Flamengo beat Cruz Azul, win Derbi de las Américas, advance in Cup | OneFootball

Larcamón’s Cementeros were unable to overcome a Mengao side that, without looking much superior, made the most of their chances.

Flamengo are the champions of the Derbi de las Américas. In a match that gave us more anticipation than reality, Mengao prevailed 2-1 over Cruz Azul, lifted the title, and advanced to the next stage of the Intercontinental Cup.

From a footballing perspective, the match offered us very little. Mengao managed to open the scoring thanks to a blunder by Gonzalo Piovi while playing out from the back, which quickly turned into a goal thanks to the standout player of the match: Giorgian De Arrascaeta. He feinted past the goalkeeper and finished simply into the empty net.

The goal somewhat woke up La Máquina. Nicolás Larcamón’s men began to press higher up the pitch and it paid off: before the end of the first half, Jorge Sánchez pounced on a rebound at the edge of the box after a poor clearance by Leo Ortiz and, with an unstoppable rocket, leveled the match.

The second half didn’t see much action. Amid inconsequential passing and a lack of urgency in front of goal, Flamengo found a dangerous play that came with suspense. De Arrascaeta took advantage of a completely split Cementeros defense to chip the ball over the goalkeeper and, after a check with the referee’s watch, sealed the final 2-1 score.

With this title—which, by the way, FIFA counts as official—Flamengo advances to the next round of the Intercontinental Cup, where they will face Egypt’s Pyramids for a place in the grand final against Paris Saint-Germain.

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