Vasco are champions of the Brasileiro Feminino A2 | OneFootball

In front of 8,000 fans—the biggest crowd at national women’s competitions this year—Vasco won the Brazilian Women’s A2 Championship this Sunday (20) at São Januário, in Rio de Janeiro.

The Girls of the Hill came in with a two-goal advantage after winning the first leg 3-1 in Minas Gerais. Even though they lost this Sunday’s match to the Minas Gerais side, who won 2-1, the Cruzmaltino lifted the trophy with a 4-3 aggregate score. It was Vasco’s only defeat in the competition, after an unbeaten campaign up to that point.

Itabirito apply pressure, but Vasco hold firm

Needing to cut into the deficit, the Gatas do Mato opened the scoring after a mistake while playing out from the back by Vasco’s goalkeeper, who gave the ball away for Bruna Marques to receive it inside the box and find the net just 4 minutes into the match.

Itabirito opened the scoring and came close to taking the Women’s A2 final to penaltiesCredits: Thiago Ribeiro/Staff Images/CBF

Itabirito kept creating chances to extend their lead, hitting the post and producing good shots from outside the box. With their opponents on top and struggling to take control of the game, Vasco only managed to respond in first-half stoppage time, when they posed more danger from a free kick that took a deflection and fell to Lourdes, but goalkeeper Karen Hipólito parried it away and preserved Itabirito’s lead.

Just two minutes into the second half, Luana Rodrigues struck a precise rebound and scored a brilliant goal into the left corner, leveling the aggregate score and sending the decision to penalties. Backed by their fans, the Girls of the Hill kept pushing to regain control of the match until, in the 35th minute, they managed to pull one back through Ju Santos.

Eight thousand fans attend the Women’s A2 final at São JanuárioCredits: Thiago Ribeiro/Staff Images/CBF

The final also stood out for the crowd in attendance—8,004 people—surpassing last year’s A2 final between Santos and Botafogo at Vila Belmiro. It is also this year’s biggest crowd in national women’s competitions. Until then, the record had been 5,811 fans at the first leg of the Brasileirão Women’s A1 semifinal between Bahia and Corinthians, played at Arena Fonte Nova last Tuesday (15).

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