Palmeiras is the Robin Hood and Luxemburgo Killed Leão

By: Bruno Romani | August 2nd, 2007

They don’t like each. And both love personal-marketing. Considered two of the top coaches in Brazil, Leão and Luxemburgo met last night at the Mineirão in an unusual mid-table situation for both at the same time. As usual, Luxemburgo left as the winner. Atlético-MG went to the pitch searching for its third victory in a row, in the third match headed by Leão. Santos, on the other hand, was coming from to defeats in a row. The match took place with Atlético having the territorial control, but with very poor control of the ball. Its strikers were not able to receive a pass, stop the ball and pass it to a teammate, like strikers of country club matches. Santos is much skilled, and with precise passes of its forwards won the match by 2-1.

Amazing. Palmeiras is officially the Robin Hood of the tournament. The green team managed to lose against Sport at home with 2 more men in the pitch. With 8 minutes into the match, Martinez scored from a free-kick the goal of the home team, leaving the impression that Palmeiras wanted to finally dive into a period of stability. 7 minutes later, Bilica was sent-off and everything seemed the way Palmeiras wanted. But then, César tied with a header on the 29th minute. And Da Silva confirmed the comeback of the Northeastern team. In the second-half, Palmeiras created very little, and not even the red card for Dutra with 15 minutes left helped. Palmeiras truly is a Italian team. It loves drama.

Fluminense kept its saga of mediocre matches by getting a 0-0 tie with Náutico. It must have been horrendous. Botafogo kept the journey of the leader by beating América -4-2. Midfielder Zé Roberto (not the famous one) scored twice. Goiás returned to the 4th spot after beating Paraná, 2-0.

Corinthians, who received from rivals a countdown for relegation , did not win again. The club came back against Atlético-PR with the two first professional goals of midfielder William, but in the last minute defender Cadu deflected a ball hit by Rogerinho. This is Timão’s 10th match in a row without a victory. That said, it means that already 25% of the league has passed for Corinthians without a victory. The situation is severe.

To close the night, Vasco, with questionable coach and players, won again and reached the third spot. The victim was Inter, playing in its own stadium. The two goals were scored by Alan Kardec and Leandro Amaral. Check out their starting line up and tell me how cool their names are:

Vasco
Silvio Luiz; Vilson, Jorge Luiz e Julio Santos; Wagner Diniz (Thiago Maciel), Roberto Lopes, Perdigão, Conca (Marcelinho) e Rubens Júnior; Alan Kardec (Júnior) e Leandro Amaral
Técnico: Celso Roth