Santa Cruz win on penalties to reach Série D quarters, next ties set | OneFootball

Santa Cruz is in the quarterfinals of the Brazilian Serie D Championship. On Sunday, Tricolor do Arruda beat Altos-PI 3-1 in a penalty shootout, after a goalless draw in regular time. The match was played at the Lindolfo Monteiro Stadium in Teresina (PI).

With the result, Santa Cruz will face América-RN in the quarterfinals. Since the team from Rio Grande do Norte had a better campaign, the return match will be played at Arena América in Parnamirim (RN). The dates of the duel have not yet been defined. Meanwhile, Altos-PI has no more scheduled matches for the remainder of 2025.

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The match

The first half was truncated and neither team was able to create clear scoring chances.

In the second half, Altos almost opened the scoring in the 9th minute: Souza crossed for Mandacaru, who shot to the right of Santa Cruz's goal. Ten minutes later, Santa Cruz responded. Balotelli took advantage of a corner kick taken by Willian and headed the ball onto the post. The hosts pressed in the final stretch, but were unable to score.

In the penalty shootout, Santa Cruz came out on top, 3-1. Despite João Pedro missing, Renato, Geovany, and Balotelli converted their shots. In Altos, Digão scored, but Esquerdinha, Jonathan, and Leandro were stopped by goalkeeper Rokenedy, who saved all three.

Next round matchups in Serie D

This phase of Serie D defines the teams that will be promoted. Whoever advances to the quarterfinals is confirmed in Serie C of the Brazilian Championship in 2026. The dates will be decided by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). The teams on the right will decide the matches at home.

See below the matchups:

Maranhão x ASA Santa Cruz x América-RN Goiatuba x Inter de Limeira Cianorte x Barra-SC

See other results from Serie D on Sunday:

América-RN 0 x 0 Imperatriz (agg: 1-0) Central 0 x 0 Maranhão (agg: 1-2) *Aggregate results in parentheses.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.