Match halted for racism, São Paulo beat Fortaleza in Copa do Brasil U20 | OneFootball

São Paulo took a big step towards qualifying for the Copa do Brasil U-20 by defeating Fortaleza 2-0 this Wednesday (12th), at the Presidente Vargas stadium in Fortaleza (CE), in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the youth competition.

The Cotia gems Pedro Ferreira and Gustavo Santana scored the goals for the Tricolor’s victory, in a match that had to be stopped by the referee in the first half due to an accusation of racism made by São Paulo player Matheus Ferreira.

Even away from home, the Made In Cotia opened the scoring just 9 minutes into the match. In the play, Pedro Ferreira took advantage of the rebound from Igor Felisberto’s cross and finished firmly to put the Tricolor ahead.

The regrettable incident happened at the 26th minute of the first half. Matheus Ferreira and the Chilean Rocco, from the Ceará team, started arguing and the opponent allegedly said “shut up, you monkey,” according to reports from the São Paulo delegation.

The referee Paulo Vitor de Lima Pereira promptly initiated FIFA’s anti-racism protocol, but four minutes later, after much protest and little resolution, the match continued as normal with no punishment. Rocco was substituted and did not return for the second half for Fortaleza.

The Tricolor’s defender and captain Andrade did not mince words and demanded punishment for Rocco.

“We can’t allow this anymore. He has to go straight to the police station. We have to resolve this as soon as possible. I didn’t hear it, but my teammates did,” said São Paulo’s number 4.

Resuming the game in the second half, the Tricolor increased the lead at 15 minutes with Gustavo Santana, who took advantage of a defensive error, won the challenge with the goalkeeper, and pushed the ball into the empty net.

The second leg will take place next Wednesday (19th), at 3:30 pm (Brasília time), at CFA Laudo Natel, in Cotia. São Paulo can lose by up to one goal and will still qualify for the Copa do Brasil semifinals.

Meanwhile, the Tricolor is also playing the final of the Campeonato Paulista U-20 against Santos. After a 1-1 draw at Vila Belmiro, the teams will face each other again this Sunday (16th), at 3 pm, at the Francisco Ribeiro Nogueira stadium, in Mogi das Cruzes (SP).

U-20: João Pedro; Igor Felisberto (Isac, 17/2), Igão, Andrade (Osorio, halftime) and Felipe; Matheus Ferreira (Kaio, halftime), Djhordney (Guilherme Reis, 11/2) and Pedro Ferreira (Nicolas, halftime); Tetê (Lucca, 11/2), Gustavo Santana and Juan Potes. Coach: Allan Barcellos.

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