Round 23: Goals Galore

By: Bruno Romani | September 3rd, 2007

Saturday
This Saturday three games were played: São Paulo x Paraná, América-RN x Juventude, Flamengo x Sport. São Paulo kicked off the weekend at home in the Morumbi. What came next nobody expected. São Paulo applied a beating of 6 x 0 over Paraná. São Paulo offense is really kicking into gear, they beat Náutico 5 x 0 two rounds ago and their defense continues to sparkle, seven goals in 23 matches! In a battle of the cellar, 18th placed Juventude, beat 20th placed América, 3 x 0 and have got some breathing room. As for América, they are pretty much goners unless they can prove us all wrong and win almost every match from now on. The last game on Saturday was played in front of a packed Maracanã stadium, the Flamengo fans came out to see their team continue their resurrection, but even with the support, Flamengo and Sport tied one-a-piece.

Sunday
Their were four games in the earlier part of Sunday and three games later on. First off, it was the Paulistas playing each other, Corinthians and Santos. Corinthians were celebrating their 93rd anniversary, but on paper, Santos came into this one as absolute favorites. On the pitch it was another story. A 2 x 0 victory for Corinthians will ensure that they go 13th as Santos hits a road block on their journey to the top four. The two Atléticos, Atlético-PR and Atlético-MG, also played
each other on Sunday, with a penalty from Ramon giving Atlético-PR the win. Atlético-PR debuted their new manager Ney Franco, who was sacked from Flamengo last month, and also leave the drop zone. The other big beating of the weekend came from Cruzeiro, who beat top-four contender Palmeiras, 5 x 0. The goals came from the Bolivian-Brazilian youngster Marcelo Moreno (2), the 19-year-old is beginning to look like a future promise, Thiago, Wagner and Maicosuel. The game also featured the return of Kerlon from injury for Cruzeiro. Grêmio hosted Botafogo and beat them 3 x 0 with all three goals coming from Tuta. Grêmio wants to enter the top-four, as fourth placed Botafogo seems to want to exit. Later on Sunday, Goiás played Figueirense, beating them 2 x 1 with a good performance by Paulo Baier. Fluminense and Vasco also played their derby at the Maracanã. Although, Vasco was the better side, they allowed Fluminense to score in the end and the game ended up as a tie 1 x 1. Last but not least, Náutico played World Champs, Internacional. Internacional missed a penalty and their chance at the three points, the game was a tie, 1 x 1 as well.

The goals:

http://video.globo.com/Videos/Player/Esportes/0,,GIM724944-7824-ASSISTA+AOS+GOLS+DA+RODADA+DO+BRASILEIRAO,00.html

http://globoesporte.globo.com/ESP/Noticia/Futebol/Campeonatos/0,,MUL98106-4276,00.html” Referees Continue to Blunder