São Paulo lose to Ceará amid protests, crisis deepens at Morumbi | OneFootball

São Paulo's bad streak seems to have no end in sight.

On a Monday (29th) that already started off strange, with rumors of internal disagreements among the board and protests from the club’s largest organized fan group, Hernán Crespo’s team didn’t seem to have much motivation to bounce back from their elimination in the Copa Libertadores.

And in a sparsely filled Morumbi, emptier than it had been in a long time (the little over 12,000 paying fans marked the stadium’s lowest attendance of the year), the tricolor team was easy prey for Ceará, who won 1-0 tonight in the 25th round of the Brazilian Championship. It’s yet another negative milestone, as the northeastern rival had NEVER beaten Tricolor in São Paulo’s capital before.

If the goal was to give some comfort to the angry São Paulo fans, Crespo’s team saw their plan backfire. With this result, they have only one win and just one goal scored in the last six games, laying bare the problems and internal crisis at Morumbi.

It was a performance far from even being considered satisfactory. Once again apathetic, as they were against LDU last week, São Paulo spent most of the time with unproductive possession, unable to find the final pass to create more clear goal-scoring chances.

Without a natural center forward (once again Crespo bet on Ferreirinha and Luciano up front in his untouchable three-center-back formation), the tricolor team was easy prey for Ceará’s efficient marking whenever they tried to build through the middle. And the attempts to cross balls into the box proved useless given the offensive sector’s lack of effectiveness in this area.

Long-range shots were all that was left. And that’s how the fans found some hope, with São Paulo’s main chances in the game. Twice, the team almost scored. In the 39th minute of the first half, Rodriguinho hit the crossbar after receiving the ball from a set piece. Early in the second half, it was Ferreirinha’s turn to hit the right post after shaking off his marker at the edge of the box.

But it was little, very little, for a slow and spread-out team that, with its high defensive lines, allowed the northeastern opponent to appear on the counterattack. Things got worse at the 30-minute mark, when Rafael Tolói left the field holding his left thigh, dismantling the game plan (not that it was working that well anyway).

Better for Ceará, who scored their goal 10 minutes into the second half. Alisson made a poor clearance on a pass attempt and ended up assisting Pedro Henrique, who controlled the ball, entered the box, dribbled past Rafael, and fired it firmly into the net.

For the rest of the second half, Lucas came on, and the team even increased their pressure in midfield, but once again the attack proved unproductive, with the added problem of Ceará doubling down on their reactive approach. Time ticked away and the fans only moved to boo and curse president Julio Casares again. Lucky for him that this time the stands were empty…

In stoppage time, Ceará almost managed to increase São Paulo’s embarrassment. At 48 minutes into the second half, Guilherme broke away on a counterattack, entered the box, and went down after colliding with Sabino. The referee awarded a penalty, but after being notified by VAR, overturned the decision.

In terms of standings and risk, the result changes little. São Paulo remains isolated in seventh place and was not at risk of being overtaken. However, in terms of objectives, things get tougher, because with 35 points, Tricolor now sees the gap to Bahia, in sixth place and the last team in the Libertadores qualifying zone, widen to five points.

Picking up the pieces, the club now faces a marathon this week. On Thursday (10/2) they face Fortaleza at 7:30 p.m. (Brasília time), away from home. On Sunday (10/5), they have the derby against rivals Palmeiras, again at Morumbi.

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