Abel opted for repeating the line-up of the epic victory against São Paulo for the Libertadores, but the result was far from the excellent 3-0 we achieved against our longtime enemies. Without Abel on the bench and Cuiabá’s gol in the second minute, Palmeiras strategy suffered a serious blow. Not that this can justify what followed.
The situation resembled the return leg against CRB, when an early goal allowed our opponents to adopt an ultra defensive formation and Palmeiras lack of accuracy hindered a better result. Against Cuiabá, 31 shots were fired, only seven on target.
Palmeiras’ performance improved in the second half, when Scarpa, Menino, Piquerez and Deyverson replaced Wesley, Marcos Rocha, Renan and Rony. With the team still chasing the equalizer, Willian came on in the 62nd minute. Palmeiras kept trying, trying and trying, but the ball wouldn’t find the back of the net. In the last minute, a corner terribly taken gave Cuiabá another opportunity to counter-attack and this time the visitors were able to increase their lead, putting final numbers to the game.
Line-up
Weverton; Marcos Rocha (Gabriel Menino), Luan, Gustavo Gómez and Renan (Piquerez); Danilo, Zé Rafael (Willian) and Raphael Veiga; Dudu, Wesley (Scarpa) and Rony (Deyverson).
Deyverson received a yellow card.
Green Light
The best thing was to see Dudu participating and trying until the final whistle. The number 4+3 is showing he has reacquired the rhythm and is ready to be the main star of the team.
Yellow Light
Deyverson’s participation increased Palmeiras firepower. All the best opportunities happened through him. However, due to his limitations, all of them were wasted. Palmeiras can’t trust Deyverson as a replacement for Luiz Adriano, who must be training particularly bad to remain on the bench on a game like this.
Red Light
Three defeats in a row, two of those at home. The tournament is still halfway and there are plenty of games to retake the lead. However, those wasted points are unrecoverable and the path for the 11th title of the Brazilian League is getting harder.
Next Challenge
Palmeiras have another game at home to halt the negative sequence and rediscover the path to victory. On Saturday 28th, Palmeiras receive Athletico Paranaense at the Allianz Parque. Similar to us, Athletico are in a bad momentum in the league, but are in the semifinals of a continental tournament (in their case, the Sudamericana). Theoretically, a tougher nut to crack than Cuiabá, but Palmeiras don’t have a choice other than the three points.
Scoppia che la vittoria è nostra!
– – – ooo – – –
by Augusto Anteghini Oazi & Kristian Bengtson
*Here at Anything Palmeiras, we love football. We love Palmeiras. We are always keen to see Palmeiras play, and keen to write about it for you. But we’re against the return of football in a country that still hasn’t controlled the coronavirus pandemic. We express our deepest sympathy to the families whose loved ones have been taken by the disease.
ANYTHING PALMEIRAS 