Shaken São Paulo repeat old mistakes, thrashed by Mirassol in opener | OneFootball

2025 seems to not have ended yet for São Paulo. While behind the scenes the club is experiencing its worst institutional crisis in history, with allegations of corruption and President Julio Casares close to facing a vote on whether or not to open an impeachment process, everything went wrong on the field for the team, which ended up losing 3-0 to Mirassol on the night of this Sunday (11), away from home, in the opening of the Campeonato Paulista.

It can't even be said that everything went wrong, as the tone of the match was exactly the same as the one presented by Hernán Crespo's team at the dismal end of the 2025 season.

Without repertoire, São Paulo shows no variation in play. They attack in a block in a 3-2-5 formation with the ball and, when they lose possession, they have many difficulties in defensive recomposition. Every play by the opponent seems dangerous, while on the tricolor side, the offensive attempts are insignificant and easily disarmed.

For this evening, Crespo even tried to innovate by fielding the young Nicolas as a left wing-back. But the team's structure was exactly the same: Sabino on the left side of the defense, a midfield with three defensive midfielders, and an attack formed by Tapia and Luciano.

It wasn't just a matter of not working structurally. Within six minutes, the home team opened the scoring. Daniel Borges was fouled at the edge of the area, the referee gave advantage, and the ball went to Shaylon, who shot from a distance and hit the post. On the rebound, Lucas Mugni, completely free, pushed it into the net.

If the path was already arduous with the minimal disadvantage, things got even more complicated at 19 minutes when Mirassol scored the second. Alesson broke free down the left wing, invaded the area, and attempted a pass; Alan Franco tried to intercept and ended up deflecting it into his own goal, leaving Rafael helpless. The goal was credited to the home team's forward.

The 2-0 scoreline in such a short time practically sealed the deal. For the rest of the first half, an inefficient São Paulo practically only watched Mirassol's movements, who were precise in their tactic of giving the ball to the São Paulo team and then having a clear path through the gaps left in their ineffective attacking attempts.

In the second half, Crespo tried to change things, bringing on Ferreirinha, Maik, and Lucas, gaining speed and more refined quality, but even so, São Paulo couldn't build effectively, except for one chance with Cédric Soares, who received a precise pass from the number 11 on the wing and shot dangerously close to the post.

As things were already bad, they got even worse at 38 minutes when Maik was sent off for a reckless and risky tackle on the opponent, completely ending any chance for the Tricolor to gain more constructive discipline in their plays. Minutes later, José Aldo took advantage of a rebound from Rafael on a cross from Galeano and sealed the thrashing suffered by the Tricolor.

Picking up the pieces from yet another defeat, São Paulo now has a home match to seek rehabilitation. They face São Bernardo at 9:45 PM (Brasília time) on Thursday (15), in a Morumbi likely filled with an atmosphere of demands on the board on the eve of the impeachment vote in the Deliberative Council, a day later.

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