constantly to try to open the scoring quickly but Sao Paulo managed to dominate the center of the pitch and neutralize the attacks.
Once the pressure from Ceará was stifled, Sao Paulo began to come out more orderly and create dangerous plays mainly with Miranda and with the Argentines Giuliano Galoppo and Jonathan Calleri. In the first clear goal play, at 20 minutes, Galoppo finished with his left foot but without aim a counterattack led by Igor Vinicius.
But Ceará, who did not give up pressing, began to overcome the visitors’ control and in the 38th minute Lima scored a goal inside the area after receiving a pass from Vina, but the goal was annulled for offside.
And that reaction was crowned by Stiven Mendoza in the 44th minute when he opened the scoring with a header with which he finished off a play started by Richardson from the right, which allowed Ceará to go ahead at halftime.
Castilho Carvalho (Ceará) disputes a ball with Giuliano Galoppo (Sao Paulo)
Sao Paulo coach Rogerio Ceni totally transformed his team with two changes at the start of the second half and gave it more offensive power with the entry of Rodrigo Nestor. Despite the fact that Ceará did not stop pressing, Rodrigo Néstor and Igor Vinicius began to get together more and supply Calleri with balls.
Sao Paulo equalized 7 minutes into the second half precisely in a play involving these three players and in which Igor Vinicius finished after an assist from Calleri. Despite Sao Paulo’s control, Ceará took advantage of an oversight and an error by Wellington to get back into the lead with a goal from Guilherme Castilho in the 63rd minute.
With both teams going on the attack in an attempt to avoid a penalty shootout, Sao Paulo had chances with Calleri, in one of which his header was saved by Joao Ricardo.
Mendoza, Ceará’s main source of danger, had to be substituted with ten minutes remaining due to injury. In the final minutes, Sao Paulo was more offensive, but Wellington and Igor Vinicius failed to finish.
DATA SHEET
2 – Ceara: Joao Ricardo; Michel Macedo (m.82 Buiú), Messiah, Luiz Otavio, Víctor Luis; Guilherme Castilho, Richardson (m.60, Erick), Lima (m.69, Fernando Sobral), Vina; Stiven Mendoza (m.81, Iuri Castilho) and Ze Roberto (m.60, Matheus Peixoto)
Coach: Marquinhos Santos
1 – Sao Paulo: Philip Alves; Diego Costa, Miranda, Leo; Igor Vinicius, Pablo Maia (m.45, Gabriel Neves), Giuliano Galoppo (m.45, Rodrigo Néstor), Igor Gomes, Reinaldo (m.56, Wellington) (m.90+4, Patrick); Nikao (m.66, Luciano) and Jonathan Calleri
Coach: Rogerio Ceni
Goals: 1-0, Stiven Mendoza (m. 44); 1-1, Igor Vinicius (m. 53); 2-1, Guilherme Castilho (m.63)
Referee: the Argentine Fernando Rapallini admonished Galappo, Richardson, Igor Vinicius, Victor Luis, Miranda, Vina and Calleri
Incidents: second leg for the quarterfinals of the South American Cup played at the Arena Castelao stadium in the city of Fortaleza before 53,582 spectators
read also
