It was a historic Sunday morning for Brazilian women’s football. In the first leg of the grand final of the Brasileirão A1, Internacional and Corinthians drew 1-1 and, in addition, took to Beira-Rio the largest audience of a women’s soccer match ever recorded in the country. Driven by a campaign to exchange tickets for food collected for donation, 36,330 people attended the stadium in Porto Alegre and witnessed a highly disputed duel, with each team prevailing in one half of the game.
Millene opened the scoring for Gurias Coloradas in the first half and Jheniffer equalized in the second. In the final duel, next Saturday (24), at Neo Química Arena, in São Paulo, whoever wins takes the title – which would be the fourth for Timão and unprecedented for Internacional. A tie means a penalty shootout. And there is still the expectation for a new record breaking. Corinthians has already summoned its fans for this.
End of the game! The Brabas drew with Internacional in the first match of the @BRFemale!
Internacional 1 ? 1 Corinthians
⚽ Jennifer
The return match will be next Saturday (24), at Neo Química Arena, at 2 pm.#InvasãoPorElas#RespeitaAsMinas#Go Corinthians pic.twitter.com/cM5ZFMAZev
— Corinthians Futebol Feminino (@SCCPutFeminino) September 18, 2022
Encouraged by the massive presence of the crowd on a sunny morning, the Gurias Coloradas started the game on top of their opponents, creating several opportunities. Before the 15th minute, goalkeeper Lelê had already appeared well in four moves. In one of them, Andressa had the ball stolen by Millene and the Corinthian goalkeeper avoided the goal that seemed right, leaving boldly at the feet of the striker of the gaucho team.
Soon after, Duda took a corner from the right and hit the crossbar of the São Paulo team.
At 31, however, the goal finally came. Duda stole the ball on the right, advanced and crossed low. Millene dominated already inside the area, straightened his body and kicked to beat Lelê and open the scoring. It was the player’s eighth goal in the championship.
Simply Millene Fernandes! The top scorer opened the scoring in the final! ??⚽️ #INTxCOR (1-0) #BrasileirãoFemininoNeoenergia
? Cris Mattos / Staff Images Woman / CBF pic.twitter.com/gbzlCp1xpm
— Brasileirão Feminino Neoenergia (@BRFeminino) September 18, 2022
In the second half, the roles were reversed. It was Timão that broke free and created the best opportunities. The first one was enough to tie. At 12 minutes, after a long shot from the right, Jheniffer appeared behind the defense and gained speed to appear face to face with goalkeeper Mayara, touching her exit to score.
Shortly after, in a first-time kick from the edge of the area, Gabi Portilho took a lot of danger to the colorado goal. Inter were left with ten after Belinha’s expulsion for violent entry, at 40 and held on with one less until the end. He still suffered a little, since at 46, Vic hit a not very strong kick but well placed that forced Mayara to make a difficult defense in the right corner. But everything ended the same.
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING WE LIVE IN BEIRA-RIO, FAN! WE ENTER HISTORY! THANK YOU, THE GIRLS DESERVE IT! ??️?? #GiganteDasGurias
?Staff Images Woman / CBF pic.twitter.com/71FkwWPfaF
— Sport Club Internacional (@SCInternacional) September 18, 2022
Timão is confident of its solidity to win the third consecutive Brazilian title and the fourth in five years. The team has only been defeated once in 20 games in this edition and is undefeated at home. Internacional, on the other hand, clings to their good performance in recent knockouts: both in the quarterfinals (against Flamengo) and in the semis (against São Paulo), the Gurias Coloradas drew in Beira-Rio and managed to advance to the stage for having won the matches. out of home.
