Cuesta e Robert Renan reunite amid Vasco defensive crisis against São Paulo at São Januário | OneFootball

Cuesta e Robert Renan reunite as Vasco host São Paulo at São Januário on Saturday, the Colombian returning to the starting XI for a league match after more than two months amid a defensive slump. Saldivia is suspended and Barros is a doubt.

According to Globo.com, Vasco have conceded in every Brasileirão game this year, with only three clean sheets in 2026, against Nova Iguaçu and Madureira in the Carioca and against Barracas Central in the Sudamericana opener with a reserve-heavy side. The team have shipped 25 in 22 matches.

Cuesta began 2026 as a starter, with Saldivia, a Fernando Diniz signing, in reserve. Right knee pain cost him his place, and the Uruguayan kept it under Bruno Lazaroni and Renato Gaúcho. He started the first three league rounds, defeats to Mirassol and Bahia and a draw with Chapecoense, and also the Carioca quarter-final against Volta Redonda, before injury left him on nine appearances for 2026.

Saturday brings their 22nd start as a pairing, the seventh in 2026. They arrived together late in the second transfer window and settled quickly, going 419 minutes without conceding across four straight wins over Cruzeiro, Fortaleza, Fluminense and Bragantino, the club’s best league run under Fernando Diniz.

Form tailed off. After four clean sheets in their first five outings, only one followed in the next 16 together, the 0-0 first leg of the Copa do Brasil final at Corinthians’ Neo Química Arena. In 2026 they have conceded in every match when paired.

That final damaged Cuesta’s standing. In the Maracanã return he lost Yuri Alberto for the opener and was late on Memphis for the second, struggling both in duels and with a high line. He had been recalled in the last FIFA window of 2025 but has not been called since by Néstor Lorenzo.

Source: Globo.com