Felipe was the hero for Flamengo after saving two penalties against Botafogo (Alexandre Loureiro/VIPCOMM)
A few days after my rant against Vanderlei Luxemburgo, Flamengo beat Botafogo on penalties to set up a final with Boavista next weekend in the Taça Guanabara. The Taça Guanabara is a fancy name to say part 1 of the Rio State Championship (there are two parts with the winner of part 1 and 2 playing each other to decide the overall winner). I didn’t see the came so cannot comment but it sounded fairly equal with below par performances from Flamengo superstars Ronaldinho and Thiago Neves once again. Flamengo keeper Felipe (Ex-Corinthians) was the hero with two saves in the penalty shootout. I wonder what Botafogo coach Joel Santana though about this, in English.
Brazil national champions Fluminense lost to Boavista, a team from the national 3rd division, in the semi-final of the Taça Guanabara. It’s a bit like Leyton Orient beating Arsenal. The match finished 2-2 after the 90 minutes and Boavista won the penalty shootout. Well done Boavista.
Vanderlei Luxemburgo has told reporters that when he was coach of Brazil in 1999, Ronaldo used a nappy. No typo there. A nappy. According to Luxemburgo, Ronaldo reported for Copa America training overweight and was put on some medication that would make him crap himself. It seemed to work because Brazil won the competition with Ronaldo the top scorer with 5 goals. Is this a way for Luxemburgo to remind everybody that he once coached the seleção. Nothing like keeping a secret too, eh?