South American: Fortaleza beats Corinthians and goes to the 1st final – 10/03/2023 – Sports

For the first time in its history, Fortaleza reached the final of an international tournament. Playing with the support of the fans at Arena Castelão, in the capital of Ceará – the audience reached 60.4 thousand fans –, the team led by Argentine Juan Pablo Vojvoda beat Corinthians 2-0.

The classification was defined in the second half. In the 4th minute of the final stage, striker Yago Pikachu dominated the ball inside the opponent’s area, getting rid of defenders Fábio Santos and Lucas Veríssimo to hit hard from the edge of the small area to beat goalkeeper Cássio, who had no chance of defending.

A few minutes later, in the 10th minute, captain Tinga received a well-aimed cross from left-back Bruno Pacheco and headed the ball past the Corinthians goalkeeper to increase the score.

Fortaleza’s players came out more determined and dominated the game from the first minutes of the match, giving little space for the Corinthians team to set up attacking moves.

The only more dangerous move by the São Paulo team was in the first half, when striker Yuri Alberto received a free kick inside the area, but shot over goalkeeper João Ricardo, making it easier for Fortaleza’s archer to save.

In the first game, at Neo Química Arena, there was a 1-1 draw, and the victory on Tuesday night guaranteed Fortaleza’s qualification for the final.

“We made history”, summed up Yago Pikachu in an interview shortly after the end of the match. “We are putting our name in the club’s history,” added the player.

It is Leão do Pici’s first final in an international tournament in their second participation in the South American Championship. The Ceará club’s best campaign so far in international tournaments had been the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores in 2022, when they lost to Estudiantes from Argentina.

It is also the first time that a team from the Northeast has reached the South American final. Until then, the best team campaign in the region had been the quarterfinals, reached by Ceará, Bahia and Sport.

In the campaign to the final, the Ceará team qualified first in the group stage, leaving behind San Lorenzo, from Argentina, Palestino, from Chile, and Estudiantes de Mérida, from Venezuela. In the round of 16, they beat Libertad, from Paraguay and, in the quarterfinals, they beat América-MG.

The team from Ceará is now waiting for the second semifinal to find out their opponent for the 2023 South American final. LDU, from Ecuador, and Defensa y Justicia, from Argentina, are competing for the remaining spot. In the first game, the Ecuadorians won 3-0 at home, with two goals from Peruvian Paolo Guerrero.

The South American final is scheduled for October 28th, at the Domingo Burgueño stadium, with a capacity for 25 thousand people, in Maldonado, a city close to Punta del Este, in Uruguay.

Initially, the final would take place at the Centenário stadium, in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo, but Conmebol announced the change of location in September. The change would have occurred to avoid the risk of the chosen stadium in the capital being relatively empty for the decision.

The South American champion guarantees a prize pool of US$5 million (R$25.5 million) and a place in the Copa do Brasil and Copa Libertadores in 2024.

Driven by financially responsible management, led over the last six years by the association’s president, Marcelo Paz, the Ceará club has been on an upward trajectory of prominence in national football.

Until 2017, the team still competed in series C of the Brazilian Championship, becoming runner-up in the division that year. The following year, under the command of coach and former goalkeeper Rogério Ceni, they won the Brasileirão series B.

In 2019, the club finished series A of the national tournament in ninth place. His good performance in the elite of Brazilian football earned him his first participation in an international tournament in 2020, when he qualified for the South American Championship, falling to Independiente of Argentina in the first phase of the competition.

In 2021, Argentine Vojvoda arrived, continuing the club’s victorious phase, winning three state titles (2021, 2022 and 2023) and the Copa do Nordeste last year.

Vojvoda is already the second longest-serving coach in charge of a Serie A team, behind only the Portuguese Abel Ferreira, who arrived at Palmeiras at the end of 2020.

The reality is very different from that experienced by its rival in the South American semi-final — in 2023 alone, Corinthians already had five coaches on the sidelines: Fernando Lázaro, Cuca, Danilo and Vanderlei Luxemburgo, the latter fired after the first match against Corinthians. Fortaleza and replaced by Gaucho Mano Menezes, who is in his third spell with the São Paulo team.

Fortaleza will return to the field on Sunday (8) to face off against América-MG in the 26th round of the Brazilian Championship, at Arena Castelão. Corinthians will face Flamengo on Saturday (7) in the Brasileirão, in Itaquera.