Botafogo 0-3 Pachuca
New Brazilian and South American champions Botafogo were eliminated from the Intercontinental Cup on Wednesday at the quarter final stage, ending their dream of playing finalist Real Madrid next week.
Just 72 hours after clinching the Brazilian title in Rio de Janeiro, Botafogo were soundly beaten 3-0 in the Qatar-based tournament by Mexican side Pachuca, who had not played for a month ahead of the last-eight meeting. All three goals, scored by Oussama Idrissi, Nelson Deossa and Salamon Rondón, came in the second half.
Fogão fans will feel understandably aggrieved at the imbalance in rest time, with Jorge’s side meeting Pachuca in what was their seventh match in the last three weeks. Former Braga manager Jorge would have been forgiven by many had he complained about the cruel fixture arrangement, but instead he opted to avoid the issue.
“I’m not going to try to make excuses for what we couldn’t do today. Pachuca was better, more effective, more capable. There’s nothing to say about the context, because we have to stick to the result, and today wasn’t what we wanted, nothing takes away from the good things we did this season, but today wasn’t a good game on our part.”
The Intercontinental Cup and such tournaments hold significant weight in South America and the result has been felt deeply by the club’s supporters, who have the consolation of a place in next summer’s 32-team Club World Cup in the United States.
Whether Jorge will be in charge for that tournament remains to be seen. His agent has reportedly been contacted with offers from other clubs, while Jorge himself has been consistently coy on his future, which was the case again after the defeat to Pachuca in Doha.
“Let’s first try to understand all of this. We have had an extraordinary season, of great success, our name is in the history of Botafogo, with Libertadores and Brasileiro. At this point it is important to take care of our emotions and then make rational decisions,” he said.
By @SeanGillen9
