Carioca Championship 2024 - Semifinal - First Leg

The Carioca Championship continues to surprise the Brazilian football, with Fluminense, Flamengo, Vasco, and Nova Iguaçu in the mix. The Ace Laboratory Football Team dives into the decisive matches, from Flamengo's dominance over Fluminense to Nova Iguaçu's unexpected offensive power trying to overcome the Vasco's "Wall", offering an exciting glimpse into the tournament's electrifying action.

Match Analysis

Fluminense played a match below expectations against Flamengo, being constantly pressured, and failing to impose their style of play. This was the 1st match of the 2024 Carioca Championship in which the team ended the match with less ball possession than its opponent (49% x 51%), with a weak performance from its attack, which did not make any shots to the goal defended by goalkeeper Agustín Rossi. Furthermore, the team committed a total of 11 errors that led to shots in the game, and until this match, they had committed 31 errors in the entire championship.

The rubro-negro, who had their greatest strength in the defensive sector, demonstrated that they also have high offensive capacity, making a total of 23 shots in the match, with 9 of these shots being on Fábio's goal. If we consider the team's approximate time with the ball, we have a rate of 1 shot every 2 minutes in possession of the ball.

The data showed complete dominance by Tite's team on the field, both in the defensive and offensive sectors, Flamengo created and did not let the opponent take advantage of the few chances they had. Fluminense will have a difficult job to qualify for the finals, scoring 3 goals against a team that only conceded 1 goal in the entire championship, for the next match coach Fernando Diniz will need to change his strategies, and possibly behave more aggressively if he wants to guarantee his place in the final.

Highlights

One of the ways to see how Fluminense played defensively was the positioning of Jhon Arias, a player who normally acts as a winger in an offensive way, ended up staying for most of the game on the tricolor field, playing on the right flank as a defender and unable to exploit his best qualities, his dribbling and his important passes.

Another point was the number of saves that goalkeeper Fábio had to make from shots from inside his area (5), showing how effective Flamengo's creation was, and in large part this was due to Nicolás De La Cruz. The midfielder made a total of 6 key passes for his team, playing mainly on the left side of the field, the side where the club took the most shots.

It is also worth noting the performance of striker Pedro, who took advantage of his team's opportunities, scoring 1 goal at the end of the match, and making a total ofv6 shots, with 3 in the goal, having the opportunity to increase the score, if it weren't for the good performance of goalkeeper Fábio.

Match Analysis

The two teams engaged in a match that, despite having only two goals, was marked by a large number of shots from both sides. The total number of shots is impressive for a semifinal match, especially when considering that the clash between Flamengo and Fluminense had only 31 shots, nearly 1.5 times fewer than the encounter between Vasco da Gama and Nova Iguaçu, which featured 45 shots total by the end of the game.

For Vasco, the offensive game was unusual, considering that the team has an average of 10.8 shots on goal in their last 5 games, yet they managed to shoot 21 times, with only 7 shots directed at goalkeeper Fabricio. Vasco’s midfield also demonstrated a lot of creativity reaching the attack, tallying 16 key passes throughout the first 90 minutes of the Carioca Championship semifinal.

For Nova Iguaçu, on the other hand, it was not a game much different from the usual experience in their last 5 games, as the team’s average number of shots in the Carioca Championship is 17 shots per game. The data observed in the match also shows the preference of Nova Iguaçu to shoot from outside the box, with more shots from outside (13) than from inside (11), creating a lot of work, for the opposing goalkeeper.

Highlights

Undoubtedly, it was a highly contested match with several chances for both teams, and in this context, it is essential to highlight both the main chance creators and the main defenders of each team.

On Vasco’s side, with an incredible performance, the Frenchman Dimitri Payet stood out with an 88% pass accuracy rate, with 5 key passes executed solely by the former Olympique Marseille midfielder. Simultaneously, in the defensive sector, the attacking midfielder was also fundamental, with 12 duels won by the Cruz-Maltino and possessing a very participative heat map on the left side of the defensive third of the Gigante da Colina.

In a game with many shots and above-average performances, attackers who had good performances like Carlinhos, who shot on goal 5 times, were overshadowed by the miraculous performances of both teams' goalkeepers. Léo Jardim made incredible 14 saves, with 9 of these shots from inside the box, representing a total of 93% of balls saved, and even conceding one goal was considered the MOTM. While Fabricio, Nova Iguaçu's goalkeeper, despite "only" making 6 saves, with 50% of them coming from shots from inside the box, successfully completed 80% of long balls launched for the team's possession in the field, a characteristic that is increasingly needed in today's goalkeepers.

The first two games of the semifinals are in the books. Flamengo has the advantage, and Fluminense will need a much better performance to reverse the score. Vasco, despite being saved by Leo Jardim's great performance, will need at least a simple victory to guarantee their place in the final. Nova Iguaçu, on the other hand, has the advantage of a draw.

The Ace Football Laboratory team will continue to follow the Carioca Championship, bringing detailed analysis of the games and the players. Stay tuned!