Maik shines, São Paulo reach Paulistão Sub-20 semis in Cotia | OneFootball

With a good performance, especially from right-back Maik and his pair of strikers, São Paulo defeated Ferroviária 2-0 on this rainy Friday afternoon (10th) at CFA Laudo Natel, in Cotia, and advanced to the semifinals of the São Paulo State Under-20 Championship.

After a goalless draw in the first match in Taquaritinga, Gustavo Santana and Paulinho scored the goals for Tricolor in this return leg of the quarterfinals. Now, the Made In Cotia team awaits the outcome of other matches to find out their opponent for the next phase of the Paulistão.

THE GAME

Tricolor dominated the actions in the first half and opened the scoring just 4 minutes in. In the play, Pedro Ferreira made a beautiful pass to Paulinho, who advanced on the right and passed to Gustavo Santana. The number 11 dribbled past the goalkeeper, left the opponent on the ground, and pushed the ball into the empty net to score his ninth goal in the competition. A show of teamwork from the attacking duo in Cotia.

Then at 34’, Maik, who already trains with Tricolor's professional team, received the ball on the right and crossed perfectly for Paulinho, who headed firmly into the back of the net. The right-back had already performed a stunning nutmeg in another play of the match. Watch below:

Under heavy rain in the second half, São Paulo managed the initial lead well, did not face major scares, and secured their spot in the semifinals.

SPEAKING, STRIKER!

“Very happy with the moment I'm living, even happier with the qualification, which has always been our main goal. I just have to highlight the strength of this team, we have shown to be a very united group, that is close-knit, and we managed to get the result in the first half. Due to the weather, it became a bit unusual to extend the lead, and it became a bit more of a tough game, but we managed to secure the qualification, which was our focus,” analyzed the striker Gustavo Santana to TNT Sports after securing the spot.

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