Who did it? (Vipcomm)
Bad times for Flamengo. After reaching the summit of the table, they have now gone six games without winning. And on Sunday they lost 3-1 at home to lowly Bahia (Ronaldinho missed that one as was in London with the seleção). But it was what happened before that match that seems to have spoiled the mood at Flamengo. Continue reading
Does Borges (left) deserve a chance for the seleção? (Getty Images)
Internacional and Santos drew 3-3 in a fascinating match on Wednesday night. In absolute cruise control, 3-0 in front (and deservedly so) with 15 minutes to go, Internacional inexplicably let Santos back in the game. 15 minutes later, its 3-3 and Inter’s players are being booed off the pitch at the final whistle. Continue reading
Lets hope Ricardo Gomes makes a full recovery (Fotocom)
Once in a while football gets put into perspective. Sunday afternoon unfortunately was one of those times when Vasco coach Ricardo Gomes was rushed to hospital after suffering a stroke during the second half of the derby match between Flamengo and Vasco. Continue reading
Good chance the in-form Leandro Damião will be thumping his chest again come Sunday (VIPCOMM)
With no less than eight fiercely contested local derby matches to be played in the Serie A this weekend, I can hardly contain my excitement. I am like a kid in a candy shop. It is a truly mouth-watering fixture list. Sumptuous Brazilian club football, tasty tackles, a banquet of goals with the added spice of local pride at stake! I am running out of superlatives and strange culinary metaphors…. Continue reading
Santos players and coaching staff look on as things go from bad to worse against Vasco (Getty Images)
How ironic this beautiful game can be. After overcoming all the odds to win the Copa Libertadores and São Paulo State Championship, Santos have all but thrown their Serie A title hopes out the window with three losses in the space of a week. Continue reading
Ronaldinho magic (Wander Roberto/VIPCOMM)
The best game of the season so far and some commentators are even saying it was one of the best ever games in the Brazilian National Championship. Stars of the future, past and present, heroes, villains, dislocated shoulders, missed penalties, brilliant goals from free kicks, brilliant dribbles, clinical finishing, brilliant passing, poor defending and goalkeeping. This game had it all (except for a red card I suppose)! Continue reading
Denilson signs for São Paulo (Luis Barreto/VIPCOMM)
The transfer window for Brazilian clubs to sign foreign based players closed on Thursday night. The window has been dominated by the Carlos Tevez saga and rightly so. But some big names have arrived almost unnoticed. Here they are: Continue reading
Kléber won't be signing for Flamengo this year
I went down to the Palmeiras vs. Flamengo game on Wednesday night. It had all the ingredients for a great match: fourth against third, a crowd of around 35,000 people (very high by Brazilian standards), two of Brazil’s best coaches going head to head (Luis Felipe Scolari or Big Phil at Palmeiras and Vanderley Luxemburgo at Flamengo) and former world player of the year Ronaldinho on show. Continue reading
But how can they afford my wages? (Getty Images)
Corinthians’ bid for Carlos Tevez was truly sensational. A few years ago it was unthinkable that any Brazilian club could pay such a large transfer fee (between £40 and £50 million depending on who you believe) for any player. That’s not to mention his wages which are reported to be above £200,000 per week at Manchester City. The question is where did all this money come from? Continue reading
Falcão reacts during Inter's 3-0 home loss to São Paulo (Jefferson Bernardes/ VIPCOMM)
Less than a week after my report about the coaching merry-go-round in Brazil and another one bites the dust. This time it’s Falcão at Internacional. Ironically (or perhaps fittingly depending on how you look at it), the sacking came after Inter lost 3-0 at home to São Paulo, the team who sacked their coach a week earlier. Adilson Batista will be the new coach at São Paulo.