Decline and Redemption: The second round of the Brasileiro

By: Bruno Romani | May 20th, 2007

Coaches who chose to save their main players for the mid-week round of the Copa do Brasil and Libertadores faced losses this weekend in the campeonato Brasileiro.Santos produced the headlines that their rivals and Mexican fans hope to read this week. “América visits Santos at the Vila Belmiro and wins.” The only detail is that this América is from Natal, RN, not from Mexico. The northeastern side won by 3-2 with a hat-trick by defender Edson Borges against a Santos that mixed players from the bench and some usual starters.

Figueirense saved its players for the semifinal against Botafogo for the Copa do Brasil in the match against Palmeiras in São Paulo and lost by 2-1. The Chilean Valdívia scored twice with two assists by the Paraguayan Florentín. Palmeiras started the tournament with a well organized team, and seems very promising.

Talking about resurrection, Corinthians with a renewed team crushed Cruzeiro with a 3-0 at the Mineirão. The timão brought players with good performances for small clubs in the paulista league and is showing efficiency. Goalkeeper Felipe is someone to watch. Cruzeiro, on the other hand, shows that it a difficult season lies ahead.

Fluminense decided to save its players against Grêmio and lost by 2-0. Grêmio, on the other hand, decided not to save its players for the game against Defensor in the Libertadores. Anticipation? These were the first points pocketed by the state of Rio Grande do Sul. This is so because Internacional and Juventude lost again. The first watched Atlético-PR with just 10 players to come back and win by 2-1. The second lost against Paraná by 2-1 in the last game of coach Zetti.

Zetti is moving to Atlético-MG who lost against the main players of Botafogo by 2-1 at the Maracanã. The ex-goalie will have lots of work to do. Atlético is showing a weak side in their comeback to first division. Not as weak as Goiás, though. The side from Central Brazil lost again, this time at home against Flamengo by 3-1. The highlight of this game was the pass of Renato for winger Juan to score the second goal. The midfielder stopped in front of Goiás’ defender for 7 seconds before finding the winger.

Who lost itself is São Paulo. The tricolor went to Recife and lost to Naútico by 1-0. Coach Muricy Ramalho is being very criticized and a big part of the fans wants him out. The state of São Paulo watched a polarization between São Paulo and Santos in recent years, but now sees the return of Palmeiras and Corinthians and the decline of São Paulo.

Finally, Vasco won 3-1 against Sport, but the final score wasn’t important. Romário scored the 1000th goal. Viva Romário! The baixinho is the man!