Flamengo took to the field this Wednesday needing a victory by more than two goals over Caracas to depend solely on the result of the match between Cerro Porteño and Racing-URU to qualify for the round of 3 of the Copa Santander Libertadores da América. But despite putting in a lot of pressure and with the support of their fans, they only managed to beat the Venezuelans 2-XNUMX, with goals from Angelim, Michael, and David (Castellín and Gomez scored).

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However, with Wednesday's result, the Gávea team will need to win two matches this Thursday to advance to the round of 16. Besides defeating Racing, Andrade's team will also have to pay close attention to Internacional de Porto Alegre's group game. They need to root for Cerro-URU, who will face the eliminated Emelec. The Uruguayans also cannot win by three goals. Furthermore, Flamengo also needs Inter to thrash Deportivo Quito at the Beira-Rio stadium.

"We played with a lot of passion. The team ran and fought, but it didn't work out. We ended up conceding two goals that really messed things up. Now we have to hope for results that can help us. We'll just have to wait and see what happens," said Ronaldo Angelim after the match.

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Fright and lightning turn
The excitement of the nearly 30 red-and-black fans at the Maracanã, who had been cheering the team since the beginning of the night, quickly turned tense. In the 15th minute, Caracas, which had already threatened with Castellín, opened the scoring. After a cross into the box, the red-and-black defense stopped, and the Venezuelan center forward didn't hesitate to send the ball into the net to make it 1-0. But the fans didn't let up, and the goal seemed to wake up the team from Gávea.

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It took just three minutes for everything to change. In the 17th minute, Michael took a corner kick that Angelim headed in to equalize the match, thanks to a mistake by the Venezuelan goalkeeper. It was redemption for the defender, who didn't follow Castellín in the Caracas goal. The red-and-blacks were still celebrating when Adriano threaded a great ball to Michael, who shot past the goalkeeper: 2-1.

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Pressure without effect
The team went into halftime leading by just one goal and knowing they would have to increase their lead. That's why Flamengo came out swinging in the second half. Within a minute, Love managed to score, but was ruled offside. This was just the beginning of Flamengo's pressure. In the 4th minute, Maldonado nearly scored with a long-range shot. In the 12th minute, it was Adriano's turn to create a threat, and five minutes later, the Caracas defender cleared Leo Moura's shot off the line.

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But it was Venezuela who scored. Gomez dribbled past the entire defense and slotted the ball past Bruno, tying the score and making Flamengo's life difficult in the 22nd minute. The scare lasted just eight minutes, until David received the ball inside the box and struck powerfully to break the deadlock: 3-2. The fans came back into the game, the team started pressing, but continued to miss chances. With Adriano, Leo Moura, Vagner Love...

The ball didn't go in, the score remained at a single goal difference and Rubro-Negro now needs to hope for a combination of results to qualify.

CREDITS:
FLAMENGO 3x2 CARACAS (WIN)

Stadium: Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro (RJ)
Date/time: 21/4/2010 - 21:50 PM (Brasília time)
Referee: Jorge Larrionda (URU)
Income/audience: R$ 807.204,00 / 27.513 paying customers
Yellow cards: Willians, Michael (FLA); Cichero, Romero (CAR)
GOALS: Castellín, 15'/1st half (0-1); Ronaldo Angelim, 17'/1st half (1-1); Michael, 18'/1st half (2-1); Gómez, 23'/2nd half (2-2); David, 30'/2nd half (3-2);

FLAMENGO: Bruno; Léo Moura, David, Ronaldo Angelim and Juan; Maldonado, Willians, Michael (Fierro, 35'/2nd half) and Vinícius Pacheco (Petkovic, 21'/2nd half); Vágner Love and Adriano. Coach: Andrade.

CARACAS (VEN): Toyo; Romero, Bustamante, Cichero and Bautista; Jímenez, Lucena, Figueroa and González (Gomez, 39'/1st Q); Valoyes (Alexander González, 15'/2nd Q) and Castellín (Aristeguieta, 28'/2nd Q). Coach: Ceferino Bencomo.