On Wednesday night, Coelho beat Timão 1-0 in the first leg of the round of 16 at the Neo Química Arena. The only goal of the game was scored by Marcelo Toscano in the 89th minute.
In the first half, the home side took control of the game, but in the second half the game was out of their reach as the team from Minas took advantage of their fallacy to build an important victory in the City of São Paulo. This was the first win for América-MG in Timão’s home having lost six times and drawn once in previous occasions.
The first 45 minutes of the match was very eventful. Corinthians were solid, having most of the possession, and constantly troubling their opponent’s goal.
They took eleven shots in the process without results. Felipe Azevedo had his shot on target but Fagner was up to the task in stopping the ball from getting into the net. Corinthians had two great chances from Cazares and Éderson in the first period that was wasn’t put away properly.
In the second half, Corinthians almost came close to scoring early as Mateus Vital met Everaldo’s cross head on, but his shot was weak and did not do any damage. Ademir, from América-MG, responded minutes later on with a misplaced header of his own. In the 60th minute, Timão had a good chance to go ahead but Éderson hit his shot at the back of Coelho’s goal.
Little chances from both teams to score made the game pretty warm for a playoff. There was late drama in the 89th minute when Cássio made an error, causing América-MG to counter, and Neto placing a cross for Marcelo Toscano who hit the back of the net to guarantee Coelho’s victory.
