The math says it’s all open. The score of 0 to 0 at the Neo Química Arena on Wednesday night it didn’t define anything, it didn’t eliminate anyone or hand over the title. But football is rarely limited to arithmetic logic. And, in practice, tonight’s draw was much more generous with the Vasco than with Corinthians.
The Rio team left Itaquera with the clear feeling that he took a step forward. He decides at home, on Sunday, pushed by his fans, in Maracanãwith the symbolic weight of a stadium that tends to change the climate of decisions. The recent record doesn’t matter — just one Vasco victory over Corinthians in the last 15 years. What counts is now. And now it seems to play in Vasco’s favor.
For Corinthians, the feeling is different. Of frustration. Of wasted opportunity. Once again the arena was full, pulsating, pushing the team from the first to the last minute. But, unlike what happened in the semi-final against Cruzeiro, when the victory on penalties built an advantage and confidence, the night ended in anticlimax. It was a game to win. And he didn’t win.
Disallowed goals, tense game
The match looked like a decision from the first minute. Tense, nervous, studied too much. Little space, few chances, a lot of fear. When the ball finally hit the net, it didn’t count: impediment on both sides. Vasco even flirted with a goal at the end, with a ball hitting the post that froze the stands. But zero insisted on remaining on the scoreboard.
As time passed, it became clear who was more comfortable in the game. After about 15 minutes, Vasco realized that Corinthians were not inspired neither aggressive nor willing to take control of the decision. Well armed by Fernando Diniz, who read the opponent with precision and nullified their main offensive routes, especially the support of the full-backs, the Rio team started to control the match. He rolled the ball calmly, occupied the corridors well, made the swing from one side to the other and never seemed threatened. On the contrary: he was the one who came closest to the goal.
SIGA THE FOOTBALL
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Corinthians, in turn, made almost everything wrong. He made a mistake in the game plan drawn up by Dorivalmade mistakes in execution and even in throw-ins. The number of wrong passes was such that the game simply didn’t flow. And, once again, a chronic problem for this team came to light: the enormous difficulty in moving from defense to attack.
Missed the kick
The ball remained a prisoner of the line of four defenders, spinning from one side to the other, without verticality, without boldness, without purpose. There was a lack of transition. There was a lack of infiltration and approximation. Garro was forced to retreat to seek the game in midfield, moving away from Yuri Alberto and Memphis Depaywho practically did not receive a clean ball inside Léo Jardim’s area. Kick, then, no way.
O Corinthians stumbled upon their own mistakes and you have nothing to complain about the result. If there was a moral winner tonight, he would wear black and white — Vasco’s. Timão came out owing football, intensity and, above all, desire. The fans are left to cling to an almost intuitive hope: that it is difficult — perhaps impossible — to play so badly in a decision again. Sunday, at Maracanã, there will be no room for a new game without punch, without organization and without soul. Because the finals don’t forgive those who enter them just to survive.
