Palmeiras were held by a resolute América-MG side at the Allianz Parque on Wednesday as both sides played out to a 1-1 draw for the first leg of the Copa do Brasil semi-finals.
Based on current form, Verdão came into this game as favorites but América-MG were ready to prove their point. The away side took the lead through Ademir in the 20th minute after a mistake from Emerson Santos proved to be costly.
Palmeiras saw more of the ball but thorough defending from the visitors left them with little to no clear-cut goal-scoring chances.
Abel Ferreira’s men will finally grab the equalizer on the stroke of half time after Gustavo Gómez headed home via a free kick from Marcos Rocha to level matters going into the break.
Palmeiras were much better in the second half with América-MG happy to sit back and avoid conceding more goals.
Abel Ferreira made a flurry of changes after 20 minutes of the second half. Lucas Lima, Danilo and Luiz Adriano all came on as Palmeiras searched for the winner. However, the changes proved to be somewhat ineffective with an added spark still lacking in the Verdão attack.
For the return leg, both teams will lock horns again next Wednesday in Belo Horizonte. Both sides will be pushing to win by any score-line to advance to the finals. The winner of that game will face whoever qualifies in the game between Gremio and Santos.
For the Brazilian Championship, Palmeiras welcome Bragantino to the Allianz Parque on Saturday.
