Paulinho shines as São Paulo reach Sub-20 Paulistão last 16 | OneFootball

Number 9 shook the nets when Tricolor was struggling to score (Photo: Reproduction/Instagram)

MARCIO MONTEIRO

@avantmtricolor

São Paulo had five players who train with the professionals at Barra Funda for this Friday afternoon's (12) knockout match against Mauá, but won 2-0 thanks to the brilliance of their number 9, top scorer Paulinho, who scored the opening goal and paved the way for the team's qualification to the round of 16 in the Paulista Under-20 Championship.

Playing at home, at the CFA Laudo Natel, in Cotia, Tricolor controlled the match from start to finish, but had a lot of difficulties to break through Mauá's defense. Goalkeeper João Pedro, fullbacks Maik and Nicolas, center-back Igão, and forward Lucca strengthened Allan Barcellos' team and contributed to the qualification.

The match was attended by stars Lucas Moura and Ferreirinha in the stands of Cotia, cheering for their younger teammates. On the field, Paulinho was involved in the main offensive plays and scored the first with a header, after a beautiful assist from Felisberto, and Nicolas closed the account at 2-0 in the match's injury time.

TRIED TO SETTLE EARLY

Tricolor started by pressing hard in attack and almost opened the scoring with a dangerous header in the early minutes in Cotia. Maik was the team's main offensive point on the right, with many runs, but the team couldn't create big scoring chances.

The Made in Cotia players started to loosen up and finally created good goal opportunities, but the vast majority were shot wide. When they were on target, they were stopped by good saves from the opposing goalkeeper.

In the injury time of the 1st half, an unbelievable moment. First, after a corner kick, the São Paulo ball hit the post, and on the rebound, Mauá's defense cleared it on the line to take the 0-0 into the break.

FINALLY, THE GOALS

16 minutes into the second half, São Paulo created a great chance. The team made a beautiful exchange of passes on the right side of the attack and left Paulinho in front of the goal. The top scorer number 9 shot hard and low, but the ball went just wide of the post.

At 22’, the goal finally came. Igor Felisberto expertly took a free kick from the right onto the head of Paulinho, who this time did not miss and bulged the net in favor of Tricolor. Shortly after, Juan Potes almost extended the lead for the Cotia team, but the goalkeeper made a great save.

And in the injury time of the match, Tricolor proved that aerial ball is one of their main strengths. On a corner kick, Nicolas jumped higher than everyone else and headed the ball into the back of Mauá's net, securing São Paulo's place in the next phase of the state youth championship.

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