Brasileirão: It’s Only Over When It’s Over
Bruno Romani | Jun 23, 2009 | Comments 0
Is it too late for the report on the 7th round of Brasileirão? Well, better later than never was the motto of the weekend in the tournament. 5 out of 10 matches were decided in the final moments.
Newcomer Santo Andre kept the good campaign with a 2-1 victory over Sport. The winning goal was scored by defender Marcel with 3 minutes into the second-half’s stoppage time. For Sport fans, I don’t know what’s worse: allow the comeback from Santo Andre, allow a goal in the match’s last moment or allow the comeback with the match almost over because of a brutal mistake of the linesman. Marcel was so offside that linesman José Hamilton Pontarolo was suspended this Monday for 30 days.
After the elimination in the Copa Libertadores, Palmeiras visited Atletico-PR, one of the weakest sides of the league. The home team was managing to win the match with one of the goals scored by midfielder Marcinho, ex- Palmeiras. At that point, the match was already memorable both for the goal Obina scored (incredible blunder by the goalie) and for the one he did not scored. The striker was the victim of another mistake by a linesman. Guilherme Dias Camilo was also suspended this Monday. With 3 minutes after the 90th mark, Palmeiras had a great chance saved by the defender just before the line. 1 minute later, however, Palmeiras had a corner, and forward Keirrisson gave finals numbers: 2-2. Goals highly recommended.
In Florianopolis, the last club in the table, Avai, received Fluminense. The home team jumped on a 2-0 lead in 15 minutes. Even showing a bureaucratic football, typical of the sides headed by Parreira, Fluminense tied. 2 goals by Fred, ex-Lyon. The best was still to come. Leo Gago, from Avai, got a beautiful long range with 2 minutes past the 90th. The 3-2 gave the first victory of Avai in the tournament. The first in almost 30 years. (goals recommended too)
In Porto Alegre, the goals took place only in the second-half. Gremio was not playing well against Goias, and the visitors scored first through Felipe. Tcheco tied from the spot. The other Felipe (know as Felipe Menezes) put the visitors ahead in the game again. It did not seem that anything else was happening. But with 2 minutes after the regular time, Argentinean Maxi Lopes scored from a header again this season. The 2-2 saved Gremio from its first defeat at home since last September.
The best match of the round was Vitoria and Botafogo. The attack of the two sides worked after tons of criticism, and the first-half ended with 5 goals, 3 for Vitoria and 2 for Bota. When, in the second-half, Victor Simoes tied the match, Botafogo fans were very happy. The club, after all, was losing 3-1. But there are things that happen only to Botafogo – specially with the weak side of this season. With 1 minute left in the match, sideback Apodi showed up, used his head and sealed the 4-3 victory of Vitoria.
Another match could’ve have belonged to the group above. The absolute and surprising leader Atletico-MG was beating Santos at the Vila Belmiro 3-2 with 2 beautiful goals (one by Diego Tardelli, ex Betis and PSV). This is when Molina scored for Santos after a huge mess (so big that it deserves a post of its own) of referee Djalma Beltrami. The man in black ignored the goal.And now Atleitoc is the only team in the table that does not have a single loss. Another surprising work of coach Celso Roth.
The other 4 matches were massacres:
-Flamengo humiliated Inter with a 4-0. Adriano pulled of a hat-trick.
-Corinthians humiliated rival Sao Paulo 3-1 in the paulista derby. Believe or not, the current Brazilian champs seat just one position above the relegation zone. Coach Muricy Ramalho was fired on Friday.
-Newcomer Barueri visited Cruzeiro and had no mercy: 4-2. Two goals by forward Pedrao,who is now one pf the league’s top scorers.
-The 1-0 victory of Coritiba over Nautico is not a massacre in numbers, but knowing that Nautico missed a penalty and that now it is in the relegation zone helps to understand what fans may be feeling.
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