Campeonato Brasileiro Série A

¹²³ · Aug 19, 2009

CelticKing said: ↑

That's cool man, the airline I work for starts flying to Rio in Dec. and sometime next year will also start Sao Paolo, I'll definitely want to visit both. Maybe I'll meet you in Sao Paolo. (go catch a game or something lol)
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Rio is amazing. And you will definitely need a local to fully enjoy what São Paulo has to offer.

Yeah, it'll be hard to jump from where they are currently, I say probably 5th or 6th they might be there at the end of the season.
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Yeah. I guess that is about right. Maybe lower. They are in the next Libertadores cup, so there is no real need to finish this championship in the top 4 positions and they might get less motivated. Next year is the club's 100 year anniversary, so they might want to get a good squad to win everything they can (a Libertadores would be huge for the fans).

¹²³ · Aug 31, 2009

Ramalho's meeting with Sao Paulo ends in draw

¹²³ · May 25, 2010

Flamengo won the thing last year.

The championship just started this year, we will have a few more games before the WC.

¹²³ · Jul 19, 2010

Tim Vickery: Brazilian league lacks bite

Spain or Barcelona? No contest. Week in, week out, Barcelona combine the midfield interplay of Xavi and Iniesta with the cutting edge of Lionel Messi, Daniel Alves and co.

The comparison serves to confirm the impression that these days club football is of a much higher standard than international - as long as we restrict the debate to the major European leagues.

The big clubs in Spain, England, Italy and Germany are in front of the national teams because of the time their players spend together and because they count on the best talent from all over the planet. When the World Cup stops and domestic football returns, the level of play goes up.

In South America, things are different. the Brazilian Championship, almost certainly the strongest in the continent, resumed last Wednesday after a break to accommodate events in South Africa.

In Rio, there was a local derby between Flamengo and Botafogo, with a few vuvuzelas around to remind everyone that the Maracana will host the next World Cup final in 2014.

But the expression flying around the press box inside the stadium was "reality shock". After the drama of the previous few weeks, this game, played out in front of just 20,073 spectators, was a sorry comedown.

There are extenuating circumstances. Flamengo fans have seen the image of their club dragged through the mud thanks to the involvement of Bruno, their captain and goalkeeper, in a murder investigation. Heavy rain also kept thousands of supporters at home - in addition to making the pitch difficult to play on.

Even allowing for such considerations, the game lacked the sense of occasion that you expect from such an event, while the number of misplaced passes made for a poor spectacle. The most lucid passer of the ball was Dejan Petkovic, a Serbian not far short of his 38th birthday. He helped set up the only goal of the match.

The match, which took place just three days after the World Cup came to a close, was not a fair reflection of the domestic Brazilian game. Sunday's match between Santos and Fluminense, for example, was much better.

Santos piled on the pressure, Fluminense held on and scored with a late breakaway. It was enthralling stuff, which also served as a reminder of one of the best reasons to follow South American club football - the chance to have an early look at a future star.

In mid-table after nine rounds of the championship, Santos might be disappointing their admirers but they are a very attractive side to watch. Unlike many Brazilian teams, their attacking play is not dependent on forward bursts from the full-backs. They are more fluid than that, with the central midfielders able to make an attacking contribution.

The headlines, though, go to two young players of extraordinary promise - playmaker Paulo Henrique Ganso, 20, and support striker Neymar, 18. This year, the pair have overshadowed Robinho, back on loan from Manchester City, and were tipped by many to make Dunga's World Cup squad.

And this is where the danger lies.

The example of Petkovic illustrates the pitfall. At his advanced age, he is one of the top playmakers in Brazilian football. Even in his prime, he was unable to make such a mark in Europe. It has become relatively easy to build up a reputation in domestic South American football. The pace of the game is slower, there is more time and space available and, especially in Brazil, referees give fouls for the slightest contact.

Ganso and Neymar are being told that they are footballing phenomena. Yet when they make the move to Europe, they are likely to experience their own kind of "reality shock".

That is certainly what happened to Robinho. When he was first making his name with Santos, he kept being told he was a genius. One pundit, the former World Cup striker Casagrande, used to argue that he was going to be better than Diego Maradona. It was just a matter of time before he received the Fifa World Player of the Year award.

But in European club football, the game is faster, the standard is higher and going to ground does not automatically gain a free kick. Making his mark at the top level has proved much harder than Robinho was lead to believe.

And these years later, he still seems unable to reconcile himself to this. For all his talent, his head drops when confronted with difficulty. This is not entirely his fault. The blame should be shared with those who failed to prepare him for the challenge.

There is a danger that the same thing might happen to Ganso and Neymar. Both seemed to think that, based on form in a semi-serious Sao Paulo State Championship, they had earned the right to go to the World Cup.

But just a few months before the showpiece in South Africa, Neymar flopped at the Under-17 World Cup and Ganso fell short of expectations at Under-20 level.

A little humility would have been welcome but it is unlikely to come easily from talented youngsters who are forever being told how great they are. And there are plenty of people with an interest in piling on the praise - the clubs need idols, the media needs stars, agents need hot properties.

One of the big successes of last season was Inter Milan's Argentine striker Diego Milito. In retrospect, it seems clear that he has benefited from being a late developer. When he was 20, no-one was spoiling him by telling him he was the finished article. Deco, the Brazilian who plays for Portugal, is another example.

If a youngster is hyped too soon, there is always the risk he will suffer a reality shock when he steps up his career.
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¹²³ · Sep 20, 2010

Pretty close race between Corinthians, Fluminense, Cruzeiro, Botafogo and Internacional.

Link

¹²³ · Oct 18, 2010

Can Ronaldo prove us wrong again?

¹²³ · Nov 22, 2010

¹²³ said: ↑

Pretty close race between Corinthians, Fluminense, Cruzeiro, Botafogo and Internacional.

Link
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Two games left.

Fluminense 65
Corinthians 64
Cruzeiro 63

If Fluminense wins it all, the coach Muricy Ramalho will conquer his fourth national title in 5 years.

¹²³ · Dec 21, 2010

Well, I forgot to update it, but Fluminense won the title. Congrats to them.

CelticKing · Dec 21, 2010

So when do they start next season?

¹²³ · Dec 21, 2010

CelticKing said: ↑

So when do they start next season?
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The 2011 Campeonato Brasileiro de Clubes da Série A will be the 41th season of the Série A, the top-level of professional football in Brazil. It will begin on May 21 and is scheduled to end on December 4.[1] Fluminense comes in as the defending champion having won the 2010 season.
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Link

CelticKing · Dec 21, 2010

¹²³ said: ↑

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Damn 5 months off, pretty good I suppose.

¹²³ · Dec 22, 2010

CelticKing said: ↑

Damn 5 months off, pretty good I suppose.
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Well, that's the National championship.

In Brazil we have some pretty strong state championship, like the Campeonato Paulista. Also there is the Copa do Brasil. Plus the continental cups, Libertadores e Sulamericana.

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