🎥 Santa Cruz draw, dump América de Natal out, return to Série C | OneFootball

Maranhão, Barra, and Inter de Limeira had already secured their respective promotions to Serie C for next year.

Only the last semifinalist of Serie D-2025 was left to be determined.

It was up to Santa Cruz to eliminate América de Natal, playing at the Casa de Apostas Arena das Dunas on the night of this Sunday (7).

After winning at Arena Pernambuco by 1 x 0, Santinha sought a 1 x 1 draw in the final stretch of the match in Natal in front of 29,807 attendees.

And they are back to the Third Division. They hadn't competed in the tournament since 2021 and didn't even have a national division in 2024.

The last season consisted of only 13 games, as they only played in the Pernambucano and the first qualifying phase of the Copa do Nordeste.

Meanwhile, the Dragão will endure another edition in Serie D - the third in a row. And with the company of their rival ABC, who were relegated this year.

The semifinals will feature Inter de Limeira 🆚 Barra and Santa Cruz 🆚 Maranhão.

It was with EMOTION

América controlled the actions in the first half.

And even had a penalty awarded. Which was annulled after a VAR review.

The review indicated that the ball hit Balotelli's stomach before touching his arm.

The deserved American goal came two minutes into the second half.

Alexandre Aruá received from Souza, had space, and beat Rokenedy.

Rokenedy was preventing worse for the Pernambuco team.

The Dragão continued with more game volume.

But without managing the goal to avoid a penalty shootout.

Then Santa Cruz managed to be effective in the air.

A free-kick taken by Willian Júnior and a goal by Balotelli (36').

The pressure in the final minutes was from the hosts.

Santa held on and then celebrated.

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