Cruz Azul's La Maquina Celeste failed to recover from an error by Argentine Gonzalo Piovi, ending their dreams of winning the Interamerican Cup as they were eliminated this Wednesday in the quarterfinals against Flamengo Flamengo 2-1 in a match played in Qatar.

Unfortunately, Cruz Azul couldn't clinch the Derby of the Americas title and continue their quest for the Interamerican Cup due to Piovi's mistake and the poor substitutions made by manager Nicolas Larcamon, who once again raised doubts about his ability to lead a team like Cruz Azul.

Flamengo capitalized first on Cruz Azul's error and then, when they were outplayed in the final 20 minutes of the first half, La Maquina managed to tie the game 1-1. However, in the second half, simply tightening their belts and with a brace from Uruguayan Giorgian De Arrascaeta, they secured the Derby of the Americas.

The result made it clear that you can't afford to make mistakes in these kinds of matches, and Piovi's error was truly egregious when he tried to pass the ball inside the box to a teammate but instead delivered it right to the Uruguayan's feet.

Giorgian De Arrascaeta, who took advantage of the gift to put the Brazilians ahead 1-0.

Afterwards, the Mexican team improved, taking the ball away from the Brazilians to tie it 1-1 with a great goal from Jorge Sanchez, who volleyed the ball into the net at waist height, going into halftime with the hope of pulling off a major upset.

But in the second half, things returned to normal, with the Brazilians taking advantage of the Mexicans' lack of physical capacity to ultimately concede defeat with Arrascaeta's second goal, allowing Flamengo to continue their journey to face Pyramids of Egypt.

The details

Cruz Azul wanted to put behind them the bad impression of last Saturday's semifinal against Tigres and tried to do so by putting up resistance at various points in the match,But Gonzalo Piovi's mistake ultimately buried any hopes Cruz Azul had, especially against an opponent of Flamengo's caliber. Giving the ball away at the worst possible moment is a mistake that Mexican teams frequently make in various international competitions, and this time it worked against them once again, ending their dreams in the Interamerican Cup and capping off a semester of major failure for the team managed by Argentine Nicolas Larcamon on the bench and Uruguayan Ivan Alonso in the front office. If Cruz Azul had thought they could face Paris Saint-Germain, reality hit them hard, simply because they weren't prepared for this kind of competition where the level of the opponents doesn't allow for any mistakes, and especially for the performance of players like Argentine Jose Paradela, Polish Mateusz Bogusz, and Mexican-Argentine Luka Romero, along with the rest of the squad.