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Brasileiro: 2 Rounds Left; 4 Clubs Still Can Win It

Bruno Romani — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:16:06 +0000

When Palmeiras lost for Gremio on Wednesday, it seemed only Sao Paulo and Flamengo still fought for the title, right? Wrong! The two sides dropped important points, and Inter won. The result? 4 teams still have the chance to lift the title on December 6th.

Sao Paulo visited Botafogo, which found itself in a very difficult situation in the relegation struggle. With half of the team suspended, Sao Paulo suffered in the hands of forward Jobson, who scored twice (the second one in the final minutes of the match) and gave an assist to Renato. Bota scored first, Sao Paulo cameback (goals by Washington and Jorge Wagner),but the home team cameback again. Botafogo won its own final while Sao Paulo, despite losing, kept the lead with a help of Flamengo.

Flamengo played the night game, and stepped into the pitch of a packed Maracana already knowing that a simple victory was going to land them the first place. But that’s not what happened. In a good game of goalie Harlei, Goias kept the score board unchanged. The 78 thousand Fla fans could not be more frustrated. It was their chance.

While the “only” contenders (as the media saw, at least) lost points, Inter took on Atletico-MG at Mineirao. The two sides were focusing the Libertadores, but the lonely goal of Marquinhos in the beginning of the match gave Inter more to dream about. Inter took the third place from Palmeiras and is just 3 points away from Sao Paulo. That makes Inter a candidate for the title again. As for Atletico-MG, disappointing is the only word to describe its performance in the final rounds of the tournament.

At least, Atletico-MG won’t have to deal with Cruzeiro fans. Atletico’s main rival are out of the race for the title and is far from the Libertadores too. On the weekend, the club visited Atletico-PR and just tied. And it could’ve been worse. After Marcinho, ex-Cruzeiro, scored for Atletico, Cruzeiro had to wait until the last minute to celebrate the goal of defender Leonardo Silva.

This is the top of the table: Sao Paulo 62, Flamengo 61, Inter 59, Palmeiras 59, Atletico-MG 56, Cruzeiro 56

Relegation: 4 Clubs and 1 Funeral

The fight to escape the second division remains intense and close to an ending. At this point the two sides from Rio and the two from Curitiba are fighting to fill the last spot available.

On the weekend, every club trying to escape, but one, won their matches. Nautico visited Corinthians and won 3-2. Bruno Mineiro, Carlinhos Bala and Ailton, the decent names that Nautico has, scored. Bala scored with only 5 minutes left and Ailton with 2 minutes into the stoppage time. In a normal situation, this would’ve been a great result, but with the other sides winning, Nautico remains 6 points away from the first side outside the relegation zone.Ronaldo and Elias scored for Corinthians.

Santo Andre received and crushed the tournament’s sensation Avai. In the 4-2, veteran Marcelinho Carioca, Wanderley and Camilo (twice) scored for the home team while Muriqui and Marquinhos for the visitors. Again, this could’ve been a good result in a normal situation, but as Nautico, Santo Andre is 6 points away from the relegation zone. Very little can be done.

With Sport already relegated and Nautico and Santo Andre very close to that, there’s one spot left. Botafogo, Fluminense, Coritiba and Atletico-PR are the candidates.

Bota had the great result against Sao Paulo and is outside of the death zone. Atletico-PR tied with Cruzeiro. And Fluminense beat a dead horse as it visited Sport. After Sport’s Moacir was ejected in the second-half, Flu scored three times – the first an own goal of Ze Antonio. The other two by two of Flu’s best: Fred (again!) and Conca. What seemed impossible now is very possible to avoid. Flu wants to stay.

On the other hand, there’s a side that slowly is becoming my biggest candidate for the second division. Coritiba was humiliated by the not so strong side of Santos. After the match, Luxemburgo even said that his players should not get all excited because they Coritiba seemed dead on the pitch. The goals were scored by names that shined earlier this year: Madson, Kleber Pereira and Neymar (twice). In the year of its centenary, Coritiba is asking for it. And as reminder: in the very last round Coritiba will visit Fluminense.

The bottom of the table: 44 Coritiba, Atletico-PR 44, Botafogo 44, Fluminense 42, Santo Andre 38, Nautico 38, Sport 31 (relegated).

Not that important

Vitoria eliminated any possibilities of an unexpected relegation by beating Barueri 2-1. The three goals were scored by the best of each side. Leandro Domingues and Roger (14 goals in the tournament) for Vitoria and Val Baiano for Barueri.

Brasileiro: The Tournament No One Wants to Win

Bruno Romani — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:06:43 +0000

After the 29th round of Brasileiro, it seems no one wants to take the title home. Like in the last round, when only one club on the top won, the leaders collectively failed again. Palmeiras, Sao Paulo and Atletico-MG lost. Inter and Goias tied at home. And, in this way, Flamengo, the 6th side on the table, was the first team on the top to win.

After the results of Sao Paulo and Inter on Saturday, Palmeiras had the chance to increase the lead to 8 points. The rival was Nautico, a side that was going to stay in the relegation zone no matter the result. It was a great opportunity to have one hand in the trophy.

The locals, however, suffocated Palmeiras. The first-half ended 2-0, goals by Claudio Luiz and Bruno Mineiro. In the second-half, the latter scored again ( in an offside position, true). The 3-0 was not a larger difference because goalie Marcos worked a lot. True that Palmeiras missed Diego Souza, Edmilson, Armero and Obina, but the club had such a poor performance that the fans worry about a title that seemed in the pocket.

Sao Paulo had the chance to get closer. But not only the club took on a rival on a rise, but also it showed strong signs of apathy. The goal by midfielder Hernanes in the first-half did not erase the fact that Flamengo, in front, of 60 thousand fans, swallowed Sao Paulo. Conducted by veteran Serbian midfielder Petkovic, Flamengo came back and reached 8 match unbeaten streak. Petkovic scored from the spot and gave an assist to Ze Roberto score the second. With that, Sao Paulo is stuck in second and Flamengo is even close to the Libertadores zone.

Chance for Atletico-MG? The side tried and played better the Belo Horizonte derby against Cruzeiro. But Wellington Paulista, who later got injured, scored the only goal of the match. It was scored early in the match, but enough for Atletico failing to pass Sao Paulo and Inter in the table. Cruzeiro reached the 7th place and is not dead yet when it comes to a spot in the Libertadores.

The chances for Inter and Goias moving up in the table were even greater. Both sides played at home against Atletico-PR and Sport respectively. Atletico-PR is in 14th and Sport the last in the table. But the final score in the 2 matches was 1-1.

In Porto Alegre, things could’ve been worse for Inter. Atletico-PR played better, hit the post and had a penalty ignored by the referee, but scored only one goal through Patrick. Inter was able to score with only one minute left, through Alecssandro who reached 14 goals. Inter remains in third.

In Goiania, Goias failed to join the top 4. Sport played better the entire first-half, making goalie Harlei the name of the first 45 minutes. Then, with 5 minutes Leo Lima put the home ahead in the score board. But justice was made, and Luciano Henrique tied the match. Too little for a side that wants to go to the Libertadores.

The top of the table looks like this: Palmeiras 54, Sao Paulo 49, Inter 48, Atletico-MG 47, Goias 46, Flamengo 45.

Coincidence?

Again, the sides with players in the national failed to win. Like Inter in the last round, Flamengo was the exception. But Palmeiras (missing Diego Souza), Atletico-MG (missing Diego Tardelli), Sao Paulo (missing Miranda), Gremio (missing Victor) and Inter (missing Sandro) lost points again. Is it that hard for CBF to not schedule matches of the Brasileirao when the national team plays?

Relegation

The race is tight as well. Besides the important points gained by the two sides from Recife (Sport and Nautico), Fluminense had an important result in a clash against a direct rival. Fluminense visited Santo Andre and won 2-1 with goals by Alan (one of the few playing anything) and Fred (who scored again after another serious injury, but did not play that well). Camilo scored for Santo Andre.

Besides Santo Andre, the big loser of the round was Botafogo. After two great performances against two of the leaders, Bota failed to distance itself from the relegation zone with a draw at home. And it could’ve been a real disaster. Avai jumped ahead with two goals (Emerson and William – the same duo who scored against Palmeiras), but Victor Simoes scored twice in the second-half.

The bottom of the table looks like this: Botafogo 32, Santo Andre 29, Nautico 29, Sport 25, Fluminense 25.

Not much to say…

Coritiba 1 – 2 Barueri: Losing at home in the match that celebrates 100 years of the club was not what Coritiba fans expected. Thiago Humberto (remember this name) with a goal and an assist to Marcio Careca was the party spoiler. Bruno Batata gave the only nice moment to the local fans.

Corinthians 2 – 1 Gremio: Ronaldo was the man of the match with a goal and an assist to Elias. Rever scored for Gremio, whose bad news wasn’t only the defeat, but losing forward Jonas (14 goals in the league) with an injury. He will miss the rest of the league.

Santos 0 – 0 Vitoria: ZzzzzzZZZZzzzz