Juventus beat Ferroviária in the decision of series A 2 of the Campeonato Paulista. After a goalless draw in the first leg, at Rua Javari, in São Paulo, the Mooca team triumphed 2-1 away from home and had a party at Fonte Luminosa, in Araraquara, on Wednesday night.
The title goal came in the 48th minute of the second half, with a header from Tomás Kaique. Until that moment, the result favored the home team, who had had a better campaign and were playing for a draw.
As they needed to win, Juventus looked to attack and opened the scoring five minutes into the first half, with a free kick from Ecuadorian Elkin Muñoz. Ferroviária managed to equalize the score at 36 of the final stage, in a rehearsed corner play completed by Vitor Barreto.
It seemed like it would be the decisive move, but, to the sadness of the audience present at Fonte Luminosa, it wasn’t. In any case, the score had no influence on access to the first division, which was defined. The two finalists will compete in the state elite next season.
The party, however, belonged to the grená team from São Paulo. The traditional club from the Mooca neighborhood has not celebrated a title since 2007, when they won the Copa Paulista. And he will return to play in the first division in almost two decades – his last participation was in 2008.
“Our group is a fierce group, which doesn’t give up in any minute, and that’s what caused our title. From the first game of the first phase we fought, battled, fought. Now, it was no different”, said Tomás Kaique.
According to the scorer of the goal that defined the achievement, the team’s trajectory was remembered before the match in Araraquara, in an attempt to overcome a good rival away from home. “In the locker room, we were saying: ‘Let’s fight, let’s fight, the victory will come’. It did.”
Juventus adopted the SAF (Sociedade Anônima do Futebol) model seven months ago. The Contea Capital Group purchased 90% of the youth football shares with the promise of an investment of R$480 million over ten years.
The investors decided, in one of their first measures, to change the lawn on Rua Javari, adopting synthetic flooring. A good part of the fans, proud of their old stadium and what they call “roots football”, turned up their noses.
The SAF model itself is the subject of heated debates, which took a backseat to the first significant sporting result. The campaign highlighted striker Elkim Muñoz, who played in the South American under-20 tournament for the Ecuadorian team last year.
