Campeanato Cearense Final

Sunday afternoon saw the state soccer championship come to an end as the second leg of the final was played in Fortaleza. Unlike many American sports, where playoffs involve best of five or best of seven series, soccer playoffs typically involve two game series, with the winner determined on aggregate goals. In this year's Ceará state league championship, the finalists were Fortaleza, the best team in our state, hailing from the capital, and Icasa, a team from Juazeiro do Norte, the second largest city in Ceará, 12 hours south of Fortaleza. The first leg of the final, played a week earlier, ended in a 2-2 draw, thus this match would prove decisive.

The match began in front of a larger than capacity crowd at the largest stadium in Fortaleza, Castelão. Nearly 70,000 fans saw Icasa have the better of play for the first 10 minutes, before Fortaleza began to show their superior talent. Fortaleza created a number of great scoring chances over the second ten minutes, but several shots placed just wide of the net left the score tied. Finally, midway through the first half, the Fortaleza attackers combined on a quick series of passes that found a wide open striker at the penalty spot. The striker converted the goal to give the home side the 3-2 advantage on aggregate, and the Fortaleza fans immediately roared to life with chanting, fireworks, and dancing. Fortaleza continued to dominate play for the remainder of the first half, heading to the break with a one goal advantage.

In the second half, Fortaleza again dominated play early, but was unable to capitalize on repeated chances, as striker Rinaldo pushed many a wide open shot just outside the goal posts. Icasa seemed unable to mount a coordinated attack in search of the equalizer until the final moments of the match, during which the Fortaleza goalkeeper made a number critical saves to preserve the win. Fortaleza held on to win 3-2, winning the Campeanato Cearense of 2007, a year after losing the title to crosstown rival Ceará.

The crowd became a bit unruly toward the end of the match with rather uncontrolled use of fireworks, that resulted in a small fire that was quickly extinguished. After being relegated to the second division of the Brazilian championship with a finish near the bottom of the first division last year, Fortaleza will open play in the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie B this Saturday, as will Ceará. Icasa will join Itapipoca, also a team from the interior of Ceará in Serie C, as 2006 Serie C finalist Ferroviário missed out on qualification for the third division with a fifth place finish in the state league.