São Paulo beat wind and rain to open Sul-Americana with win in Uruguay | OneFootball

Wind, cold, drizzle, an empty stadium… With so many adverse factors, it would almost have been surprising if São Paulo and Boston River had shown anything different from the poor football on display because of the weather conditions on Tuesday night (7), in both teams’ Copa Sudamericana debut.

Even so, the slightest attentive look at the teams made the obvious clear: the Tricolor side is far, far superior to the fragile Uruguayan opponent.

Therefore, just a minimum amount of cohesion would have been enough to secure the win. And so, battling the terrible weather conditions, a shot by Bobadilla early in the second half sealed a 1-0 victory at the Centenario Stadium.

It was not altogether a bad game from São Paulo. Although the mixed lineup fielded by coach Roger Machado failed to create sharp chances and showed plenty of attacking frailty, it controlled the ball and the action for most of the match.

This creates a paradox: while Tricolor had difficulty breaking into the final third and building with greater effectiveness—something they could blame on the wind and the heavy (and soaked) pitch—the opponent’s weakness also meant the Brazilian side did not face all that much resistance.

As he had indicated over the weekend, Roger sent out an alternative lineup, partly because of the four absences picked up before the match. And in part, beyond the difficult setting, there was some difficulty among the attacking players in finding their range. The choice was to stick with the 4-2-3-1. And there was a lack of refinement and better chemistry from names like Tapia and Cauly in the system, even though it was very difficult to direct shots and passes amid what was practically a gale.

The scenario meant that only one big chance came in the first half, when Ferreirinha managed to break into the box and shot wide after shaking off his marker.

After the break, however, São Paulo seemed to have adapted to the weather and the opponent. And the team did the obvious, trying more through balls and long-range shots. On the very first of them, in the 5th minute, Cauly pounced on a loose ball after Tapia mishit his finish and tapped it into the net, but the play was ruled out for offside.

Even so, it was a sign of what was coming. And in the 15th minute, the agony finally ended. Bobadilla received a pass at the edge of the box, brilliantly dribbled past his marker, and fired across goal to score.

With the lead on the scoreboard, the pace dropped, and Tricolor still managed to show up regularly in attack, given the opponent’s fragility, but lacked the polish to be more incisive and direct. As they say, what matters is the three points.

After the opening win, which leaves them tied at the top of Group C, São Paulo have a direct clash for first place in their next Copa Sudamericana match, against Chilean side O’Higgins at Morumbi, at 7 p.m. (Brasília time) next Tuesday (14). Before that, the club travels to Salvador, Bahia, to face Vitória in the Brazilian Championship, at 4:30 p.m. (Brasília time) on Saturday (11).

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