Sunday of Champions All Over Brazil

By: Bruno Romani | May 7th, 2007

Santos overcame all the hardships that landed on the club in the last weeks and won its 17th Paulista League, the second in a row. First, Pedro and Tiuí left the club accusing coach Wanderley Luxemburgo of trying to coerce them to exchange to a new agent, who is his friend. Then, the club did not score any goals in the first 3 matches of the knock-out stages of the tournament. Last Wednesday, in the disappointing draw against Caracas for the Copa Libertadores, both Antônio Carlos and the winger Denis had knee-injuries. This Sunday, however, all this didn’t matter against São Caetano and the peixe won by 2-0, the scored-difference they needed to win the title. Adailton scored in the first-half (24) and just before the game was over, Moraes with a header granted the title to Santos. This is the first time since 1968, when Pelé still played for the club, that Santos wins two Paulista titles in a row.

Botafogo and Flamengo played another thrilling match at the Maracanã that ended in a 2-2 draw. In the penalties, Flamengo was more efficient, winning by 4-2 its 29th carioca title. Keeper Bruno (what a nice name by the name) was the MVP of a match that started slow, with few chances for both sides in the first-half, and ended with a sequence of goals in the second-part. Sousa for Flamengo (7), and Juninho (12) and Dodô (15) for Botafogo set the Maracanã on fire. Renato Augusto tied the game again with 29 minutes and extended the thrill to the penalties. Juninho and Lúcio Flávio missed their penalties while Flamengo converted them all. Like santos, Flamengo overcame a difficult week, in which it lost in the Copa Libertadores and watched the ex-national team Juninho get in a argument with coach Ney Franco, being suspended by Flamengo officials as a result.

After 7 years, Atletico celebrates

In Minas Gerais, the bizarre mistakes Fábio made last Sunday against Atlético still echoed at the Mineirão. Cruzeiro scored two goals in the first-half (Guilherme – 8’, Wellington 43’), but saw its big rival to celebrate a Mineiro tournament after 6 years.

Tcheco scored twice and lifts the trophy.

In Porto Alegre, Grêmio had no main difficulties to score 4-1 against Juventude and hold its 35th gaucho title. Playmaker Tcheco(15 of first-half and 16 of second-half), Diego Souza (4 of the second-half) and Lúcio (23 of second-half) scored for Grêmio. Juventude found its honor goal through Gabriel (32 of the second-half).

Paranavai: first time you never forget!

In Paraná, with a 0-0 draw, Paranavaí won its first title of the Paranaense league. Paraná couldn’t score again and the club headed by Zetti has signs of entering turbulence zone.