On Thursday (23), Goiás beat Ceará in a thrilling penalty shootout and won the 2026 Brasileirão U-20 B title. The match ended 1-1 in regulation time, and Esmeraldino secured the victory on penalties by 11-10. In a match played at Estádio Presidente Vargas, in Fortaleza (CE), Hallerrandrio opened the scoring for the Goiás side, and Amaral leveled things for Vozão.
THE MATCH
During the first half, Ceará were dominant. While the home side tried to find the right spaces, Goiás relied on defending and counterattacks. In the 10th minute, Esmeraldino’s strategy paid off. After a misplaced pass by Ceará, the Goiás side recovered the ball and, in a quick move, Hallerrandrio opened the scoring. Alvinegro did not lose heart and remained determined to find the net. In the 35th minute, from a cross by Janderson, Amaral scored with a header to level it for Ceará.
Goiás are the 2026 Brasileirão U-20 B championsCredits: Rafael Ribeiro/CBF
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The second half resumed evenly matched and was even more hard-fought. With the score level, both teams gave everything to try to secure the title in regulation time, but without success. In the 49th minute, Ceará even found the net through Victor The, but the referee signaled offside at the start of the move.
The penalty shootout was even more dramatic. Neither team wanted to give up the title, and both performed very well from the spot. In the end, Goiás came out on top and won 11-10.
Goiás are the 2026 Brasileirão U-20 B championsCredits: Rafael Ribeiro/CBF
CAMPAIGN
Goiás put together a campaign of steady improvement. The team lost its first two matches in the Brasileirão, but then recovered and has remained unbeaten ever since. Overall, they recorded five wins, two losses, and three draws. Esmeraldino scored 15 goals and conceded eight.
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In the group stage, the Goiás side finished fourth in Group A. In the quarterfinals, they eliminated Atlético-GO with a 1-0 win. In the semifinal, they drew 1-1 with CRB and secured qualification for the final on penalties (4-2).
In the final, they drew 1-1 with Ceará and won on penalties by 11-10.
Goiás are the 2026 Brasileirão U-20 B championsCredits: Rafael Ribeiro/CBF
QUALIFIED FOR SÉRIE A
The Brasileirão U-20 B grants three promotion spots to Série A. In addition to finalists Ceará and Goiás, the third spot went to Atlético-MG, who had a better campaign than fellow semifinalist CRB.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.
