Mirassol host São Paulo at the Estádio Municipal de Mirassol on 24 October 2026 in a Brasileirão Série A matchday 32 clash with very different stakes for each side. Sitting 14th with 36 points from 31 games, Mirassol are still deep in the relegation fight and need every point they can get, whereas São Paulo, ninth with 42 points, are chasing a top eight finish and potential Libertadores qualification while trying to fix some genuinely poor away form. The visitors come off a 1-0 win over Vasco da Gama, while Mirassol's recent 2-0 home victory over Internacional speaks for itself.
Rafael Guanaes has been in charge since March 2025, when he replaced Eduardo Barroca and Ivan Baitello and has built a side that has beaten São Paulo twice at home in the last calendar year. Dorival Júnior arrived at São Paulo in May 2026 after Roger Machado and brings plenty of experience in high stakes matches, though the two managers haven't crossed paths enough for the direct record to say much.
Mirassol's last five reads W-L-D-W-D: they beat Internacional 2-0 and Botafogo 2-0 either side of a 1-1 draw with Bragantino, a narrow defeat at Bahia and a 2-2 draw with Vitória. São Paulo's run is W-W-L-L-W, with two wins opening the sequence before back to back away defeats at Cruzeiro (0-2) and Santos (1-2), then the win over Vasco last time out.
Mirassol will be without Negueba, out since April 2026 with torn knee ligaments and José Aldo, absent since July with a muscle injury, so Guanaes will need his squad to maintain the defensive shape that kept Internacional and Botafogo scoreless in back to back home games. São Paulo are down four: Aurélio Buta (knee), Nicolas (meniscus), Domingos Duarte (knee ligaments) and Danielzinho (ankle). Losing all four disrupts both defensive organisation and midfield rotation and Dorival now faces a squad that has already cycled through over twenty different lineups this season.
Mirassol set up in a compact, disciplined block at home, defending deep and looking to hit on the counter. Eduardo is their main threat with seven league goals and will hunt spaces behind São Paulo's high line, with Reinaldo providing composure from the back and Bruno Santos, Alesson and Shaylon in midfield and forward. Without Negueba and José Aldo, the hosts need to be more disciplined than ever in how they protect that shape. São Paulo look to control possession or play controlled counter attacks, with Jonathan Calleri (around ten league goals) starting as the lone striker, supported by Luciano when fit and the recently in form Artur, while Damián Bobadilla and Marcos Antônio cover midfield. Dorival will have to shuffle again with four players absent and the gaps across the backline and central midfield create a real problem against Mirassol's quick forwards, with Eduardo against São Paulo's makeshift central defence being the contest most likely to decide things.
These two have met around ten times and São Paulo won 1-0 in April 2026 but Mirassol claimed a 3-0 victory in October 2025 and a 2-0 win in May 2025, so the hosts have a clear habit of making this uncomfortable at home.
São Paulo are without both first choice centre backs, which makes Mirassol's dead ball delivery more dangerous than it would normally be and a rotated visiting side with less defensive familiarity is exactly the kind of opponent they have hurt before. The hosts are also unbeaten at home in their recent run, which gives this fixture a different feel to a neutral ground meeting.
We're going with a 2-1 Mirassol win. São Paulo's depleted squad, poor recent away results and the rotation strain from cycling through over twenty lineups all point toward a narrow home victory. Eduardo's threat from open play and dead balls should trouble a defensive line already missing both Buta and Domingos Duarte. Mirassol's desperation to escape the drop zone adds an intensity that a side which has lost two of their last three away games, now travelling without four squad members, will find hard to sustain. Calleri can always produce something but a 2-1 result for Mirassol would leave São Paulo four points outside the top eight with six games to play and their away record makes that gap look increasingly difficult to close.
Ryan Baldi
Football Writer
Ryan Baldi is a professional football writer with years of experience and has been featured by respected outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, Sky Sports, DAZN, FourFourTwo, ESPN, Yahoo Sport and Football365. He has also written several books including Arsène Who?.
