State Champs: stuck with the wrong match

Grêmio and Leandro (left) got the better of Internacional (Jefferson Bernardes, VIPCOMM)

The afternoon got off to a terrible start with the news that Corinthians would be wearing jerseys with their mothers’ names on the back as a Mother’s Day tribute. I needed to call on all my powers of concentration to get this shockingly lame marketing gimmick out of my head and focus on the important afternoon of football ahead, starting 16:00 local time. And what an afternoon it promised to be: Corinthians vs. Santos, Internacional vs. Grêmio and Atlético Mineiro vs. Cruzeiro to name just a few of the mouth-watering ties. Continue reading

Brazilian Copa (it’s a disgrace) Libertadores disaster

Internacional vs. Peí±arol

Not even Guií±azu could save Inter (Lucas Uebel/VIPCOMM)

Four Brazilian clubs were dumped out of the Copa Libertadores in spectacular fashion last night. Going into the evening’s games, only Grêmio had a difficult first leg score to overturn. Internacional lost 2-1 (3-2 agg) at home to Peí±arol,  Cruzeiro lost 2-0 (3-2 on agg) at home to Once Caldas and Fluminense were humiliated 3-0 (4-3 agg) against Libertad in Paraguay. Grêmio lost their away match against Universidad Católica from Chile 1-0 and 3-1 on aggregate. Continue reading

Derby day decided by penalties

Thiago Neves scores the winner for Flamengo (Maurí­cio Val/VIPCOMM)

After three months of mind numbing State Championships, nearly all of the 24 odd Brazilian State Championships kicked into life yesterday as their reached their finale with a number of historic derby matches deciding trophies and finalists. All of the three main derby matches played on Sunday (Palmeiras x Corinthians, Internacional x Grêmio and Flamengo x Vasco) were decided on penalties while a day earlier Santos beat São Paulo 2-0 away from home to reach the São Paulo State final. Continue reading

Libertadores: Can anybody stop Cruzeiro?

Another Libertadores win for Cuca, Cruzeiro and co (Washington Alves/VIPCOMM)

It’s hard to keep up with Brazilian and South American football these days with the games coming thick and fast. The Libertadores knock out phase is upon us at the same time as the State Championships are coming to a conclusion. Not to mention the Brazilian Cup which is reaching its later stages too. But that’s no excuse so let me give you a quick rundown of the Libertadores action so far this week. Continue reading

Libertadores: All five Brazilian clubs through to next round

Shameful scenes in Argentina (Getty Images)

All five Brazilian clubs have classified for the second round of this year’s Copa Libertadores. Santos and Fluminense both squeezed through after wins on the last match day.

In the night’s most emotional game Fluminense beat Argentinos Juniors 4-2 away from home and snuck through on goals scored (eliminating Nacional from Uruguay in the process). Continue reading