Today, August 7, 2024, Bahia took on Botafogo in a match valid for the second leg of the Brazilian Cup’s round of 16.
The game played at Bahia’s home stadium, the Fonte Nova Stadium, was the continuation of the match played on July 30, where on that occasion Botafogo and Bahia drew 1-1.
The way two-legged games work is both teams play each other twice, and the scores are added up. The winner moves on, the loser is eliminated, and in the result of a tie, there are penalties.
As a result of the draw in the first leg, nothing was certain going into today’s game—nothing except that we were going to have an exciting, high-intensity, high-stakes, beautiful game of football. And that we had—until VAR ruined it. However, before we get there, we have some ground to cover.
First, let’s introduce the teams.
The home team, Bahia, went in with a 4-1-3-2 formation, as chosen by their coach Rogério Ceni.
In goal for Bahia was Marcos Felipe, who had a fantastic match and made many decisive saves in the first half.
The defense for Bahia was made up of Santiago Arias, Gabriel Xavier, Kanu, and Luciano Juba.
The five in the middle were Caio Alexandre, Everton Ribeiro, Cauly, Jean Lucas, and the team’s top goal scorer this season, Thaciano.
The sole striker for Bahia was Everaldo.
Across the pond, Arthur Jorge’s Botafogo went in with a traditional 4-3-3 with John in goal and Bastos and Alexandre Barboza as center-backs.
The defense flanks were made up of Mateo Ponte and Cuiabano, while the three in the middle were Gregore, Marlon Freitas, and debutant Thiago Almada.
The three strikers for the “glorious” were Savarino, Luiz Henrique, and Igor Jesus.
The match had a very lively and intense start, with both teams attacking a lot and testing out the opposition.
As the first half went on, the intensity increased, with many fouls and both teams not being able to connect the final pass. However, it wasn’t until the end of the first half that the decisive moment of the match occurred—and with such a competitive game of football, you would’ve imagined the deciding moment would’ve been a magical solo play or a heroic diving save, but no, the deciding moment of the match was a VAR-decided red card for violent conduct.
This game-ending moment came about 48 minutes into the first half when VAR decided to call referee Rafael Rodrigo Klein to have a look at a play in which Botafogo midfielder Gregore accidentally scratched an opponent when going up for a header.
The decision to give the red was harshly criticized by the game’s commentators, and the unnecessary red directly influenced the match’s outcome unfairly.
After the red, the game as a whole changed. Botafogo lost all attacking capabilities, and Bahia began to play an offense vs. defense game against Botafogo.
The game, which at one point was a contested affair between two very competitive teams who were demonstrating sensational football, soon became a sorry excuse for a game.
Today’s match sadly will go down as another game that was unfairly destroyed by VAR.
With one man up, it was only a matter of time until Bahia was able to secure the win, and the decisive moment for Bahia came 87 minutes into the game when Luciano Rodríguez scored with an assist from Everton Ribeiro.
The goal was a well-placed right-footed shot into the bottom left corner, leaving no chance for John to do anything, and putting the final nail in Botafogo’s coffin.
The frustration within Botafogo’s squad was evident, and after the final whistle, many members of the team and management got into a tense altercation with both the referees and Bahia’s team and players.
The truth is that it is sad to see another beautiful game of soccer ruined because of VAR.
It isn’t Bahia’s fault; instead, it is pure incompetence from the Brazilian federation, which allows things like this to occur day in and day out.
Botafogo leaves the Fonte Nova Stadium disqualified from the Brazilian Cup but still alive in both the Brazilian League and the Libertadores.
With a game against Juventude coming up on Sunday and an important Libertadores match on Wednesday, it’s essential the Glorious regroup and not let today’s elimination affect the squad.
Today Botafogo fell, but they fell on their feet. The true problems that need to be addressed after today’s match have nothing to do with Botafogo but with the lack of shame that the Brazilian federation has, as they allow things like this to continue occurring.
For Bahia, today will be a day of celebration. The win wasn’t dignified due to the circumstances of it, but it’s still valid, and they are still qualified for the quarterfinals.
At the end of the day, there’s no way to know who would’ve won the game if it had remained an 11v11; perhaps the outcome would’ve even been the same, with Bahia qualified and Botafogo eliminated.
But what remains true beyond all that is that today we had a beautiful and intense first half of football, and it was murdered by VAR.
The question then remains—how long will this keep on happening?
