Copinha: In a tumultuous game, São Paulo beats Cruzeiro and goes to the semifinals

The classic Choque-Rei, between São Paulo and Palmeiras, will decide one of the finalists of the São Paulo Junior Football Cup. This Wednesday (19) night, Tricolor beat Cruzeiro 2-1 at the Anacleto Campanella stadium, in São Caetano do Sul (SP), for the quarterfinals. The duel was marked by unforeseen events that delayed the game before the ball rolled and during the match.

Game over in São Caetano do Sul! Tricolor is in the semifinals! #CRUxSPFC (1-2)

⚽ Maioli
⚽ Vitinho#Copinha22 #MadeInCotia #VamosSãoPaulo pic.twitter.com/6RtxjjjgvE

— Sao Paulo FC (@SaoPauloFC) January 20, 2022

The semifinal will be played this Saturday (22), at 19:00 (Brasília time), at Arena Barueri. As in the professional classics from São Paulo, the match will have a single crowd, following the determination of the state authorities, to avoid confrontations between organized fans.

As they have a better campaign (seven wins, against six triumphs and a draw for Verdão), São Paulo will be the only one to be able to take fans to the game that will decide one of the classifieds for the final on Tuesday (25), still without a place and time. defined by the São Paulo Football Federation (FPF). The other finalist will come out of the confrontation between Santos and América-MG, which will face each other this Friday (21), at 8 pm, in São Caetano do Sul.

Tricolor seeks the fifth title in Copinha. The last achievement was in 2019, with striker Antony, now at Ajax (Holland), joining the champion squad. Coincidentally, that team also eliminated Cruzeiro in the quarterfinals.

Blackout, ambulance and turnaround

Scheduled for 21:30, this Wednesday’s game would initially be postponed to 22:00 due to a power outage in the stadium. With the gradual return of lighting, FPF went back and decided to keep the original schedule. However, the ambulance that provided service to Anacleto Campanella had to attend to an incident outside. As the ball could not roll without the vehicle having returned, the match started half an hour late.

The first half started warm and it looked like it would heat up in the 30th minute, when Cruzeiro took the lead. The striker Vitinho took a corner from the right and the steering wheel Ageu, with his head, sent it to the nets. Five minutes later, a new power outage in the stadium left the game paralyzed for another 20 minutes. São Paulo restarted the match better and reached the tie in stoppage time, precisely in the 66th minute. Caio was launched from the right, behind the defense. He crossed low, the ball deflected in the defense and left for the also striker Maioli to finish, leaving everything the same.

The Tricolor returned from the break at a frenetic pace and piled up opportunities. At seven minutes, Caio invaded the area from the left and hit the crossbar. At 14, striker Luiz Henrique received from Vitinho in the face of Denivys, but stopped at the celestial goalkeeper. Two minutes later, Caio finished off the cross and forced the Cruzeiro archer to make another save.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! #MadeInCotia #Copinha22 #VamosSãoPaulo pic.twitter.com/pJgQpUWDcz

— Sao Paulo FC (@SaoPauloFC) January 20, 2022

The São Paulo pressure did not decrease. At 32, Denivys had a reflex to save an unintentional deflection by defender Matheus. Afterwards, there was no way. The steering wheel Pablo opened for midfielder João Adriano, who entered the area on the left and crossed low for Vitinho to finish. The kick exploded in Matheus and left the goalkeeper’s reach, decreeing the turn of the score. Cruzeiro launched the attack to seek a tie, without success.