Mateo Ponte (C) is hugged by his teammates after scoring the goal against Atlético-GO, which rehabilitated Botafogo in the Brazilian Championship Vitor Silva/Botafogo
Published 04/18/2024 23:29 | Updated 04/18/2024 23:32
The coach kept the four attackers, but made three changes to the starting lineup, the most surprising being the entry of Matheus Nascimento in place of Tiquinho Soares. By blocking the attacker, he repeated what another Portuguese did, and the decision contributed to Bruno Lage’s departure in 2023. Tchê Tchê and Hugo, on the other hand, played because Marçal and Marlon Freitas were out for medical reasons.
But the truth is that the changes took time to take hold. When Tchê Tchê appeared, he commanded the midfield while Matheus Nascimento felt an injury to his right thigh and gave way to Tiquinho just as he was improving on the field. And Botafogo, which had already been hearing complaints from the fans, created little, until opening the scoring in the 31st minute with Mateo Pontethe most criticized for some silly mistakes.
It was the the team’s first good move, with an exchange of passes and movement, so much so that the full-back surprised by appearing at the edge of the area and shooting, after a pass from Luiz Henrique. The goal gave more confidence to Glorioso, who improved and only did not expand because Jeffinho stopped at goalkeeper Ronaldo, in a characteristic move for this squad, from defense to attack with few passes and a lot of speed.
Suffocation at the end
A defense that had few scares and proved to be safer in the first half than in the Brasileirão debut, still made mistakes. Especially in the second half, when Atlético-GO started to create more. And one of those mistakes almost got complicated, when Halter got tangled up with Gatito and Emiliano Rodríguez couldn’t reach the ball. Less bad than Atlético-GO had a lot of difficulty creating.
The problem is that Botafogo didn’t know how to kill the game, wasting counterattacks and suffered suffocation. First in a great play by Tiquinho, leaving Junior Santos in the face of goalkeeper Ronaldo, but the attacker chose to play badly for Jeffinho, who didn’t reach the ball and still received boos. Shortly afterwards, Junior Santos wasted once again and almost scored by accident, with the ball hitting the defender and bouncing over the line without going in.
Without yet having the ability to keep the ball requested by Artur Jorge, Glorioso was unable to control the game and struggled. It didn’t create any chances, apart from a shot from Savarino, and, with many errors and space in defense, it also allowed Atlético-GO to cause problems at the end, increasing the tension and irritation of the fans. He just didn’t get the draw because Gatito made a great save face to face with Vágner Love and Halter deflected the ball twice, on shots from Yony González, once on the last play.
Botafogo 1×0 Atlético-GO
Local: Nilton Santos (RJ)
Referee: Luiz Flávio de Oliveira (SP)
Goal: Mateo Ponte, 31 minutes into the 1st Q (1×0)
Yellow Cards: Lucas Halter, Tiquinho Soares, Patrick de Paula (BOT); Pedro Henrique, Luiz Felipe, Bruno Tubarão, Rhaldney (AGO).
Botafogo: Gatito Fernández; Mateo Ponte, Lucas Halter, Bastos and Hugo; Gregore (Danilo Barbosa), Tchê Tchê, Luiz Henrique (Savarino) and Jeffinho (Óscar Romero); Júnior Santos (Patrick de Paula) and Matheus Nascimento (Tiquinho Soares). Coach: Artur Jorge.
Atlético-GO: Ronaldo, Bruno Tubarão, Luiz Felipe, Pedro Henrique and Guilherme Romão; Rhaldney (Yony González), Baralhas, Alejo (Vágner Love) and Shaylon; Luiz Fernando and Emiliano Rodríguez (Derek). Coach: Emílio Faro (assistant).
