By Gustavo Castilho
Two teams fight for the title and another three teams compete for a place in Serie A. Relegation is already defined.
It’s time. The Series B final stretch promises to bring strong emotions this Friday night. All games will take place simultaneously at 21:30, Brasília time. If at the bottom of the table things are already defined with the West, Botafogo-SP, Paraná and Figueirense already relegated, at the top the fight remains fierce.
América-MG and Chapecoense dispute the title of the Brazilian Championship of Series B. The teams have an identical campaign, with 70 points, 19 victories and a balance of 19. It is the tighter dispute for the title since the change of the formula, in 2006 Never two teams arrived in the 38th round with equal points. In fact, it will only be the fifth time that the Second will define the champion only in the last round. The other times were in 2007, 2012, 2014 and 2017, but with the leader with the greatest advantage in the final match.
In Chapecó, Chapecoense receives Confiança. Sergipe’s team is in 14th place and doesn’t fight for anything in the competition anymore. With the passport already stamped for Serie A, Chape goes in search of the unprecedented title in the competition.
At Independência, América receives Avaí, one of the candidates for access. The Santa Catarina team is in sixth place, with 55 points. The team does not depend on you alone to get the spot for Serie A. In addition to needing to win, the team still needs to root for the defeats of CSA and Juventude, two teams that compete with them for the last spot. Thus, Avaí would reach the same 58 points as Juventude, currently in fourth place, but in the tiebreaker criterion, he would have one more victory (17 against 16). While America fights for the third championship of Serie B, since it won the trophy in 1997 and 2017.
Juventude faces Guarani in Campinas. The Caxias do Sul team is the only one of the trio that depends only on their own legs to return to the elite of Brazilian football, something that has not happened since 2007. Guarani is the 13th placed and only fulfills the table.
Another candidate for the vacancy is CSA, who faces Naútico at Refice outside the home. Pernambucans, like Guarani, also only comply with the table. Fifth placed, the CSA needs to win and hope for the stumbling of Juventude, to be able to stamp the return to Serie A, where it was until last year.
Third place and with access already confirmed, Cuiabá is the only one in the G-4 group to enter the field today at a friendly pace. The team faces the 10th place CRB in Maceió.
