São Paulo held by Boca Juniors, out of the Copa Sul-Americana | OneFootball

São Paulo were eliminated on Tuesday night in the Copa Sudamericana quarterfinals after drawing 1-1 with Boca Juniors at Morumbis. The Argentine side had won 1-0 at La Bombonera last week and advanced on aggregate with a 2-1 score.

The Argentinians’ goal on the night was scored by Flores. Tricolor Paulista, meanwhile, scored through a header from Domingos Duarte. Having advanced, the Argentine team will face Vasco da Gama in the Copa Sudamericana semifinals. The Rio de Janeiro side will not be able to play at São Januário. As a result, Boca are likely to return to the Maracanã, where they lost the 2023 Copa Libertadores to Fluminense.

Poor first half at Morumbis:

First of all, the Brazilians and Argentinians played a very poor first half. São Paulo lacked creativity and urgency to open the scoring and chase the result. Coach Dorival Jr. was even seen complaining to the team about their mistakes before the hydration break.

Boca Juniors did what every Argentine team does when holding an advantage: they slowed the game down and took the pace out of the match whenever possible. They made it to halftime without allowing Tricolor Paulista to threaten the Argentine goal.

Tense second half, with a Boca Juniors goal:

The second half began with Boca slowing the match down, while São Paulo tried to push forward. However, one side still lacked creativity, while the Argentine side lacked any real desire to play. In the 14th minute, the visitors struck first.

Lozano combined well down the right and received a pass from Flores between the center-backs in the attacking half. The defense opened up and left him clear through on goalkeeper Rafael. The shot was good, and the keeper even got a touch on the ball, but could not prevent the goal. On aggregate, it was 2-0 to Boca Jr.

But São Paulo did not give up and quickly equalized. In the 22nd minute, Luciano received the ball in the attacking half, crossed it, and Ryan Francisco finished into the net. But the referee called offside. The play was reviewed by VAR, which confirmed the offside position.

In the 38th minute, Boca threatened again. Villa found Merentiel, who crossed into the penalty area. Ascacíbar was alert to the play, got ahead of his marker and shot, but the ball went wide. São Paulo kept fighting and equalized in the 43rd minute.

André Silva had just come on and was fouled. Artur swung the ball in from the left and found Domingos Duarte, who rose and scored with a header. The goal came too late, and Tricolor could not find another to force a penalty shootout.

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