São Paulo played horribly in Ecuador against LDU and Fortaleza won confidently against América MG. Copa Sudamericana quarterfinals review

Author: Soorya G

LDU (Ecu) – São Paulo (Bra) – 2:1

São Paulo suffered more than a setback when they were beaten by Ecuador’s LDU Quito in the first leg of their Copa Sudamericana quarter-final.

The teams have previously met four times. In the 2014 Copa Libertadores, they were in the same group. São Paulo lost 0-3 away from home, having won 1-0 at home. Both clubs progressed to the last 16 and the Brazilians reached the semi-finals of the tournament. Three years ago, in the 2020 Copa Libertadores, they were back in the same quartet. São Paulo won at home – 3:0, but lost away – 2:4, and didn’t get out of the group, finishing third.

Any club that goes to the Casa Blanca stadium in Quito will find it very difficult. The arena is located at an altitude of 2,850 meters above sea level and is one of the ten highest stadiums on the continent. The air at this altitude is thinner, and the low oxygen content affects the cardiovascular system and muscles. More accustomed to this, the home side usually have an added advantage. However, the experts didn’t anticipate that São Paulo would be so helpless in the first half. Jhojan Julio opened the scoring in the second minute and then assisted Renato Ibarra in the 25th.

Pay attention to the shot statistics before half-time – LDU 9 – São Paulo 0! Rafael repeatedly saved the visitors, and only 0:2 at half-time is to his credit.

Dorival Júnior’s team only managed to adapt a little to the peculiarities of the stadium in the 70th minute. In the 81st minute, Lucas Moura scored the all-important goal – losing 1-2 will make it much easier to play at home.

Dorival Júnior: “I think the early goals broke our team’s confidence. At no point did we recognize each other on the pitch, not least because of LDU’s objectivity. For the first time we conceded two goals in the first half. This gave us a lot of insecurity and the opposing team took advantage of it very well…. There’s no such thing as a defeat that leaves you feeling calm. I’m very honest: we’ve been trying to get the best possible result…. We have to fight and work hard to reverse this initial result. They deserve it, but it’s a 180-minute game and we have the capacity to do better than we did today” concluded the coach.

América-MG (Bra) – Fortaleza (Bra) – 1:3

The match between the two Brazilian teams in Fortaleza and América MG turned out as expected, as América’s problems continued.

Incidentally, in the seventh round of the Brazilian championship, Fortaleza
lost 1-2 to Independência
. This defeat must be particularly disappointing for the team, as in 19 games América have only won 2 games and are currently in last place, 11 points behind the 16th place saviours.

The desire for revenge was too strong, so in the first half the hosts were simply swept off their feet. In the 15th minute, Tinga sent a pass into the box for Guilherme – 0-1. In the 22nd minute, Tomas Pochettino made it 2-0 and in the 41st minute, Guilherme scored twice – 3-0. Note that in the 31st minute, América’s goal was disallowed for offside.

In the second half, João Ricardo saved from a shot by Emmanuel Martinez, but in the 69th minute Gonzalo Mastriani narrowed the gap – 1:3. Note that this was the 15th head-to-head between the teams. Fortaleza now have 10 wins and one draw. América have won four times and are hoping for their fifth victory in a week at the Castelão.