Author: Serg Atrakhov, Vishwajit Sawant
Red Bull Bragantino (Bra) – AMÉRICA-MG (Bra) – 3:3 (penalty 3-4)
The 1-1 draw in the first leg left the opponents with an equal chance of reaching the quarter-finals. The hosts quickly opened the scoring at the Nabi Abi – Sorriso in the fifth minute.
The referee added just three minutes to the first half. If you thought that nothing more interesting would happen before the break and got distracted by your own business, you were very much mistaken. At 45+1, Gonzalo Mastriani leveled the score at 1-1. At 45+3, Sorriso scored twice, heading in with precision to make it 2-1. Considering that the teams were celebrating a goal, the referee added a few more minutes and, on 45+5, Eder Ferreira closed down the cross from a free-kick to make it 2-2 with his head. Minutes of a lot of fire.
In the 57th minute, Leo Ortiz put Bragantino ahead for the third time – 3-2. We noticed an interesting feature: in this game, the teams only scored one goal each. And America didn’t break this “tradition”. At 90+6, the host player made a handball in his area. Gonzalo Mastriani scored twice from the penalty spot: 3-3.
He was the first to approach the ball to open the penalty shoot-out. But this time, he hit it badly – it grazed the left post. Leo Ortiz, who also scored his team’s third goal, responded with the same inaccurate shot – Matheus hit the ball aimed at the center of the goal. The opponents’ second, third and fourth attempts were accurate. Fifth shot – Ale scored, and Thiago Borbas hit the goalkeeper. In the quarter-finals, América-MG will play Fortaleza.
SÃO PAULO (Bra) – San Lorenzo (Arg) – 2:0
Recovering from a 0-1 defeat away from home is not the most difficult task for a club like São Paulo. It’s true that, as early as the 22nd minute, the situation could have become seriously complicated. Nahuel Barrios’ shot wasn’t very accurate – the ball hit the crossbar. The hosts were lucky.
Literally five minutes later, they could have scored themselves. Batalla deflected Rato’s shot into the bottom corner. Another shot – the defender cleared the ball off the goal line. Another shot – the goalkeeper deflected Alisson’s shot for a corner. In another episode, the referee missed a penalty for a foul on Luciano. But São Paulo still got what they wanted before the break. Calleri closed down Rato’s free-kick with his head – 1-0, and 1-1 on aggregate.
Let’s be honest, San Lorenzo had no chances in the second half. The visitors never scored in 90 minutes. São Paulo wanted to resolve all issues not in the penalty shootout, so in the 67th minute they scored their second goal. Rodrigo Nestor gave Luciano a graceful pass – 2-0 to the delight of more than 50,000 fans at the Morumbi Stadium. Incidentally, the team has been strengthened by the inclusion of Lucas Moura and James Rodriguez for the next stages.
LDU QUITO (Ecu) – Ñublense (Chi) – 3:3 (penalty 4-3)
The winner of this pair faced their rivals in the São Paulo quarter-finals. LDU Quito won a narrow 1-0 victory in Chile. In the 27th minute of the home match, the Ecuadorians increased their lead. Jhojan Julio closed down the cross with his head from the flank. In response to the attack, Raimundo Rebolledo went down in the hosts’ area. Patricio Rubio converted the penalty with no problem, sending the ball into the top right corner with no chance for Alexander Dominguez: 1-1. In the 60th minute, Richard Mina scored an own goal to level the aggregate score.
The referee added six minutes to the second half, which was marked by a brilliant finish. In the 91st minute, Sebastián González Baquero scored for LDJ Quito, but before the local fans had time to rejoice at reaching the quarter-finals, Manuel Rivera hit a flying ball in the 93rd minute, sending it exactly into the left corner of the goal. It was a penalty shoot-out. LDU Quito converted four out of four attempts. Nublense failed to score from two of their five shots. Alexandra Dominguez saved shots from Rivera (who hit the third) and Rubio (who hit the fifth). LDU Quito will face São Paulo to reach the semi-finals.
CUP SUDAMERICANO 1/4
- Defense and Justice (Arg) – Botafogo (Bra)
- LDU (Ecu) – São Paulo (Bra)
- Estudiantes (Arg) – Corinthians (Bra)
- Fortaleza (Bra) – América-MG (Bra)