Vasco beat Palmeiras 2-1 in a comeback on Thursday night (March 12), in the 5th round of the Brazilian Championship, at São Januário. It was the Carioca team's first win over the Verdão since November 2015. Palmeiras' assistant coach João Martins criticized the stadium's pitch conditions.
In the 5th round of the Brazilian Championship, Vasco hosted Palmeiras at São Januário and won 2-1 in a comeback on Thursday night (March 12). Flaco López opened the scoring for the São Paulo team, but Thiago Mendes equalized for the Cariocas, and Cuaibano scored the winning goal for Vasco.
This was Vasco's first win over Palmeiras since November 2015, in that year's Brasileirão. Between the matches, there were 13 games, with 14 Palmeiras victories and four draws. It also marks a winning debut for Renato Gaúcho as Vasco's coach, and the first home win against the Verdão since September 12, 2012, when the Carioca team won 3-1.
João Martins, Palmeiras' assistant coach who replaced the suspended Abel Ferreira, criticized the São Januário pitch in the post-match press conference. "On TV you can't see it, but under the field it looks like they planted potatoes. The field has highs and lows. But that's fine, that's what it is, root football. We're in 2026 and some things don't change. On Sunday we played on another heavy pitch, the ball didn't roll, today it was the same. In the second half, it started raining and it turned into a small potato field," Martins said.
He also noted that Vasco's players should be indignant about the pitch conditions and jabbed at media discussions on synthetic turf. "The warm-up already showed what we saw. And it's not just us, Vasco's players should also want better conditions. It is what it is, but we'll keep talking about synthetic because that's what sells. On these fields the ball doesn't roll, it's heavy, hard, takes a lot of strength to run," he concluded.
Palmeiras, suffering their first defeat in the competition, returns to action on Sunday (March 15) against Mirassol in the 6th round. Vasco faces Cruzeiro on the same day at Mineirão.
