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The Best of Brasileirao

Bruno Romani — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:58:36 +0000

One day after the end of 2009 Campeonato Brasileiro, the best players of the tournament were awarded. Placar, the most traditional football magazine in Brazil, handed for the 40th time the Bola de Prata (silver ball) and the Bola de Ouro (golden ball). Later, CBF awarded its Craque Brasileirão, a newer prize but the one that gets an official seal. And despite that the two prizes have different criteria to chose the best, only 4 differences took place.

For one of the defensive midfielders, Placar chose Palmeiras’ Pierre whereas CBF picked Sao Paulo’s Hernanes again. As leftback, Placar chose Kleber (the one Dunga dropped from the national team) while CBF picked Julio Cesar from Goias. For one of the offensive midfielders, Placar picked Marcelinho Paraiba who was relegated with Coritiba while CBF picked Palmeiras’ Diego Souza.

The two awards diverged regarding Brasileirao’s MVP. Placar handed it to Adriano while CBF picked Diego Souza.

The Bola de Prata squad, prize handed by Placar, is chosen in the following way. Journalists from the magazine watch every game at the stadium and grades each player from 0 to 10. The best averages in each position take the Bola de Prata. The best average of all takes the Bola de Ouro. So this is their team:

GOALKEEPER:
Victor (Grêmio)

RIGHTBACK:
Jonathan (Cruzeiro)

CENTERBACKS
André Dias (São Paulo)
Miranda (São Paulo)

LEFTBACK:
Kleber (Internacional)

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS:
Pierre (Palmeiras)
Guiñazu (Internacional)

OFFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS:
Marcelinho Paraiba (Coritiba)
Petkovic (Flamengo)

FORWARDS:
Diego Tardelli (Atlético-MG)
Adriano (Flamengo)

GOLDEN BALL (MVP OF THE TOURNAMENT):
Adriano (Flamengo)

The team of the Craque Brasileirão Prize, award handed by CBF, is chosen in a different way. Players, coaches and journalists vote on the players they think were the best:

GOALKEEPER:
Victor (Grêmio)

RIGHTBACK:
Jonathan (Cruzeiro)

CENTERBACKS
André Dias (São Paulo)
Miranda (São Paulo)

LEFTBACK:
Júlio César (Goiás)

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS:
Hernanes (São Paulo)
Guiñazu (Internacional)

OFFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS:
Diego Souza (Palmeiras)
Petkovic (Flamengo)

FORWARDS:
Diego Tardelli (Atlético-MG)
Adriano (Flamengo)

MVP OF THE TOURNAMENT:
Diego Souza (Palmeiras)

CBF also hands the following awards:

BEST COACH:
Andrade (Flamengo)

BEST NEW TALENT:
Fernandinho (Barueri)

BEST PLAYER CHOSEN BY THE FANS:
Conca (Fluminense)

After 17 Years, Flamengo Rules Brazil

Bruno Romani — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:10:39 +0000

It felt like it was never going to happen again. It seemed that Brazilian titles were going to be connected forever to the generation of Zico and Junior. But, today, Flamengo fans were released from the past. The most popular side in Brazil took home its 6th national title – the first since 1992.

And ironically, in order to live the present, Fla relied on characters from the past. Adriano returned to the club he loves and was, not only the top striker of the competition with 19 goals, but also one of the best of the entire tournament. Petkovic, the 37 year old Serbian playmaker, returned to Fla in a deal which seemed good only for the player. Fla had a huge sum of money to pay him from past contracts, but he exchanged some of that money for a place in the club when no other team in Brazil wanted him. Many thought he was over. And he conducted Fla with great flair.

But the biggest character of all, and that’s the beauty of it, belongs to the Zico generation. Andrade, the intelligent midfielder who won as a player the titles in 80, 82, 83 and 87, was the coach. And not that he was the first option. In fact, Andrade was an interim who made it happen. It was destiny. His first title as a coach had to be with Flamengo. More than that: Andrade is the first Black coach to win a Brazilian title. Historical, indeed.

This Sunday, 80 thousand fans were at the Macarana waiting for a simple victory against Gremio, a side that had only 1 victory playing away. Not only that, Gremio sent a reserve squad and had very little interest in winning. A victory was going to help Gremio’s main rival, Inter. But Gremio honored its history and made it very hard. With 21 minutes, Roberson opened the score for Gremio. Inter and Sao Paulo were winning their matches. Another Maracanazo? Adriano and Pet did not play well so a supporting character had to show up. It was up to David, a reserve defender who replaced Alvaro, to tie. The fans celebrated, but the title was still with Inter. And things did not change until the half of the second-half.

This time, Ronaldo Angelim, the other defender, wrote his name in the history books. With a header, he scored the goal that gave Flamengo its 6th title.

After that, it was matter of time for the fans to taste the glory again. When Flamengo wins, Brazil gets a bit happier. Congratulations, Flamengo!

Lots of cool pics here

More coverage at Globo.com and UOL.

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).

Brasileiro: Sao Paulo Reaches the Top for the First Time

Bruno Romani — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:13:47 +0000

Without even stepping into the pitch on the weekend, Sao Paulo did something that has been very common for the club lately: It reached the top of Campeonato Brasileiro. In the 34th round of the tournament, the club, who fights for its 4th Brazilian title in a row, benefited from the defeats of Palmeiras and Atletico-MG.

Palmeiras went to Rio to take on Fluminense and did not resist the great moment of Fred. The ex-Lyon scored his 8th goal in 9 matches, which is, coincidence or not, the number of matches the Flu has been unbeaten. True that Palmeiras had a legal goal strangely made illegal by referee Carlos Eugenio Simon, but the ex-leader was never a threat to the home team. The decline of Palmeiras is clear. In the last 7 matches, it won only 5 points. On the other hand, the 67 thousand Flu fans who went to Maracana gained new hope, as the players seem to be making a real effort to not be sent to second division.

Flu’s rival, Flamengo, was the other club that helped Sao Paulo. Fla had a gigantic battle against Atletico-MG at the Mineirao, in a match that resembled some of the great clashes between the two clubs in the 80′s. Before Atletico could even think about pressuring Fla, the visitors opened the score with another Olympic goal by Petkovic, his second in that way in the tournament. Atletico felt the heat and tried to jump into an attacking mode. However, it gave lots of space for the counter-attack and this is how Fla reached the second, through defensive midfielder Maldonado. The 2-0 cooled down the actions of the home team, despite the fact that it kept great ball possession and missed a few chances here and there. Not even when Atletico score, through Ricardinho, things got on fire. Right after that, Adriano, who was having his personal battle against Atletico’s Diego Tardelli, gave final numbers. It was his 18th in the tournament, same number as Tardelli. With the victory, Flamengo took the third position from Atletico and is just 2 points away from Sao Paulo. Despite helping Sao Paulo, Fla is a real contender for the title.

Among the clubs still dreaming of title, Inter was one more time a failure and Cruzeiro confirmed the good moment. Inter just tied with Barueri after a blunder of goalie Lauro. Marcio Careca scored. The goal by Fabiano Eller did very little to help the side headed by Mario Sergio. What promised to be a good year for Inter is turning into frustration. Cruzeiro, on the other hand, visited Sport and had an impressive comeback. The home team led 2-0 with two goals by Wilson. But Cruzeiro, taking advantage of the defensive weaknesses of the last side in the table, cameback with two goals (by Leonardo Silva and Guerron) in the second-half with goals. The comeback started with Thiago Ribeiro in the first-half. The victory kept Cruzeiro with the best campaign of the second portion of the tournament. As for Sport, the defeat left the club a step away from the second division.

After the 34th round, this is the top of Brasileirao: Sao Paulo 59, Palmeiras 58, Flamengo 57, Atletico-MG 56, Cruzeiro 54, Inter 53.

Rio Up, Recife Down

The fight against relegation is getting tighter. After the weekend, the clubs from Rio were benefited while the clubs from Recife seem to be dying together.

Besides Flu, who jumped to 17th, Botafogo won on the weekend with goals by Renato and Lucio Flavio. The victory was against a direct rival, Coritiba, and left the club 5 points away from the relegation zone. It seems Bota and Flu will fight to see who will be going to second division, but if Coritiba does not watch, it may just getting relegated in the year of its centenary.

As for the clubs from Recife, what a terrible round. Sport, after the defeat against Cruzeiro, can get relegated already in the next round. And its rival Nautico is not that far. Nautico visited Santos at Pacaembu and watched the return of the good game of Neymar, after the miserable failure in the U17 World Cup. The kid left the bench and scored twice in the second-half. Kleber Pereira had opened the score for Santos in the first-half. The lonely goal by Ailton did not help the visitors.

The other club that seems ready for the second division is Santo Andre. The club played against Corinthians and saw Ronaldo deliver it again. The phenomenon scored from a long range and had participation in the the second goal by Dentinho.

After the 34th round, this is the bottom of Brasileirao: Coritiba 41, Botafogo 41, Fluminense 35, Santo Andre 35, Nautico 35, Sport 30.

Not Important

Atletico-PR 2 – 0 Goias: Goals by Marcinho and Wallyson

Vitoria 0 – 1 Avai: Goal by William

Brasileiro: Flamengo and Atletico-MG Want it!

Bruno Romani — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:07:45 +0000

Up until last week, the Brasileirao seemed the tournament no one wanted to win. The favorites kept losing points with pale football. But the 30th round shows signs of change by two sides. Flamengo and Atletico-MG want to take the title home after a long time.

While Palmeiras, Sao Paulo, Inter and Goias gave another display of loss of steam, the two sides pocketed the three points in very important matches.

Flamengo visited Palmeiras at Parque Antartica – one of those matches to be pictured as a final. The clash was between the leader and the best team of the moment in the league, and Diego Souza and Adriano were back from the national team. The man of the game, and of the round, was one more time 37 year old Petkovic. The veteran Serbian midfielder controlled the match, and scored twice – one in each-half. In the first goal, Pet pushed the ball to the back of the net with a graceful touch. The second one was an Olympic goal which resulted from a mistake of goalie Marcos. In the end, Vagner Love had the chance to put Palmeiras closer, but he took the penalty like Roberto Baggio. With the 2-0, Palmeiras is still the leader, but Flamengo is just one point away from the Libertadores zone. The club from Rio, which now seats on a 9 unbeaten streak, will be a real contender for the title.

Atletico-MG had also a symbolic victory. The club headed by Celso Roth visited Sao Paulo at Morumbi, another one of those “finals”. Before the first minute, Diego Tardelli, who was returning from the national team, scored his 15th in the league. Not only Tardelli became one of the top scorers, but also he gave the victory to Atletico against his old club. After the goal, Sao Paulo tried to pressure, but midfielder Ricardinho, who was in the group that lifted the 2002 World Cup, controlled the midfield. With the victory, Atletico is in second, 4 points away from Palmeiras. Sao Paulo fell to 4th.

While Palmeiras and Sao Paulo lost to direct rivals, Inter and Goias dropped points in different situations. Inter visited the virtually relegated side of Fluminense and tied in two goals, which feels the same as a defeat. Flu tied in the last minute. True that forward Alecssandro scored and reached 15 goals, which makes him one of the top scorers of the league. But a club that wants to be the champion cannot allow a defender named Gum to score twice. Marquinhos scored the other goal for Inter. With the draw, Inter jumped to third, but failed to be just three points away from Palmeiras. Fluminense remains in last, walking firmly towards second division.

Goias lost again. True, visiting the good side of Avai is no easy task. The problem is how it happened. Goias jumped ahead with a goal by Leandro Euzebio in the first-half. However, in just 10 minutes in the second-half, Goias allowed Avai to comeback. Leo Gago with an accidentally beautiful goal and the good midfielder Marquinhos scored between the 7th and 17th marks.

The top of the table looks like this: Palmeiras 54, Atletico-MG 50, Inter 49, Sao Paulo 49, Flamengo 48, Goias 46.

The tournament no one wants to participate

While clubs on the top are working hard to not lift the trophy, a group of teams seems to be working hard to not participate in next year’s edition of Brasileirao. It seems they want the second division.

Fluminense has its fate decided. The draw against Inter just confirmed that. But Nautico, Santo Andre, Botafogo and even Coritiba seem to fight for a spot in serie B.

Nautico visited Vitoria and started the match with its goalie denying a penalty to the locals. In the second-half, Nautico score through Bruno Mineiro. Victory coming, right? Wrong. Vitoria came back in the final half-hour with two goals by Leandrao. The forward who left the bench also served veteran midfielder Jackson to score the final goal. Nautico remains in the relegation zone.

Santo Andre is also stuck in the relegation zone. This time, the club was thrashed by Atletico-PR 3-0. Paulo Baier, the conductor, from a beautiful free-kick scored the first. Then defender Marcel scored an own goal. And finally, Marcinho gave final numbers to the match.

Two other clubs are dangerously close the relegation zone. And they both lost on the weekend.

Botafogo visited Cruzeiro and created huge difficulties for the home team. But in the second-half, Thiago Ribeiro scored the single goal of the match. With the victory, Cruzeiro still dreams of Libertadores.

Coritiba also played away from home, and the opponent could not be tougher. Gremio is the only side of Brasileiro that remains unbeaten at home. This Sunday, Perea and midfielder Souza scored the goals of the match.

The only side that showed signs of life this weekend was Sport. The club from Recife beat Corinthians at home with goals by Bolivian forward Arce and Wilson, two ex-Corinthians players. The problem is that Sport has had such a poor campaign that it still is the second the last side in the table.

This is how the bottom of Brasileirao looks like: Coritiba 34, Botafogo 32, Santo Andre 29, Nautico 29, Sport 28, Fluminense 26.

ZzzzZzZzzZZZzZz

For the second week on a row, Santos had a nil draw. This time against Barueri. True that forward Kleber Pereira was ejected, but the side of Vanderley Luxemburgo is the most boring of the league by far.

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

Brasileiro: Leaders Fail to Win and Inter Celebrates

Bruno Romani — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:55:58 +0000

The 28th round of Brasileirao was big obstacle for the leaders of the tournament. Palmeiras, Sao Paulo, Goias and Atletico-MG failed to win. The only side rubbing its hand and smiling is Inter, as it pocketed 3 points.

On Thursday, Palmeiras received Avai at home knowing that on the day before Sao Paulo had failed to win. Everything was ready for a big party. A victory was going to increase the lead by 7 points. But somebody did not tell that to Avai. The club played a solid first-half – marking and counterattacking well but missing goals. The side headed by Silas jumped in the score board ahead with 2 headers, by William and Emerson. The incredible thing is that before visiting Palmeiras, only one goal scored by Avai in 27 matches was the result of a header.

Despite the rain, Palmeiras had to pressure and before the first-half was over, Vagner Love scored for the locals, which brought promises of a dramatic second-half. And that became reality. Palmeiras threw itself into the attacking field. At the same time it looked dangerous, it gave space, which was well used by midfielder Marquinhos. Avai missed chances to kill the match. With 5 minutes to be played, Robert left the bench and scored one more time. Palmeiras fans were able to celebrate finally. But the 2 goal draw tasted as a defeat for the players, who left the pitch talking about the importance of not losing.

The day before, the story was similar and the final score was the same. Sao Paulo received Coritiba and played well the first-half, missing many chances. With 23 minutes, it opened the score board with the talent of Hernanes, who stole a ball, dribbled and shot. But after that, Sao Paulo stopped attacking and Coritiba found 2 goals in two mistakes of Rogerio Ceni. First, the goalie gave a rebound for Renatinho. Then, he failed to clear the corner taken by Marcelinho Paraiba and the ball visited the net. The best player of Coritiba scored a bizarre Olympic goal.

In the second-half, Sao Paulo attacked without much organization. Washington left the bench and tied for the locals, but Coritiba had lots of space to kill the match. The draw, however, tasted bitter. Hernanes even declared that the title for Sao Paulo depended on a miracle to happen. At that point, Sao Paulo did not imagine Palmeiras wasn’t going to win.

The other leaders did even worse. Atletico-MG visited the desperate side of Botafogo while Goias took on Cruzeiro at Mineirao.

Like it did against Goias in the last round, Botafogo played an inspired half against a club in the top. The first-half ended 3-0 for Bota, with beautiful goals by Andre Lima, Lucio Flavio and Reinaldo. In the second-half, Atletico-MG scored from the spot with Correa but it wasn’t enough. Botafogo left the relegation zone, while Atletico-MG not only failed to jump to second, but also it fell to fourth.

Against Cruzeiro, Goias missed its chance of taking advantage of this round in 8 minutes. Between the 2nd and the 10th marks into the second-half, Cruzeiro scored 3 goals. Leandro Lima (in his debut) and Wellington Paulista (twice) made another round really bad for Goias, which now seats in 5th.

With all these results, Inter could not be happier. In the debut of coach Mario Sergio, Inter received the troubled side of Nautico and had no trouble (sorry, I could not avoid it) to win. Alecssandro scored twice and reached 13 in the competition. D’Alessandro, after a long time, scored the other goal. Bruno Mineiro scored for the visitors. After 6 matches, Inter wins again. Not only that, the club jumped to third with the perfect round. Nautico, on the other hand, is stuck in the relegation zone.

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

Coincidence?

Except for Inter, all the teams with players in the national squad did not win. Palmeiras did not have the best player of the tournament (Diego Souza), Sao Paulo did not have its best defender (Miranda), Atletico-MG did not its main forward (Diego Tardelli), Flamengo did not the best forward of the league (Adriano) and Gremio did not have its goalie (Victor). And it will happen again this weekend because CBF does not stop matches of the tournament when Brazil plays. Coincidence or poor management?

Best Match of the Round

The round had many candidates for the title of “best match”, but the clash Vitoria 3 – 3 Flamengo was the best of all. The first-half had 5 goals. Flamengo scored. Vitoria tied. Flamengo scored. Vitoria tied again and came back. The main name of the match was veteran midfielder Ramon, who plays for Vitoria. First, he gave an assist to Roger tie the match. Later, he scored twice – one from a beautiful free-kick. Ramon, you may remember, is among the top 10 scorers in the history of Campeonato Brasileiro.

For Flamengo, the man of the match was Ze Roberto. He gave an assist to Denis Marques in the first goal. And scored the third goal of Fla, which came in the last minute of the match. A nice ending for a thrilling game. The other goal for Fla was scored by veteran Serbian Petkovic – from a free-kick, as usual.

With the draw, Fla failed to take advantage of the round and remains in 6th with 42 points.

Relegation

The only change in the relegation zone was the departure of Botafogo. Santo Andre is the one who joined the bottom four, with a nil draw against Barueri. Despite each team hitting the post once, it was by far the worst match of the round.

Besides Nautico, Sport and Fluminense walk firmly towards the second division. Sport received Santos and lost 1-0. Defender Igor did a very poor job in clearing a ball, which put Felipe Azevedo in front of the goal to score. Sport has only 24 points.

Fluminense remains in the last position with 22 points. The club from Rio tied in one goal against Corinthians at Maracana. Both sides were very little committed to winning, and neither Ronaldo nor Fred were on the pitch. Alan scored for Flu while Dentinho tied for Corinthians.

The situation in the bottom of the table looks like this: Botafogo – 31, Santo Andre – 29, Nautico – 26, Sport – 24, Fluminense – 22.

Not much to talk about…

Atletico-PR 0 – 0 Gremio. Gremio is in 7th, with 41 points.

Brasileiro: Not Every Round is a Sao Paulo Round

Bruno Romani — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 08:56:22 +0000

The 25th round of Brasileirao had all the elements to belong one more time to Sao Paulo. Inter visited Vitoria – always a tough match. Sao Paulo “visited” Santo Andre (piece of cake) and Palmeiras will visit Cruzeiro on Wednesday. But the tricolor round ended up to be a green round. The green of Palmeiras, who is celebrating without even stepping on the pitch.

Everything started on Saturday, as Inter went to the Barradao stadium, place where the home team lost one single match in the tournament. Inter played a decent first-half, and wasted a few good chances – helping to make the name of the weird Colombian goalie Viafara. In the second-half, Vitoria looked dangerous most of the time thanks again to the good forward Neto Berola. And two set-pieces cemented the fate of Inter. First, Uelliton, the same man who opened the score last week against Palmeiras, used his head. Later, forward Roger took a penalty, reached his 12th goal in the league and gave final numbers to the match.

With the great Saturday, the Sunday looked promising to Sao Paulo. It was going to Santo Andre, a club who has in its starting line-up 42 year-old defensive midfielder Fernando, a man who has been around as far as I can remember. On top of that, Santo Andre decided to transfer the match for Ribeirao Preto. And, as it always happens when the big clubs play outside Sao Paulo city, the stadium was full of Sao Paulo fans, not Santo Andre. Easy? No, if arrogance is on the way. Sao Paulo scored with just 8 minutes with a beautiful goal from Jean and stopped. From that point, Sao Paulo looked over confident as if just waited for the final whistle. Before that happened, Santo Andre found a goal through Pablo Escobar (great name). And things could’ve been worse if the ref had awarded Santo Andre a penalty after Brazil international fouled retirement home super star Fernando.

With these two results, Palmeiras is smiling and rubbing its hand. Inter is stuck with 43 points. Sao Paulo reached 44. Palmeiras has 44, a better goal difference and a match to go. Palmeiras will not seat in first after Wednesday only if Cruzeiro wins 5-0.

Libertadores

As Palmeiras, Sao Paulo and Inter are not very likely to leave the Libertadores zone, only one spot is left for 3 clubs in the top 4 (4 clubs if Corinthians is counted, but the club is already in the Libertadores). Goias, Atletico-MG and Gremio are also protagonists of a tough fight. And this weekend wasn’t good for Atletico-MG.

The result for Atletico wasn’t that bad by itself. Visiting Nautico, even when the club is fighting relegation is always tough. And the nil draw cannot be regarded as terrible. But what Goias and Gremio did was remarkable – particularly for the former.

Goias visited Corinthians at Pacaembu, which had 35 thousand fans to watch the return of Ronaldo. The phenomenon was returning after the lipo and the hand surgery. The stars of the night, however, were forwards Fernandao and Iarley, right-back Vitor and midfielder Julio Cesar. With just 23 minutes, Goias was winning – one goal for each of the mentioned forwards. In the beginning of the second-half, Iarley scored another. When Dentinho scored the first for Corinthians was too late, and Goias had time to scored the 4th with defender Joao Paulo. It was the first time Corinthians conceives four goals in a match under coach Mano Menezes. On the other side, coach Helio dos Anjos said confirmed what many thought: it had been the best match of his team in the league. And with that, Goias is in 4th again.

Gremio had also a good Sunday. It took on the dead side of Fluminense and had no difficulty to cause an avalanche of goals. Souza, great midfielder, scored twice. Tcheco from the spot and Jonas, one of the top scorers of the league with 13 goals, also scored. It was so easy that, in 22 minutes of action, Gremio scored three times. And as a dead side, Fluminense had time to score an own goal with defender Cassion. Fluminense’s goal was scored by Kieza. Gremio reached 39 points – it is in 6th. Fluminense has no scape: it has only 18 points, 8 points behind the first side outside the relegation zone.

Relegation

The round wasn’t good for those trying to scape from the second division. None of them won. As we saw, Nautico and Santo Andre tied and Fluminense lost. Botafogo and Sport were also unable to take advantage of that.

Sport visited Atletico-PR. With just one minute, it allowed Marcinho to score the only goal of the match. In this way, Sport is stucj with 20 points – the second the last in the table.

Botafogo had a result which by itself is not bad. A nil draw against Santos at Vila Belmiro usually is not bad. But not for a club in the relegation zone. Worse than that was the level of the match – one of the worst of the tournament.

Very Nice! (Read as Borat, please)

In the safe zone of the tournament, the one with clubs neither desperate for the title or for staying in the first division, is where some of the fun took place in this round.

Avai won again after 3 matches. And it wasn’t just a victory. It was a sound 4-0 against Barueri – goals by William, Eltinho, Muriqui (who, along with midfielder Marquinhos, was the best on the pitch) and Léo Gago (who scored one of the nicest goals of the weekend)

At Maracana, Flamengo massacred Coritiba in a night of beautiful goals. Adriano, top scorer with 13 goals, visited the net again. Veteran Serbian midfielder Petkovic and Willians also battled for the most beautiful goal of the night.