It’s sad to leave behind a blog which had almost no audience when I started and today has a very decent number of readers. In January, I didn’t post one thing and I still had more than 6 thousand visits. But I have my reasons to move on.

I believe everyone should be rewarded for its hard work. If a person works hard, there should be no reason for one not be rewarded. For 2 years, I posted on this blog pretty much after every match happening in Brazil. Even when I found myself with lots of work to do. I do understand that once you sign up for a Offside, they state very clearly that it’s not a paid position. But, as my “day job” is writing and reporting, my motivation for taking care of this blog started to decrease. I don’t need the “recognition” factor to be my motivation. Every time I get published, the number of people reading me is way bigger than the audience of this blog. And I can’t have this blog just as a hobby otherwise the frequency of posts would reflect that (as you can see with the blogs of the Brazilian clubs). I do believe that the writers of the most popular blogs of The Offside should be rewarded. But we (or they) are not and I have to respect that. This is just their system.

So before I started another season with no motivation, i decided to stop. Just don’t get me wrong here. I did enjoy writing here. But it was time to move on. And I hope what I wrote above explains my move.

I will join another blog. A blog that is smaller and does not have all the “glamor” of the Offside, but a blog that shares my belief that good work should be rewarded. A blog that, as small as it is, has a project. I will join my colleague Ana at the (www.seethecup.com). Everything you got used to reading here you will find there. So I hope to see some of you there.

Thank you again to all readers for the support. You’re amazing. Thank you Bob for giving me the chance to write here. And thanks to all The Offside community.

See you soon.

The other prize is newer and it is offered by CBF. In this one, the coaches, the captains and a jury vote on their choices for each position. The best player, the best coach, the top striker and the best new talent are also awarded.

Pay attention because except for Rogerio Ceni, most of the two lists are very likely to leave Brazil. On the other hand, staying in Brazil helps accumulating awards. Rogerio Ceni reached his 6th Bola de Prata (passing Zico) and this time he took home the Golden Ball too. In the same way, Muricy Ramalho, Sao Paulo coach, took home his 4th prize as the best coach in 4 editions of the CBF’s award.

Compare the two teams and tell me which one you like.

Placar – Silver Ball:
GK: Rogerio Ceni (Sao Paulo)
RB:Vitor (Goias)
D:Andre Dias (Sao Paulo)
D:Miranda (Sao Paulo)
LB: Juan (Flamengo)
DM: Hernanes (Sao Paulo)
DM: Ramirez (Cruzeiro)
OM: Wagner (Cruzeiro)
OM: Tcheco (Gremio)
F: Borges (Sao Paulo)
F: Nilmar (Inter)

Golden Ball: Rogerio Ceni (Sao Paulo)

CBF’s Selecao do Campeonato

GK: Vitor (Gremio)
RB: Leo Moura (Flamengo)
D: Thiago Silva (Fluminense)
D: Miranda (Sao Paulo)
LB: Juan (Flamengo)
DM: Hernanes (Sao Paulo)
DM: Ramirez (Cruzeiro)
OM: Diego Souza (Palmeiras)
OM: Alex (Inter)
F: Kleber Pereira (Santos)
F: Alex Mineiro (Palmeiras)

Coach: Muricy Ramalho (Sao Paulo)

Best Player: Hernanes (Sao Paulo)
Best new talent:Keirrisson (Coritiba)
Best Player According to fans: Thiago Silva (Fluminense)

Placar also showed the worst averages of the tournament, known as “Bola de Lata”:

GK: Clemer (Inter)
RB: Carlinhos (Fluminense)
D:Jorge Luis (Vasco)
D:Negretti (Nautico)
LB:Willian Matheus
DM: Alceu (Nautico)
DM:Fabio Gomes (Sport)
OM:Luciano Mandi (Ipatinga)
OM: Ramon (Figueirense)
F: Enilton (Sport)
F: Washington (Portuguesa)

The curious thing is that 3 of these men were in the starting line-up of Palmeiras when they last played Copa Libertadores in 2006. Alceu, Enilton and Washington were there. And you wonder why the club failed…

Gremio kept its chances of becoming Brazilian champion by beating Ipatinga with extreme ease. The only surprise for Gremio in this match happened in the initial minutes when Pablo Escobar scored for Ipatinga. However, by the 8th mark into the second-half, Gremio was winning 4-1. The 4-1 also sent Ipatinga back to second division (something this blog said it was going to happen in the second round of action). Next week, Gremio needs only one combination of results: It must beat Atletico-MG at home and Sao Paulo must lose to Goias playing in Brasilia (Goias was punished by the Desportive Court and lost the right to play at Serra Dourada). Any other result gives Sao Paulo the title.

The other club joining Ipatinga will be Portuguesa, another club that was promoted last year. The club tied at home with Sport in 2 goals. Too bad. Portuguesa is a traditional club, has good players and played well, but the results never came. Time to work hard again in serie B.

The other 2 spots for second division are completely open. Vasco visited Coritiba and won 2-0with goals by Leandro Amaral (who had great help by Alex Teixeira in both goals). The win, however, did not take Vasco away from the relegation zone because of the combination of scores in other key matches. Figueirense visited Botafogo and won. In the direct battle between Nautico and Atletico-PR, Nautico won. The results kept Figueirense and Vasco in the relegation zone, and Vasco still does not depend only on its results to escape second division. Santos has a slight chance of relegation, but the 0 draw against Atletico-MG was helpful for both sides.

The 2 remaining spots for Copa Libertadores are also open. The team benefiting the most from the weekend’s results was Palmeiras. After getting a zero draw against Vitoria (which is always a tough match), Palmeiras watched Cruzeiro and Flamengo failing miserably. Flamengo was beating Goias 3-0 with goals by Obina (2x) and Juan, but it let the rival to tie the match. The situation is critical for Flamengo. Cruzeiro managed to lose against the B team of Inter. And Cruzeiro missed a penalty with Fernandinho.

So for the last round, the title, two Copa Libertadores spots and two relegated clubs will be defined. 9 out of the 20 clubs are still fighting for something. Amazing tournament!

What to Watch in the Last Round

Sport – Coritiba (Nothing – Nothing)
Fluminense - Ipatinga-MG (Nothing – Nothing)
Grêmio – Atlético-MG (Title – Nothing)
Goiás – São Paulo (Nothing – Title)
Santos – Náutico (Nothing – Relegation)
Atlético-PR – Flamengo (Relegation – Libertadores)
Vasco – Vitória (Relegation – Nothing)
Figueirense – Internacional (Relegation – Nothing)
Cruzeiro – Portuguesa (Libertadores – Nothing)
Palmeiras – Botafogo (Libertadores – Nothing)

Take a closer look:

Notice how the jersey has several pictures of people. This is part of a marketing campaign by the club, which was form to say thank you to the fans for supporting the club in the second division. Those pictures are of fans of Corinthians, who “bought” the space for about 500 dollars. The club made 4 thousand slots available, which made each jersey unique. The price, however, did not attract that many people. Only 750 fans bought the space. Even though the look is not that great (it looks like a list of people missing in the dictatorships of South America in the 60’s and 70’s), the idea is excellent to engage the fans and make some extra money. This kit was a one time event,and it won’t be used again.

Wanna see more? Go here.

Fight in Good Images:

Fight in a Different Angle + Goals + Corinthians Lifting the Trophy

The last club to join the first division will be Barueri (Dear American reader, I’d love to hear you trying to pronounce this name!). The club, which represents the city with the same name in the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo, is only 7 years old. And it probably holds the world record of promotions, going in 2001 from the sixth division in Sao Paulo’s state championship to the first division in the Campeonato Brasileiro in 2008. Very impressive.

So, what’s their recipe for success? Public Money. A lot of it. The political scene in Barueri has put a lot of money into the club as a way to promote itself and perpetuate itself in power. They built an arena (very likely to be used in the 2014 World Cup for practice sessions, so get used to this name) and hired several players with appearances for big clubs in their resumes. Next year, Cafu, the legendary ex-Sao Paulo, Roma, Milan and Brazil right-back may play for the club. On Saturday, the club beat America-RN 3-0 and closed its participation in the second division with 60 points (16 wins, 9 draws e 11 losses) and getting the last ticket to serie A. Barueri played serie C, the third division, in 2006. In 07 and 08, serie B. And now serie A. Will they resist for more than 1 season in the first division? Ipatinga, last year’s prodigious club, is returning to second division…

Barueri 3 – 0 America-RN

In the bottom down, things are even more uncertain. Ipatinga gave signs it still alive by beating Sport 3-0.

Fluminense resurrected by beating Portuguesa 3-1 in inspired day of its young talents. Maicon was the name of the match. Portuguesa, on the other hand, is on the way down.

Atlético-PR and Santos got some room after beating respectively Vitória 2-1 and the reserve side of Inter 1-0. The last club to join the relegation zone is Vasco after visiting Atlético-MG and losing 4-1. Their defense is just too bad.

The only match where there was nothing at stakes was Goiás and Botafogo. The home team beat Bota 3-1 with a hat-trick by Paulo Baier, aka Mister Goiás (he only plays well for this club and his connection to the image of the club is huge). Botafogo continues to get the results of not paying the salaries of their players on time. And by the way, guess who got a red card again? André Luís!

What each match of the next round is for:

Vasco- São Paulo (Relegation-Title)
Vitória – Grêmio (Nothing-Title)
Figueirense – Naútico (Relegation-Relegation)
Botafogo – Atlético-PR (Nothing-Relegation)
Portuguesa – Goiás (Relegation – Nothing)
Coritiba – Santos (Nothing-Relegation)
Cruzeiro – Flamengo ( Libertadores – Title)
Internacional – Fluminense (Nothing – Relegation)
Sport – Atlético-MG (Only match with nothing at stake)
Palmeiras – Ipatinga (Libertadores – Relegation)

Before boarding to Rio on Friday for the match against Flamengo, Palmeiras fans attacked coach Vanderley Luxemburgo at the airport, leaving him with an injury in the right arm (some say it’s a broken bone). The fans are mad since the defeat at home against Gremio, which left the club very far from the title. The fans believe Luxemburgo holds the guilt for his choices of hired/fired players and his huge salary (the biggest in Brazil). Palmeiras is the club that invested the most in the season, under the close attention of Luxemburgo.

But violence never pays off. Palmeiras was humiliated again by losing 5-2 for Flamengo and gave final good-bye to the title. The police had to protect the coach and players before and after the flight back to Sao Paulo. Luxemburgo was driven home by the police.

The third club promoted to the first division in 2009 is Santo André. On the Friday, the club visited and beat Ceará 3-2 (interesting how Ceará was also the host when Corinthians was promoted and at the same time the club is fighting to escape the third division). On Saturdar, Corinthians beat 3-1 Vila Nova, the fifth club in the table. Combined, the two results put the club of ex-Corinthians and veteran midfielder Marcelinho Carioca (goal recommended: 1:54) in the first division after 25 years.

For those unfamiliar with the club, Santo André is the club that silenced the Maracanã in 2004 in the final of Copa do Brasil by beating Flamengo 2-0. Also, Santo André is the main rival of São Caetano, “the” Brazilian club of the early 00’s who is now just a mid table team in the second division.

Santo André adopted a new and more professional form of managing the club to turn 2008 in an antithesis of 07. Last year, the club was fighting to escape the third division. This year, besides the promotion in Campeonato Brasileiro, the club achieved the main division of the São Paulo state league. Santo André has been engaging local businesses and getting them to invest in the club. The club created 80 “shares” which people can buy for about $1 thousand. The return of the investment happens when the club negotiates players, by paying 1% of the transaction per share. Given that the city of Santo André is an industrial one (very close to São Paulo), there are many possibilities for money. The extra income, plus sponsors, turned the club in one of the powers of the second division. And now the club just hopes to make things difficult for the big clubs in 2009.

Also, it is worth making a note about the return of Marcelinho Carioca. The midfielder had retired and became a TV commentator. Faced with the difficulties of a media worker, the guy restarted his career and now takes Santo André to first division. It is never too late for a new start.

Ceara 2 – 3 Santo Andre: