Flamengo, Cruzeiro and Grêmio set the Tone

By: Bruno Romani | July 15th, 2008

On the weekend of four major derbies in Brazil, Flamengo Grêmio and Cruzeiro set the tone for what probably the league will look like. Out of the three, only Grêmio did not play a derby. The club from the South took on Portuguesa at home and relied on striker Marcel to score twice in the 2-1 comeback. Grêmio has 21 points.

Cruzeiro has the same 21 points. For its fans, even better than regaining the second spot in the table, it was to comeback to beat eternal rivals Atlético-MG. For Atlético, the year of its centenary has yet to record a victory of galo against Cruzeiro. It was the third time they met, and for the third time blue was the color of the day. Danilinho scored for Atlético, but Thiago Martienelli tied 3 minutes later. The victory came in the very last minute of the match, through Ramirez.

In Rio, it has never been so easy for Flamengo to beat major rivals Vasco da Gama. Ibson from the spot in the first few minutes and Fábio Luciano gave Flamengo a 2-0 lead in the first half. Roberto Dinamite, new president of Vasco, saw his club score, but Flamengo won 3-1. The club now celebrates two achievements: A 26 points lead and a brand new blog here on The Offside. Check it out!

In São Paulo, the derby was between São Paulo and Palmeiras. Palmeiras was the favorite, but throughout the entire match what was seen was solid game by São Paulo, shortening the chances its rival and missing quite a few of its own. The 2-1 for São Paulo sent the beginning of a crisis for Palmeiras, and removed some of the pressure from the winners since the draw against Ipatinga.

In Recife, Naútico was full of excitement after beating São Paulo last Wednesday to take on rivals Sport. Conducted by Carlinhos Bala, Sport won 2-0. the victory not only stopped Nautico in the table, but also put some distance between Sport and the relegation zone.

Talking about relegation, the bottom portion of the table as usual is very thrilling.

Fluminense is not the last spot anymore after the 2-1 victory over the good team of Vitória. Dodô, who missed a penalty in the first-half, and Rafael, the man who replaced Gabriel (who left for Greece), scored the goals. As expected, the last place is in the hands of Ipatinga. After taking points from São Paulo and Cruzeiro last week, the club did the usual and lost 1-0 against the unstable side of Figueirense. Wellington scored from a beautiful free-kick. But this game must had been painful to watch.

However, the two most desperate clubs of the season both tied their matches in two goals. Goiás received Coritiba. It must suck to be Romerito right now. He was forced to leave Sport, the champion of the Copa do Brasil, and join Goiás back, a team of a defense as thin as air. Hugo and Michel, the two good men from Coritiba took advantage of that.

If last year, the major club to be relegated was Corinthians, watch out for Santos this year. The club has been devastated since Luxemburgo left (and it is never enough to stress that). Coach Cuca has not won yet. And that would never happen against Botafogo, given the love/hate relationship the coach has with its ex-club. The match this Sunday in Santos could’ve been a real disaster for Santos. Botafogo set a 2-0 advantage, goals by Ze Carlos and Wellington Paulista. In the second-half, Kléber Pereira, 9 games later, scored twice giving Santos a draw.

The “I don’t care match of the weekend” was the 1 goal draw between Atlético-PR and Inter-RS. Neither moved up or down in the table. And both seat on mid-table positions.

Flamengo 3 – 1 Vasco