Náutico wants to win his first victory at home in Nordestão (Photo: Rafael Vieira/DP Foto) To establish himself in the G4. After qualifying for the semi-finals of the Pernambucano Championship, Náutico changes competition and starts demanding all the attention for the Copa do Nordeste, where they face River-PI, in Aflitos, at 7pm, in the fifth round of the event. Excited by the sequence of victories, coach Allan Aal’s team must come focused to establish the good moment in Rosa e Silva’s team.
Náutico faced the toughest opponent of the year so far in the last round of the Copa do Nordeste. It was until Salvador faced Vitória, from Brazilian Series A, where he opened the scoring in the first half and held the result until the last moments of the match, when he scored the equalizer. The good performance in Bahia seems to have served as inspiration for the Classic of Classics held on February 24th, when they beat Sport 1-0.
Still with Pernambucano, they beat Afogados 2×0 in the quarterfinals and will face Retrô in the state semis. But, before that, they turn their attention to Nordestão, where they occupy fourth place in Group B, with five points, and need a positive result to remain in the classification zone for the next phase without depending on any other result. To do this, they need their first victory at home at Nordestão, having the third game in a row at Aflitos.
Coach Allan Aal must maintain maximum strength for the match against Ríver. The coach has already demonstrated on other occasions that he likes to at least keep the team’s starting base in most games. Shirt number 9 Paulo Sérgio will be able to play in command of the red and white attack, since the controversial expulsion against Afogados was in the State Championship last Friday (01). In defense, the duo Joécio and Rafael Vaz seem to have firmly established themselves in the starting lineup, while Lorran, Marco Antônio and Patrick Allan make up Náutico’s midfield.
Regarding the match, Lorran commented on the opponent. “I watched their game against Bahia. It’s a very fast team. The teacher also explained some situations to us, despite the short time. We must also focus on ourselves, maintain what we have been doing and try to improve with each game. It won’t be an easy game, but we need to keep focusing more and more on ourselves, because the opponent will try to make it difficult for us, but we have to be prepared, try to nullify their strengths and in some weak point, the people can explore”, said the midfielder.
THE RIVER
River comes to Recife to try to consolidate a surprising campaign in the Copa do Nordeste. Fourth placed in group A, they are ahead in the classification, leaving Vitória and Ceará, candidates to fight for the title, outside the G-4 zone. Galo do Piauí stunned the entire northeast by beating Bahia, the team with the biggest investment in the region and considered the team to beat, 1-0 in the second round of the Lampions.
Despite the good campaign, the team has been oscillating between victories and defeats in the regional cup. In the last round, they beat Itabaiana at home and secured their place in the G-4. In the state, they come from a great victory against Corissabá last Saturday and are the isolated leader of the competition. Felipe Pará is the competition’s top scorer with six goals, and should give the red and white defense a hard time.
GAME SHEET
Náutico x Ríver – Fifth round of the Copa do Nordeste
NAUTICAL
Vágner; Arnaldo, Joécio, Rafael Vaz and Diego Matos; Marco Antônio, Lorran and Patrick Allan; Evandro, Júlio César and Paulo Sérgio. Coach: Allan Aal.
RIVER
Joanderson; Vivico, Lucas Mingoti, Leandro Amaro and Izaldo; Darlan, Guilherme Escuro and Valdivia; Rodrigo Fumaça, Crislan and Felipe Pará. Coach: Dico Wooley
Local: Eládio de Barros Carvalho Stadium, the Aflitos, in Recife
Time: 19:00
Referee: Wiomar Santana de Oliveira (AL)
Assistants: Wellington Thiago de Almeida Fontes Nascimento and Aldrin Freire Costas Matias (AL)
Streaming: Our Football