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Brasileiro: Sao Paulo or Flamengo?

Bruno Romani — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:41:05 +0000

After the 35th round of Brasileirao, one thing is clear: the champion will be red and black. The only thing that remains unclear is if it will also carry the white of Sao Paulo, or it will have just the two colors of Flamengo.

The two sides took advantage of Palmeiras’ tie against Sport and look ready for the title.

Sao Paulo received Vitoria at Morumbi and played one of its best matches of the year. The 2-0, goals by Jorge Wagner and Hugo, should’ve been much larger. But for the 53 fans at Morumbi that does not matter. Sao Paulo increased the lead over the second team and walks firmly towards the 4th title in a row.

That lead, however, could’ve been larger. But Flamengo won. And it won an extremely difficult battle against Nautico in Recife, the toughest of its 4 remaining matches. Again, Petkovic and Adriano scored. The duo is carrying Flamengo to very awaited title.

Another result that made Sao Paulo and Flamengo the biggest favorites for the title was the defeat of Atletico-MG against Coritiba. One more time in history, the side of Celso Roth lost steam. Coritiba is just fighting relegation, and Atletico managed to lose. The winning goal came only in the 85th minute with a penalty taken by Marcelinho Paraiba. Romulo (Coritiba) and Eder Luis (Atletico) had scored before.

Libertadores

As Atletico-MG said by to the title, its rival, Cruzeiro, may have said good bye for a sport in the Libertadores. The club tied at home against Gremio. The 1-1 had an important detail: Gremio had two players ejected and scored in the stoppage in the second-half with a goal by Herrera. Gilberto scored from the spot for the home team, which lost 24 points at home in this tournament. This is unacceptable.

Taking advantage of this draw, Inter returned to the top 4 after beating Santos. It was a easy journey since Santos had a 21 hour travel from Mexico, where it played a friendly match, Danilo Silva, Marquinhos and D’Alessandro scored for Inter while youngster Neymar scored the only goal of the visitors.

Another team new to the battlefor a spot in the Libertadores is Avai. This Sunday, the club thrashed Corinthians 3-1, with two goals by William and one by the good midfielder Leo Gago. Even the goal that Corinthians scored was actually an own goal by defender Marquinhos. The final scored could’ve been much larger.

The top of the table is the following: Sao Paulo 62, Flamengo 60, Palmeiras 59, Inter 56, Atletico-MG 56, Cruzeiro 55, Avai 53.

Fluminense Resurrects

Among the clubs in the tournament, Fluminense always seemed the one doomed to the second division. With 3 matches left, however, the club is the one who looks the best. After this weekend, things appear fantastic, as every other rival trying to escape lost and Flu.

Flu took on Atletico-PR at Maracana, and guess who scored again. That’s right. Fred. It was his 10th in 10 matches. Maicon, who’s been playing well since Fred returned, scored too. And it was a beautiful one. The goal by Marcelo did not change the fact that Flu is ready to stay in the first division.

And it may stay at the expense of a big rival, Botafogo. The reason for this is simple. Bota has not been playing well. On the weekend, it visited Barueri and was massacred as Val Baiano pulled a hat-trick. On top of that, the other spots for the second division seem filled.

Besides Sport, already relegated, Nautico and Santo Andre have the face of second division. Nautico lost to Flamengo. Santo Andre visited Goias and lost 3-1. The club jumped ahead with a nice goal by veteran Marcelinho Carioca, but once again, it lost steam. Fernandao with two headers and Iarley scored in the second-half.

Coritiba benefited from the victory over Atletico-MG. The result in the table is this:

Coritiba 44, Atletico-PR 43, Botafogo 41, Fluminense 39, Santo Andre 35, Nautico 35, Sport 31 (relegated).

Campeonato Brasileiro: Surviving a Hang Over

Bruno Romani — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:16:00 +0000

The 9th round of Campeonato Brasileiro was all about surviving a bad hang over. And most did it.

After being eliminated at home from the semis of Copa Libertadores, Gremio honored its nickname of “immortal”. With 11 minutes, the two forwards from Argentina had scored 3 goals – Maxi Lopes (2) and Herrera (1). In the second-half, Herrera scored again. And the 4-1 made Gremio forget that it was playing a continental competition.

The red half of Porto Alegre also had to forget it lost at home the final of Copa do Brasil just a few days ago. And what a better solution than a match against a weak rival? Inter visited Nautico, missed a penalty with D’Alessandro, but had Nilmar. The forward scored twice in the 2-0 victory. And now Inter is back to the first spot.

The other club showing no signs of bad hang over after the elimination in the Copa Libertadores and departure of coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo is Palmeiras. Under interim Jorginho, the green team visited Avai and constructed a sound 3-0 victory. The man of the match was Obina, who after leaving Flamengo in bad terms due to poor football, has an impressive mark of 5 goals in 5 matches in the league. Avai now is the last in the table.

With all these clubs recovering, there’s one who is not recovered yet of the elimination in the Copa Libertadores and the departure of its coach. Sao Paulo visited Coritiba and, in another afternoon of horrendous football, lost 2-0. The beautiful goals by Marcos Aurelio and Ariel confirmed the worst beginning of tournament by the current champs since the league model was established in Brazil.

Barueri visited Santo Andre trying to survive the hang over fater the departure of striker Pedrao, who will play in the Middle East. The 1-1 wasn’t that great, given that Barueri left the top 4. However, Val Baiano, the man who replaced Pedrao, scored.

Talking about hang over, it is impossible not to mention Adriano. After missing the third practice session in a month, the forward wasn’t very useful in the 2-1 victory against Vitoria. The man of the match was midfielder Kleberson, in his first game after the Confederations Cup. he have an beautiful assist to Juan and conducted the midfield. Emerson, the less hyped forward, scored the other for Fla. Ibson, in his farewell match, had a penalty denied by goalie Viafara.

Cruzeiro, with its reserve side and a great hang over after qualifying to the final of Copa Libertadores, visited Goias. The home team won with another goal by Felipe, the top striker in the league with 7 goals. Not something Cruzeiro will waste too much thoughts on.

The one club that entered this round in good health and will end with a huge headache is Atletico-MG. In front of 50 thousand fans, the ex-leader tied in 1 goal with Botafogo, one of the weakest sides of the league. The beautiful free-kick by Juninho silenced Mineirao.

Finally, Santos beat Sport with a goal by Paulo Henrique Ganso.

And his name is HERRERA !!!!

Ana — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:23:55 +0000

Yesterday night I anxiously waited for 10pm to arrive. 10pm was the time Corinthians was to play Sport Recife for the first leg of Copa do Brasil championship. What a nice match! That is the Corinthians we all know. Bold, skillful and full of passion. But as Timao crushed sport 3-1, a name started emerging not only in my heart but also inside all Corinthians’ fans hearts: Herrera! The Argentinian forward was amazing on the pitch. And even though his only bad quality is actually being Argentinian (oh come on, we all know how Brazilians and Argentinians are not too friendly when it comes to football… and Maradona… or Pele), Herrera made me think he could be the next big thing in football (video after the jump).

It makes us think back to the time when Tevez was the king in Corinthians. But I have to say Germán Gustavo Herrera has a lot more potential than Tevez.

The forward scored Corinthians’ second goal. And might I say it was such a nice one.

Here are some of his qualities:

1. Very calm.
2. A loooot prettier! They guy has good looks…
3. Never gives up on a play
4. Killer
5. Great positioning
6. A striker who can also tackle.

Next Wednesday, when Corinthians meets Spor in their home stadium, in Recife, we will be seeing more of Herrera on the pitch. I bet he will be one of the new names to play for Argentina in the upcoming World Cup Qualifying matches. And let’s hope he doesn’t flee to Europe when the world starts noticing his amazing football.