Author: Amrit Santlani
O
São Paulo suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat to Corinthians on Tuesday at the
at the Corinthians Arena in the first leg of the Copa do Brasil semi-final. Renato Augusto scored twice for the home side, while Cássio Ramos scored an own goal that gave São Paulo something to fight for in the second leg.
Coach Dorival Júnior lamented the poor finishing and missed chances during Wednesday’s defeat, but also added that he hopes for a turnaround in the second leg.
After the match, the 61-year-old coach said that his team played a good game, although they left a lot to be desired when it came to the final pass, which was lacking.
“We had ownership, balance, organization, a team that knew what it wanted on the pitch. The last decision was missing, the last pass, the decisive moment that makes the difference. Corinthians had a different player at their feet, Renato“, said Dorival Júnior.
“Maybe we deserved a better result, yes, we went for it, but unfortunately we weren’t effective at the moment when we most needed a finish,” he added.
Augusto opened the scoring three minutes into the second half, but São Paulo equalized shortly after thanks to an unfortunate own goal from Ramos.
Nine minutes before the end of regulation time, Corinthians scored again through Augusto, who completed his brace and gave his team the advantage going into the second leg on August 17.
Dorival was full of praise for Augusto, who he called the best player on the pitch.
“Few teams have a player of that level. Renato is one of them. He made a difference. Corinthians had two chances and took them both off the foot of a star player. Renato was very well marked, but the ace finds spaces that sometimes you don’t see. Renato wasn’t able to get in due to the effectiveness of our marking for most of the game” added the veteran coach.
Before the return leg, São Paulo have plenty of other games to prepare for, as they face San Lorenzo in the last 16 of the Copa Sudamericana, as well as Serie A matches against the likes of Bahia, Atlético Mineiro and Flamengo.