Copinha: São Paulo edge Portuguesa to reach knockout stage | OneFootball

São Paulo faced a tough challenge but defeated Portuguesa 2-0 on Tuesday night (13th) to advance to the 3rd phase of the Copinha, the country's main under-20 competition, in a match at the Walter Ribeiro stadium in Sorocaba.

Having qualified for another knockout stage, the Tricolor will now play against Operário-PR this Thursday (15th) at 7 PM (Brasília time). Midfielders Djhordney and Pedro Ferreira scored the goals for the victory in the countryside.

LOTS OF HITS AND NO GOALS

The first half in Sorocaba was extremely intense, sometimes even a bit beyond the limit, giving the referees a hard time. Neither team created great scoring opportunities, and the goalless score was indeed the fairest outcome.

The Tricolor was slightly superior to Lusa in the initial stage, but posed more danger through corner plays or shots from outside the area. However, nothing that warranted opening the score.

ALL OUT IN THE 2ND HALF

In the early minutes of the second half, Gustavo Santana had a great chance with a header but missed. At 14’, the ball finally landed at the feet of the striker Paulinho. Igor Felisberto made a good play on the right and crossed to the number 9, who adjusted and shot, but the ball hit the Portuguese post.

The Tricolor got excited and created another good chance shortly after. Again with Felisberto, who crossed and found Tetê. The skillful number 7 shot hard, but hit the side netting.

At 22 minutes, Paulinho led a counterattack and shot with his left foot from outside the area, but over the bar. The forward was selfish and could have passed to a teammate who was free on the left, causing complaints.

FINALLY, THE GOALS!

And it was, of course, from another dangerous corner by Tetê that the first São Paulo goal came. The Portuguesa defense got all tangled up trying to clear the danger and the ball fell to Djhordney, who smashed it into the net to open the score at 27 minutes.

Lusa tried to push forward in search of an equalizer but suffered a lethal counterattack from the Tricolor. Lucyan made a great individual play and set up number 10 Pedro Ferreira, who was free to simply push it into the back of the net and secure São Paulo's qualification.

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