Heroic São Paulo still winless, but draw at Maracanã lifts spirits | OneFootball

And São Paulo completed its seventh straight match without a win in the Brazilian Championship. But let’s be honest, at least this Sunday (26), no one is going to complain.

Playing at a packed Maracanã against a feared Flamengo side, Tricolor found out that the so-called bogeyman was not all that scary after all. And so they put in a good performance, controlling most of the action and managing to keep the opponent’s intensity in check.

It felt like a fantasy up to a point, and the supposed reality of the São Paulo mantra — excellent opening stages and cursed second halves — even threatened to show itself again when they fell behind. But Calleri had his redemption, scored with a header, ended a drought that had lasted since April, and sealed the 1-1 draw.

The first third of the game in Rio de Janeiro (RJ) was total São Paulo dominance. A lively Tricolor side that took advantage of the opponent’s misplaced passes and managed to impose its movement, one-twos, and triangles.

The obvious problem was turning that into clear chances, largely because of Artur. If the winger had been the team’s standout in recent matches, this Sunday, stationed on the right flank, he looked a bit off — lost, sleepy, misplacing easy passes, and unable to get involved in the attacks.

Even so, São Paulo had a Marcos Antônio goal ruled out by semi-automated offside, a novelty introduced from this round onward.

From the 20-minute mark on, Flamengo grew into the match. They managed to neutralize things a bit, especially down the left side with Marcos Antônio, and started to show more attacking presence. Then it was the defensive line’s turn to shine, keeping them from breaking into the box or finding balls into the forwards. So much so that their best chance was a shot from outside the area that hit Rafael’s crossbar.

After the break came a scare. In the 11th minute, from a corner, the marking switched off and that Léo Pereira got a strange touch on it, making it look more like an own goal by Wendell.

Despair was already taking over São Paulo minds, after all the trauma from recent matches and the disappointing final stretches is still very much alive, when in the 24th minute the response came. Center back Osório pushed up like a full-back and delivered a perfect cross for Calleri to rise and head it home beautifully to level it.

In stoppage time, Tricolor hearts nearly gave out when the other side even managed to score. But the referees ruled it out for offside.

Despite being heroic and positive, the truth is that the draw does very little for Tricolor. The team sits in 11th place and reaches 26 points, five above the relegation zone and also five behind the qualification spots for the next Copa Libertadores. In other words, right in the middle of everything.

With the derby against Santos postponed, as Santos is playing in the Copa Sudamericana playoff round, São Paulo will only take the field again on August 8 (Saturday), at 4 p.m. Brasília time, against Grêmio, away from home.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.