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After a run of three consecutive victories, Corinthians went down 1-0 on Saturday evening in their league match against Botafogo. A first half penalty kick from the home side forced Corinthians to leave the Arena da Amazônia in Manaus empty-handed. Corinthians coach Mano Menezes made two changes to the side that defeated reigning champions Cruzeiro on Wednesday, resting influential playmaker Renato Augusto (the experienced Danilo took his place) and handing a start to young forward Luciano, who had scored three goals in his last three games.
The away side started positively, dominating possession and having the majority of chances on goal. After only five minutes of play, Corinthians had created two chances: Bruno Henrique hit the bar with a stunning long-distance shot, before Fábio Santos saw his attempt fly just wide of the Botafogo goal.
Retaining possession of the ball, Corinthians reduced their tempo slightly, patiently waiting for openings and protecting themselves from Botafogo counterattacks. However, on 28 minutes, against the run of play, Corinthians went 0-1 down. After an attack down their right side, Botafogo midfielder Gabriel crossed the ball and it struck Corinthians left-back Fábio Santos on the arm. Referee André Luiz de Freitas Castro saw this as an infraction and blew for a penalty kick. Botafogo forward Wallyson sent Corinthians goalkeeper Cássio the wrong way to give the home side the lead.
With the lead, Botafogo sat deeper and deeper to protect their lead, allowing Corinthians to have possession of the ball but reducing their space whenever possible. This tactic was largely successful and the first half finished 1-0 to the home side. Mano Menezes altered his side for the second half, taking off centre-midfielder Guilherme Andrade and introducing 17-year-old forward Malcom, who played the full 90 minutes against Cruzeiro midweek. With more numbers in attack, Corinthians started to create a few chances, with Luciano and Petros coming close with opportunities in the first ten minutes of the second half.
Despite creating more, Corinthians’ chances were not good enough and they struggled to break down a resolute defensive performance from Botafogo. Menezes later made another attacking substitute, replacing right-back Fagner with attacking midfielder Jadson, forcing defensive midfielder Bruno Henrique to drop back into defence. The speed and objectivity of young Malcom started to cause some real problems for the Botafogo defence and he very nearly equalised for Corinthians, impeded by an impressive double save from Botafogo’s goalkeeper Helton Leite, filling in for Jefferson who is on international duty.
Helton would end up being the man of the match as even though Corinthians created a sufficient amount of chances, the goalkeeper did not let anything past him and deserves credit for keeping the scoreline at 1-0.
Corinthians’ next match comes on Wednesday evening, when they will face Atlético-MG in the second leg of the Brazilian Cup quarter-finals. The match will be played in the Mineirão stadium in Belo Horizonte; Corinthians hold a 2-0 advantage from the first leg, played at Arena Corinthians.
BOTAFOGO 1-0 CORINTHIANS
Arena da Amazônia, Manaus-AM
Brazilian Serie A
Goals: Wallyson 28 mins (BOT).
Yellow cards: Rogério and Yuri Mamute (BOT), Fagner and Fábio Santos (COR)
Red card: Bolatti (BOT)
BOTAFOGO: Helton Leite; Régis Souza, Dankler, André Bahia and Junior Cesar; Bolatti, Gabriel and Rodrigo Souto; Wallyson (Andreazzi), Rogério (Matheus) and Yuri Mamute (Murilo). Coach: Vagner Mancini
CORINTHIANS: Cássio; Fagner (Jadson), Felipe, Anderson Martins and Fábio Santos; Bruno Henrique (Tocantins), Guilherme Andrade (Malcom), Petros and Danilo; Ángel Romero and Luciano. Coach: Mano Menezes
Tags: notícia, wp_post_id_12652
Categoria(s): Futsal