Humiliated by its Main Rival, Grêmio No Longer is in 1st

By: Bruno Romani | September 29th, 2008

It was just aroun the corner, but this weekend it finally happened. Grêmio is no longer seating on top of Campeonato Brasileiro. And the move down came in dramatic fashion. Grêmio was humiliated by its great rival Internacional. The derby was well fought, but Inter, fueled the most incisive trio in Brazilin football, was fell over Grêmio like and avalanche. D’Alessandro, Alex, Nilmar. The first-half ended with a 4-1 and a lot of confusion. Grêmio knew the match was lost and the first spot had landed on Palmeiras’ lap. Midfielder Tcheco, who had gotten a beautiful long-range, was ejected and the reaction power of Grêmio became ashes.

Benefiting from this loss, Palmeiras reached the 50 points by drawing with Naútico away from home. Both clubs played for the victory, and the 0 draw could’ve been 1 or 2. The other two clubs who are very happy with Grêmio’s defeat are Flamengo and São Paulo. Flamengo came back to beat Sport 2-1 at Maracanã in front of 40 thousand fans. The goal of the victory came in the second-half in the stoppage time through Vandinho. The first one was scored by left back Juan. São Paulo and Cruzeiro played one of those “finals” at Morumbi. The home team did not play well, but, as it has happened in recent years, it played solid football to win 2-0. Now, Cruzeiro, Flamengo and São Paulo are just 4 points away from the leader. The end of the season will be thrilling.

Coritiba and Botafogo tied their local derbies in 1 goal against Atlético-PR and Fluminense and are more distant from the leaders. For Fluminense, the situation is very bad. The 08 Libertadores runners-up are in the last position of Campeonato Brasileiro. There are great chances another traditional club will visit the second division again next year.

The chances Fluminense will not be the only traditional club in second division are enormous. Vasco managed to lose for Ipatinga 3-1. Plabo Escobar scored in his debut for the locals. Edmundo scored for Vasco, but the animal may end his career with a relegation in the records.

The other club in the relegation zone is Portuguesa, whose 1 draw in Santos against the home team did not help much. Kléber Pereira scored again for Santos and veteran left back Athirson tied. Portuguesa needs a reaction power like the one from Goiás. The club who was fighting relegation for most of the league is now in 7th after the 3-0 over Vitória. Impressive ending.

I have a feeling for bad matches and did even risk watching the 0 draw of Atlético-MG and Figueirense. It’s seems like these two clubs play each other every other week. Maybe because they perform some of the worst and boring matches of the league.