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At 35 minutes into the second half, São Paulo beat Fortaleza 2-0 in Morumbi and had in their hands the qualification for the quarterfinals of the Brazilian Cup. It was then that Diego Costa missed a pass in the middle of the field and allowed a counterattack in which David undermined the home team’s advantage.
Still, São Paulo continued to qualify – the first leg was 3-3 – and needed to hold on for another 10 minutes to celebrate. Rogério Ceni, in the rival bank, only had the option of sending his team to the press, and he did.
+ How was the tie by 2 to 2, with a place on penalties
I just didn’t expect to have the help of São Paulo himself. At 40 minutes, Márcio Araújo, who replaced the suspended Fernando Diniz on the bench, began to make exchanges in the team.
He took out Brenner, author of two goals for São Paulo, and also Gabriel Sara and Igor Gomes. He put Léo and Arboleda, who joined Bruno Alves and Diego Costa in lightning with four defenders ahead of Tiago Volpi.
And Fortaleza, who pressed, was even closer to São-Paulino’s goal, as they no longer had to worry about being counterattacked.
Volpi and Leo celebrate the place of São Paulo – Photo: Marcos Ribolli
São Paulo exaggerated and paid the price at 46 minutes. Even with plenty of defenders, Roger Carvalho managed to head a header without scoring to equalize in extra time.
The choice of assistant Márcio Araújo almost cost him a classification that seemed quite safe until the middle of the second half.
However, it must have cost a rare night’s sleep for manager Fernando Diniz after a decisive game of the season.
São Paulo failed in Paulista and Libertadores with unexpected eliminations in the quarterfinals of the state for Mirassol and in the group stage of the continental, ghosts that will continue to haunt Diniz this year whenever the team runs into trouble.
This time, São Paulo advanced in the Copa do Brasil. Tiago Volpi, who had already been important at the start of the final stage by making two saves, was a hero in the penalty shootout when he shot Gabriel Dias’ penalty.
But bad decisions made at the end of the game erase a consistent game until then, with São Paulo again well in attack and with Brenner shining with two goals again. The elections, however, leave the team facing more questions than praise after qualifying, the first of the season in playoffs.
+ Read more news about São Paulo
In this context, however, it should be noted that the team kept their nerves in place after the Fortaleza draw. The result did not interfere with the penalty, all – and not a few, ten – perfect. It fell to Leo to score the goal that kept São Paulo in contention for an unprecedented title for the club.
On Wednesday, São Paulo starts a new elimination contest against Lanús, in Argentina, for the second phase of the South American Cup. The tricolor rival in the Brazil Cup is not known, as the other round of 16 have not yet started.
