Author: Serg Atrakhov, Vishwajit Sawant
Fortaleza (Bra) – América MG (Bra) – 2:1
The Castelão Arena was packed with more than 55,000 passionate fans, and the Leão do Pici didn’t disappoint. Throughout the first half, Fortaleza showed great dominance, controlling possession and orchestrating attacking moves with ease. The opening goal came in the 21st minute, when Guilherme powerfully headed home Tinga’s cross to beat América-MG goalkeeper Cavichioli.
Despite América’s attempts to react, Fortaleza’s firm defense and counter-attacking ability kept them in control. Marinho’s impact moves led to Fortaleza’s second goal in the 64th minute, taking advantage of a mistake by Cavichioli and securing a comfortable lead for the Leão do Pici. In addition, in the second half, Guilherme hit the crossbar and Lucero’s goal was disallowed for offside.
In the final moments, América-MG managed to pull one back through Breno, but it wasn’t enough to change the result.
By the way, this season Fortaleza have already won 4.4 million in prize money for taking part in the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana. Reaching the final will bring in another two million, and the championship – another five. América, who won 2 million 350 thousand dollars, are leaving the tournament. Now, the team’s task is to try not to fly out of the Brazilian championship. The team is in last place, trailing the 16th-placed team by 8 points. Will eighteen games be enough to stay in the elite?
São Paulo (Bra) – LDU Quito (Ecu) – 1:0 (penalty 4-5)
The 1-2 defeat in Ecuador could be justified by the region’s climatic characteristics. But at the Morumbi, the local fans were expecting a completely different game from São Paulo. It’s unlikely that they were happy with the fact that, in the second minute, Alvarado hit the crossbar. Thanks to this, Rafael managed to hit the corner. Before the break, the hosts didn’t create many chances, and those they did create were wasted in mediocre fashion. You can remember just two attempts in the middle of the first half – Dominguez saved shots from Luciano and Calleri.
At the start of the second half (49 minutes), Alvarado was shown a straight red for a harsh foul, leaving the visitors trailing. Yes, the hosts began to have chances more often, with 16 shots. Only Calleri managed to score three times, but Dominguez played with confidence. In the 57th minute, Alisson hit the right post of the LDU goal. It would be simply indecent not to score a goal at home, playing most of the time. In the 77th minute, Hames headed Arboled’s corner into the net – 1-0. Of course, that’s not enough. But at least the score of the two games was the same.
As they were unable to put pressure on their opponents, they had to accept that the fate of the match would be decided on penalties. Nine of the ten players shot accurately. The second blows of the series were decisive. Hames threw the ball over the gate…. The club expected something completely different from an experienced Colombian. But that miss couldn’t have been fatal, because Alzugaray hit the post… but the Argentinian was lucky – the ball didn’t fly into the field, but into the goal. Jhojan Julio rounded off the scoring with his fifth goal to send LDU through to the semi-finals. There, the team is waiting for Argentina’s “Defense and Justice”.
São Paulo leave the tournament with a total of two and a half million in prize money. This season, the team can still save itself. First, she will play in the final of the Copa do Brasil (September 17-24) against Flamengo. In other words, for the first time in its history, it’s quite possible to win this trophy. In the league, Dorival Júnior’s side have dropped to 11th place, but only 8 points separate them from the third line.
Couples from the semi-finals (September 27 and October 4).
- Defense and Justice (Arg) – LDU (Ecu)
- Corinthians (Bra) – Fortaleza (Bra)
With a historic feat, Fortaleza inscribed their name in soccer history as the first team from the northeast to secure a place in the semi-finals of a continental tournament. Their opponents will be Corinthians (in May, they drew 1-1 in the 4th round of the championship at the Arena Neo Química), which guarantees the participation of at least one Brazilian team in the grand final, scheduled for October 28 in Montevideo.