Pedrinho publicly rejected the idea of moving Boca Juniors vs Vasco Da Gama to Paraguay and called the possibility a "covardia," as the fight over the second leg of the Copa Sul-Americana semifinal took another turn on Tuesday. The Vasco president made the comments before the first leg, while the match remained scheduled for the Maracanã the following week.
The dispute sharpened after the Consórcio Fla Flu filed an appeal on Tuesday afternoon to overturn the decision allowing the game at the stadium. Vasco had already received a new injunction on Tuesday morning from judge Joaquim Domingos de Almeida Neto, then reopened ticket sales, and those tickets later sold out. Pedrinho said that sequence only underlined how quickly the venue fight has escalated and how much pressure now sits around the match itself.
His complaint is not just about where the game is being played. In an interview with, he said the main issue was no longer the Maracanã pitch and argued that one match would not ruin it. He also said he has "problemas pessoais" with BAP, adding that the dispute has become less technical and more about power. What he does insist on is necessity: if the BEPE does not guarantee security for 4,000 people in São Januário, he said, then he needs to play at the Maracanã.
That argument sits uneasily beside the legal path now opening beyond Brazil. Vasco was informed by Conmebol that, if there is another change, the match could be moved outside Brazil, and Pedrinho said he learned while traveling that there was a report that could send the game to Paraguay. The threat matters because it came after the challenge to the Maracanã decision, not before it, turning a stadium dispute into a question about where a semifinal can even be staged.
The next step goes to the president of the STJ, minister Luis Felipe Salomão, who is due to examine the petition. For Vasco, the practical reality is already visible: the tickets are gone, the Maracanã plan is still alive for now, and any fresh ruling could reopen the door to a change that Pedrinho says would be unfair to the club and to the competition.
