Carioca Championship 2024 - Semifinal - Second Leg

This past weekend we had the second leg of the semi-finals of the Carioca Championship 2024. Flamengo held Fluminense to a draw and secured their place in the finals, and Nova Iguaçu, the big surprise of the competition, eliminated Vasco with a 1-0 win at Maracanã stadium. Now, let's analyze the data from these games and evaluate the teams' performances.

Match Analysis

Flamengo did their job and finished another game without conceding a goal. The club managed to prevent the tricolor from creating danger in their area, which is demonstrated by the fact that only 4 of Fluminense's 14 shots came from inside the area, and none of them went towards goalkeeper Agustín Rossi. Playing on the counter-attack and without possession of the ball, Flamengo managed a higher xG than their opponent (1.38 x 0.98), having 5 fewer shots.

Fluminense this time played the way they prefer, having the most time with the ball (63%) and exchanging more than twice as many passes as their opponent (543 x 242). However, we saw this possession not converted into real chances, Flamengo's defensive scheme nullifying Fluminense's attack, which had 0 shots on goal in the 1st and 2nd leg, even though the tricolor improved their attacking performance for the second leg.

As a result, we can see that even though Fernando Diniz's team dictated the game, they were unable to beat Flamengo's defense, which still only conceded 1 goal in the entire competition. Flamengo goes to the finals as favorites, but they will face Nova Iguaçu, the only team to have managed to score a goal against them, and they will be hungry to win this cup as the underdogs of the championship.

Highlights

The game didn't have any great highlights, but we must mention some of the important players in the game, such as Flamengo's defensive duo, Léo Pereira and Fabrício Bruno. The two were essential to Fluminense's low number of shots inside the box (4), adding up their statistics, we have 14 duels won, 9 clearances, 8 interceptions, and only 1 dribble suffered.

As for the tricolor, we can highlight Lima, a key player in Fluminense's midfield, who played in basically every area of the pitch. He was the player who touched the ball the most (99) and yet managed to maintain a very high quality of passing (93% success rate). As well as Marcelo, who played at left-back in a more attacking way, hitting 4 long balls right and making 2 tackles.

Match Analysis

On the Vasco side, the situation became increasingly complicated for the team's fans, who witnessed their team being eliminated from the championship with no chance of making the final a Clássico dos Milhões. In the match, although Vasco had 66% possession and 5 shots on goal, they failed to convert any of their 11 shots at the end of the 90 minutes.

On the other side, Nova Iguaçu, despite not dominating possession, posed more of a threat to Vasco's defense, attempting 14 shots, 6 of them on target, and converting one chance. Additionally, they intercepted two times more than Vasco (42 vs. 18) and regained possession within an average of 24 seconds after losing it, almost half the time compared to the Cruz Maltino's average (42 seconds).

Nova Iguaçu thus surpassed Vasco to reach the final of the Carioca Championship for the first time in their history. As a result, "A Laranja Mecânica da Baixada," as their fans call them, will face Flamengo on March 31st and April 7th for the title that crowns the King of Rio de Janeiro.

Highlights

Playing for Vasco, Dimitri Payet was the team's highlight in another of our analyses. The Frenchman, with his heat map fully registering his participation in the middle and especially on the left side of the pitch, had an 83% successful dribble rate and 4 key passes, which, even with Gary Medel's 80% accuracy on long balls, were exceptionally not enough for the Cruzmaltino team to score.

For the "Gigante da Baixada", two players are noteworthy: Bill, striker for the Nova Iguaçu team, had 3 out of 4 successful dribbles in the game and scored a goal. And Fabricio, the goalkeeper who put up a real wall in front of the goal, with 4 crucial saves from inside the area and an incredible 100% rate of shots saved in the match that guarantees a historic milestone for the Nova Iguaçu's team.

And so ended the semi-finals of the 2024 Campeonato Carioca, with favorites Flamengo seeking their 38th title in the competition and the surprise of the championship Nova Iguaçu, participating in their first final in this tournament and seeking their unprecedented cup.

Share our analysis if you liked it, and keep an eye on our social media, because next week we'll be back with an analysis of the first leg of the final of the tournament.