Brasileiro: Sao Paulo Joins the Top 4; Corinthians Falling
Bruno Romani | Aug 10, 2009 | Comments 0
The 18th round of Campeonato Brasileiro saw a club very used to the top 4 reach the group for the first time in 2009. Sao Paulo struck its 5th victory in a row by beating 3-1 Goias, the club who sat in second. Sao Paulo reached a series of 7 defeatless matches (6 victories, 1 draw), and watched another good journey by Hernanes, Dagoberto, Miranda and Jorge Wagner (who scored the second goal). Washington and Borges scored the other two. Goias is still in the top 4, but it had its series of 6 victories in a row stopped.
The other new sensation of the league is Avai. The club does not know the taste of defeat since the 10th round. On Saturday, it came close to losing when Santos, playing at home, scored 2-0 with one goal in the beginning of each half – goals by Madson and Kleber Pereira. But the club from Florianopolis reacted and tied in 4 minutes between the 20th and 24th mark. William and Emerson scored and Muriqui and goalie Eduardo Martini had another good performances. The pressure by the side of Luxemburgo at the end of the match was fruitless, and Avai now is in 5th.
Barueri, who once was the big sensation, is back on track after. Barueri took advantage of the fact it faced Gremio, who has not been able to win a single game playing away and is the worst visitor of the league so far. Fernandinho, one of the main names of the league (remember you heard about him here first), scored the only goal.
Down, down, down…
As some clubs go up, the dynamics obviously suggest a few clubs are going down. The most surprising one is Corinthians. After dismantling its backbone by selling Andre Santos, Cristian and Douglas, Corinthians lost steam. This Sunday, the club visited Flamengo in the clash of the Brazilian masses. Flamengo was better all the time and Adriano, after missing a few chances, scored the lonely goal of the match. Adriano is the top striker of the league with 10 goals. With that, Corinthians has not tasted a win in 5 rounds. After the match, coach Mano Menezes stated: “We’re not fighting for the title any longer”.
The other from Sao Paulo in a free fall is Santo Andre. The club visited Nautico and lost 2-1. Things could’ve been different if Marcelinho Carioca did not a penalty denied by goalie Gledson. After that, the locals scored through Carlinhos Bala twice in the second half. The goal by Gustavo Nery at the end did not help and Santo Andre is now flirting with relegation.
Losing at home against Sao Paulo, two rounds ago, was not good for Vitoria. The club started to fall. This Sunday, the club just tied at home against Fluminense, a side seating in the relegation zone. The club started well by pressuring Flu and scoring through William after an assist by Roger. After that, however, Vitoria stopped and Fluminense came back with goals by defender Luiz Alberto and forward Roni. Vitoria managed to tie through Roger, who reached 9 goals, but the locals had to rely on goalie Gleguer to pocket the single point.
Good but bad
In fight against the relegation zone, any victory is good. Despite the fact that in the broad picture they’re still in bad shape, two clubs had what to celebrate on the weekend. Atletico-PR and Cruzeiro both visited direct rivals in the bottom portion of the table, and both clubs pocketed the 3 points.
The former went to Rio and played against Botafogo. The home team missed a lot of chances and saw defender Patrick score with a header, on offside position, the only goal of the match. With that, Atletico reached its third victory in a row – 2 playing away – and passed Botafogo. It was also the second match of Atletico under coach Antonio Lopes.
Cruzeiro visited the Atletico-PR’s rival, Coritiba. With 10 minutes into the second-half, the match was already 3-0 for the visitors, goals by Wellington Paulista (twice and a great performance) and Thiago Ribeiro. Marcelinho Paraiba, the only spasm of talent in the local side, scored the only goal for the Coritiba. It was the third defeat in a row for Coritiba, which sent it to the relegation zone. This resulted in the firing of coach Rene Simoes – the 14th coach to leave a club; the 8th fired.
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