Switching Atlético for Anzhi (Getty Images)
Diego Tardelli is the latest Brazilian star to sign for this strange up-and-coming team Anzhi Makhachkala from Dagestan, Russia. This team clearly means business and have now signed Roberto Carlos and two of Brazil’s better young players Jucilei (22) and Diego Tardelli (25).
Diego Tardelli has been on the fringes of the seleção for a few years now and came close to going to the 2010 World Cup for his form with Atlético Mineiro. Continue reading
Happy now? (Getty Images)
Paulo Henrique Ganso looks like he will end speculation about his future (for the time being) by signing a new deal at Santos.The player has been out injured for seven months with torn knee ligaments and was not happy that his contract talks were put on hold as soon as he got injured.
He has publicly declared his dissatisfaction with the situation and wants to be paid on a par with the likes of Neymar and Elano; Ganso’s salary is currently around one third of that.
Despite complaining in public, the player wants to remain at Santos for at least another year. Now that he is nearing a return to first team action, he should get his way with a deal of around GBP 30k per week. Inter Milan and AC Milan have both shown interest in the player but it looks like they’ll have to wait to get their man.
Fábio Santos, Roberto Carlos' replacement, struck two goals for Corinthians (Getty Images)
Corinthians surprised many by beating Santos 3-1 in the match of the weekend in the São Paulo State Championship. Corinthians were inspired. It can’t possibly have been because of the silly marketing and gimmicky tributes to Ronaldo before the game so I’ll put it down to good coaching. Continue reading
Lucas in action for Brazil's under 20's (Getty images)
Lucas, Brazil’s new sensation, has signed a new deal at São Paulo with a release clause of 80 million euros. That is more than the estimated 50 million euro release clauses of Ganso and Neymar. Lucas will now earn approximately GBP 50,000 per month, more than 10 times his previous salary. Not bad for a young lad.
Liedson saves Corinthians’ blushes. Corinthians were headed to a disappointing draw at home to Mogi Mirim (Rivaldo’s team that he doesn’t even like) until Liedson popped up with two goals late in the game. Corinthians 2 Mogi Mirim 0. Ronaldo who?
The Brazilians of Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) beat Roma 3 – 2 in the Olympic Stadium in Rome. The Shakhtar goals were all scored by Brazilians: Jadson, Douglas Costa and Luiz Adriano.
Ronaldo against Tolima (Getty Images)
After a glorious career, former World Player of the Year Ronaldo has retired from football aged 34. After last week’s Libertadores fiasco, subsequent injury and threats/abuse from fans, Ronaldo has decided to call it a day. Speaking to a local newspaper, he said: ”I can’t take it anymore. I want to continue, but I can’t. I think of what I want to do on the field but I can’t execute it the way I would like. It’s time. It was beautiful”. So that’s it. WOW. The great man is retiring with immediate effect.
For such a great player who has achieved so much, it would be wrong to criticise him. Yes, he was overweight and didn’t do much running at the end. But put that into context; he came back from three career-threatening injuries and continued to score goals and play at the highest level wherever he went; he won two World Cups; he was the all-time leading scorer at World Cups with 15 goals; he was the 3 times World Player of the year; he won countless trophies at club level; he played for Cruzeiro, PSV, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Corinthians. Pretty darn good I say.
He was one of the generation’s most talented footballers. As a gangly 20 year old for Barcelona his performances were amazing. At Inter Milan he was unstoppable on his day. He fought back from his second career threatening injury to lead Brazil to World Cup glory in 2002. Despite being overweight in 2006, he was the one Brazilian player who took the fight to France in their 2006 World Cup quarter final defeat.
When he came to Brazil after suffering his third serious injury, he was even fatter. But, despite that, he scored the equalizing goal and was man-of-the-match for a 20 minute cameo against Palmeiras in only his second match back. He went on to score lots of goals for Corinthians in 2009 and won the Campeonato Paulista and Brazilian Cup in his first year.
Apart from the odd incident with a transvestite or new kid springing up on another continent, he is a respectable guy. No drink or drug problems. He’s no Paul Gascoigne, Diego Maradona or Adriano in that sense. What more he could have achieved if it wasn’t for those injuries, I wonder?
I only saw him play live once. In 2004. Brazil x Argentina in Belo Horizonte. He was fat and lazy and didn’t run at all (nothing really changed). But he got the ball three times, ran straight for goal cutting left, right, step-overs, faints, shimmies. All of the football lingo you like. He was unstoppable. He was tripped in the box three times and converted all three penalties. Brazil 3 Argentina 1. On his day, for me, he must be the best centre-forward since Maradona. Comments/tributes welcome.
Couple of nice links here to refresh the memories:
Rivaldo signs himself (Google images)
Mogi Mirim have sensationally signed former world player of the year, World Cup winner and ex-Barcelona star Rivaldo. Admittedly past his peak at 38 years of age, the signing is still without doubt a major coup for such a small lousy team. Continue reading
Fluminense have taken this year’s Brazilian championship. The tricolor (team with three colours) from Rio beat relegated Guaraní 1-0 in front of 40,000 Fluminense fanatics in the Engenhão stadium. Normally Fluminense and most of the other big teams from Rio play their home matches at the Maracanã (capacity of around 80,000) but the famous old stadium is currently closed for refurbishment. Continue reading
Neymar to stay at Santos (UOL Esporte)
Neymar has ended speculation about his future and signed a new 5 year contract at Santos. Chelsea officialised their 30 million Euro offer today (that Santos still would have rejected) but Neymar put an end to all of the nonsense by signing the new deal. Good on him. Continue reading
To go or not to go? That is the question for young Neymar.
Santos and Brazil star Neymar has a choice to make. Should he join Chelsea or stick with Santos for at least another year. Continue reading