Vasco players - led by striker Eder Luís - celebrate a goal against Coritiba (Fotocom.net)
After a two week leave of absence, brazilfooty.com is back! My sincere apologies for the bad timing of the break (if only it was in the middle of the State Championships instead of crunch Libertadores, Brazilian Cup and league matches!) but real life got in the way as it sometimes does. Quite a lot has happened so without further ado let me get started. Continue reading
They are State Champions but can they be National Champions? (Lucas Uebel - VIPCOMM)
The Brazilian National Championship kicked off yesterday afternoon which makes my report at least one day late. Sorry about that! Better late than never, right? In my report, I give a short comment on each of the twenty teams and my prediction about where they will finish in the league table. For a full explanation on Brazilian football and all of the club competitions see this link. Continue reading
Neymar celebrates his goal for Santos against Once Caldas (Getty Images)
Santos drew with Once Caldas in a chilly São Paulo to reach the last four of the Copa Libertadores. Neymar, once again, was the star of the show; he scored the goal in the 1-1 draw (which classified Santos 2-1 on aggregate) and was a constant outlet for Santos down the left hand side of the field. Continue reading
Lucas' São Paulo are out of the Brazilian Cup (Luiz Pires - VIPCOMM)
One day after Coritiba and Ceará progressed at the expense of Palmeiras and Flamengo, São Paulo are the latest big name to be knocked out of the Brazilian Cup by supposedly inferior opposition. They lost to Avaí in Florianópolis 3-1 (3-2 on aggregate). Vasco are the only ‘big name’ left and are through to the semi finals after beating Atlético Paranaense on away goals. The semi final first legs will be played next week.
In other news, Neymar is going to be a father for the first time and São Paulo is not going to be a host city in the 2013 Confederations Cup. The five cities that will be hosting the competition are: Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Brasilia and Salvador.
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
Can Felipe stop Flamengo? (Alexandre Brum / FOTOCOM.NET)
With the long winded State Championships finally coming to an end, there were no major surprises in this weekend’s fixtures (sorry about this report being a few days late). In São Paulo, with the league format finished, the top eight teams played each other for a place in the semi-finals. Continue reading
Hasn't fully lived up to expectations yet (Ricardo Ramos/VIPCOMM)
Ronaldinho missed a penalty in the last kick of the game against Macaé in their Rio Cup match. A win would have put Flamengo (who beat Botafogo in a crunch match last weekend thanks to two goals from Thiago Neves) top of their group and meant a semi-final at home to Olaria. With the draw, however, they finished second in their group behind Vasco (who drew 2-2 with Olaria and will face them in the semi) and now play away to Fluminense in the semi-final. Fluminense have recovered well in the competition and topped their group. Continue reading
Ronaldinho and Flamengo have it all to do against Botafogo (Ricardo Ramos/VIPCOMM)
In the Sao Paulo State Championship Palmeiras deservedly beat Santos 1-0 with some good defending and counter attacking football (okay it was somewhat bureaucratic). Kleber scored their goal in the second half. Continue reading
Would the real Diego Souza please stand up (Maurício Val / FOTOCOM.NET)
Diego Souza was the name on everybody’s lips before kick-off and he certainly lived up to expectations; he scored one and helped Vasco to a 2-0 victory against local rivals Botafogo in Rio. Continue reading
Things are picking up for Vasco under new coach Ricardo Gomes (Maurício Val / FOTOCOM.NET)
The standout result of the Brazilian Cup this week was Vasco’s 6-1 away win over Comercial-MS (the MS means that this team is from the state of Mato Grosso do Sul). The idea that there are no more easy games in football anymore is not entirely true when you come up against a team from Mato Grosso do Sul (Santos beat Naviraiense, a team from the same state, 10-0 in the Brazilian Cup last year). However, credit must still go to Vasco. Continue reading