By Gustavo Castilho
Teams switch gears and turn their focus on the knockout competition, which gives millionaire prizes.
With São Paulo already settled for the quarter-finals, today the ball will roll at the Nilton Santos Stadium, in Rio de Janeiro, for the match between Botafogo and Cuiabá. The alvinegro tries to reduce the pressure due to poor performance in the Brazilian Championship. The team has the largest number of ties in series A. There are already 10 in total, with four losses and only three wins, in 17 games. Successive draws placed the “lone star” team in the 16th position, just one point above the downgrade zone. If in the Brasileirão the yellow light is already on, in the Copa do Brasil there are hopes for better days. The alvinegro goes to the field with a slightly modified team, as some players were dismissed due to positive testing for Covid-19. The weekend’s Serie A game against São Paulo was postponed due to the schedule, which allowed a week of training for the team, something rare in the current situation of Brazilian football.
With the spot guaranteed by winning the Green Cup 2019, Cuiabá is part of the squad of teams that joined this new tournament phase. The team will have seven absences for the game against Botafogo. This is because Cuiabá has athletes hired during the season who have already competed in the competition for another team, and therefore are not able to enter the field for the Cuiaba. Despite this, the team from the central region has one of the best campaigns in Serie B, which shows a certain strength. Cuiabá is in third place with an amazing campaign, despite the 3-0 loss to Sampaio Corrêa in the last round. The return game will be on November 3rd at Arena Pantanal.
