2 Clubs Fighting for the Brazilian Title

By: Bruno Romani | September 1st, 2008

There are still 3 months to go, but the race for the Brazilian title seems to be down between 2 clubs: Palmeiras and Grêmio. Cruzeiro, Botafogo and São Paulo, who were claiming to be in the race, had disappointing results at home on the weekend.

Botafogo took on Naútico, club fighting against relegation. The locals scored through Carlos Alberto, but missed a ton of chances and were punished with 8 minutes for the end of the match. The final result was 1-1.

A one draw was also the result of the match between Cruzeiro and Coritiba. Like Botafogo, Cruzeiro scored first through defender Espinoza. With 42 minutes into the second-half, the blue team had the chance to increase the lead, but forward Guilherme had a penalty denied by keeper Vanderlei. As if that wasn’t enough, two minutes later Coritiba tied with a goal by Thiago Silvy. Terrible result for Cruzeiro, who has been having a terrible start in the second-half of the league. Cruzeiro won only a 33% of the points in the second –half of the tournament.

Definitely saying goodbye for the title is São Paulo after one of the poorest matches of the league. The 0-0 draw against Santos at home exposed a club with no power to get the third Brazilian title in a row. For Santos, the draw wasn;t helpful to escape relegation.

On the other hand, Palmeiras, playing as the visitant, had a great match against Atlético-PR. Diego Souza scored twice in the 2-1 victory.

The only reason for Palmeiras fans not to be happier is that Grêmio is consistent. Every round it seems they will lose, but that’s just a dream for the rivals. Even when Vasco decides to pull one of its best matches in the league, Grêmio is able to win. Playing in front of 30 thousand fans, Marcel scored the goal that gave the victory for Grêmio in the 2-1 match. Every round the title gets closer. Will Palmeiras be able to stop the leaders?

In the remainder of the round, the best match was the Fla-Flu derby at Maracanã. Dário Conca scored a long-range golazo for Flu, but Fla played better the first-half. The goal by Marcelinho Paraíba (yes, the one who was in Germany), in which the ball almost did pass the line, was fair. In the second-half, Maurício scored for Flu another from a long-rage, but this time it was a mistake of keeper Bruno. With 1 minute left, Kléberson scored with a header. The draw kept Flu close to relegation and Fla far from the title and the top 4.

In São Paulo, the only good thing for Portuguesa was the cool black third kit they debuted. The one draw left the club in the relegation zone.

When relegation is close, even a good result is bad. Ipatinga remains in the last spot, but on Saturday the club got a draw against Vitória, who was playing at home. In general, that would’ve been a good score, but given the actual situation, the victory was only result.

The only two clubs besides the two leaders to win were Sport and Goiás. The first beat Inter-RS again this year. The 1-0 shows one more time the instability of Inter. Goiás beat Figueirense 2-0. Good result for escaping relegation.

Portuguesa’s new kit:

$Portuguesa\'s New Black Kit$