In free fall: São Paulo disappoints again, Grêmio rally in Brasileirão | OneFootball

Another Brazilian Championship match, another day of disappointment for São Paulo fans.

After at least a solid first half, in which they may not have imposed themselves but did enough not to be troubled by Grêmio and managed an important goal at the end, São Paulo came back from halftime looking sleepy, saw its defense slip up, and ended up suffering a 2-1 comeback defeat this Saturday (8) in Porto Alegre (RS).

It’s not that losing to Grêmio away from home is something we can consider abnormal. But the circumstances demanded greater efficiency from Tricolor at an extremely delicate moment.

The result means the Morumbi club has now gone eight straight matches without a win in the country’s main competition. In other words, Dorival Júnior still does not know what it feels like to earn a victory in the Brasileirão since taking charge of the team.

The situation is more than worrying. And it is made worse by the fact that the team had two long periods with nothing but training: the break for the World Cup before, and now the postponement of the derby against Santos, which gave the team 12 days of rest and training.

In other words, any reasonable fan expected, rightly so, a more convincing performance, a better-drilled team, something new, some solutions…

None of that happened. Pragmatic as ever, Dorival, even with all the new signings available, preferred to keep the same players and setup from the draw against Flamengo. The only change was, believe it or not, Ferreirinha coming in for Artur, who picked up an injury and did not even travel.

You don’t have to be a football expert to know the drop in quality was considerable. Even though it did not create dangerous attacking moves or put the home side under pressure, São Paulo managed things with relative calm in the opening half. The problems were isolated. In defense, where Arboleda was making sloppy mistakes (one of them forced a miracle save from Rafael). Or in attack, where the plays were concentrated on the left, making things easier for the Gauchos to defend.

In the only well-worked move down the left in which Ferreirinha managed to combine effectively—this time with Luciano—the goal came in the 46th minute. From a low cross, their center back Gustavo Martins went in for the ball with Marcos Antônio and ended up knocking it into his own net.

The goal changed attribution three times. At first, it was given to Calleri, since Weverton initially saved the ball and the Argentine managed to get a shot away after São Paulo recovered it. But VAR determined that the ball had already crossed the line. Tough luck for Marcos Antônio, who would finally have scored his first goal for the club.

Everything was going very well, everything seemed right, but… In a script already seen many times this year, the team came back for the second half unfocused and conceded the equalizer almost immediately. In the 2nd minute, from a corner, Carlos Vinícius flicked it on with his head and Wallace took advantage of Arboleda being asleep in his marking to head into the net and make it 1-1.

The scene was already one of complete collapse when São Paulo suffered the fatal blow. In a second half in which it produced nothing and mostly watched the opponent play, in the 40th minute, from a free kick, Pavón shot under the wall and Rafael could not get there in time, sealing the comeback and their first win since May 22.

Stuck on 26 points, the team that once led the competition has now truly set off the alarm bells, sitting only four points above the dreaded relegation zone. São Paulo returns to action in the Brasileirão at 9 p.m. (Brasília time) next Saturday (15), against Coritiba, back at Morumbi after a long spell away due to concerts. Before that, on Tuesday (11), at 9:30 p.m. (Brasília time), it opens its Copa Sudamericana round-of-16 tie against Bolívar, away from home.

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