The season is underway with the State Championships. It's a big year for the 4 big Rio teams: Vasco is back from the second division to Serie A and have investors backing them. They'll want to use the state championship as a strong warmup but they debuted with a draw. Botafogo will also want to use the estadual to make a statement in their first full year under their big investor, but they debuted with a loss. Fluminense will want to defend their title and they have some reinforcements for Diniz, who himself has an important season ahead of him. Can he make a statement with his coaching style and challenge for titles? They opened with a win today. Flamengo will be focused on the Supercopa (Jan 28) and the Club World Cup (Feb 7 and 11 if all goes well), but they'll still be expected to do well with their star roster. They played an early game with the youth team midweek and won. (The game was moved forward from Jan 28, when Flamengo plays the Supercopa.) Today the full team debuted, including the return of Gérson and the debut of Vitor Perreira as coach and they won 4x1 with goals from Pedro and Gabriel among them.
Meanwhile in São Paulo, I'm not following as closely, so if some paulistas want to add more about the expectations there, please do! Most teams debuted this weekend, with Palmeiras and São Paulo drawing and Corinthians losing to Bragantino. For me, the big storyline will be Palmeiras, including how Endrick does in his first full season, still just 16 years old and whether they bring in reinforcements to challenge for the Libertadores and Brasileirão later in the year.
Flamengo drew with Madureira yesterday. Lots of talk about how they should have won, as expected, but there is also a good deal of understanding that the important matches are still to come, so the complaining hasn't been as loud as it might have been in the last couple of years. Palmeiras beat Botafogo - SP 1x0 today and most teams are 2 or 3 rounds in to the Estaduais now. Raphael Veiga got the goal and Endrick started again.
Veiga's goal was something else. You don't see goals like these in big European teams anymore because it's considered such a low percentage play. Over emphasis on tactics and high percentage plays have sucked some of the magic out of football IMO.
Palmeiras are a bit of a mess to be honest. With Crefisa's sponsorship you'd expect the team to make impact signings. But since Leila took over, she is keeping the wallet closed. And with the team winning major titles, she has no incentive to be aggressive in the market. Last year she was promising a "9' as she took over Presidency and she came up with Navarro. The club keeps leaking rumors that the club is trying this and that higher profile player but it's a bit clear they are all smoke screens to say that the selling club wasn't interested in selling or placed a high price tag. Everybody things something stinks behind the scenes in the club. On one hand, you have to spend to build a good team. On the other, you could argue some teams are spending irresponsibly and she is not willing to put the club in a bad financial situation down the line. from 2015 on we also did a string of bad signings that were on the books for a long time. Like Borja, Lucas Lima, Ramires, and etc .. who didn't produce or barely contributed. Personally, except for the money she brings, I really don't like Leila. She likes to be in the spotlight way too much and sometimes puts her name in front of the club.
After another poor performance against Sao Paulo, Abel stopped following the party line and sent a message to Leila saying he doesn't want more project players that need to be developed. If it's to sign new players, they have to be the finished product. Even if we sign players, from a starting lineup point of view, the mid/attack only has Danilo's spot theoretically up for grabs. Rony, Dudu, Veiga won't sit and everybody wants to see Endrick play. Not only that, but Endrick playing up front changed the dynamics of the team by pushing Rony to the wing. Rony was most successful when he was up top. So Abel has to figure something out.
Flamengo's line-up today is kind of funny. There's definitely an odd one out. Matheus Cunha; Wesley, Rodrigo Caio, Cleiton e Marcos Paulo; Igor Jesus e Evertton; Thiaguinho, Lorran e Werton; Mateusão It's Rodrigo Caio + 10 kids. Fingers crossed Rodrigo Caio can make it through without injury...
Rodrigo Caio survived 60 mins apparently without getting hurt and got an ovation when subbed off... only for his sub to immediately get injured, suggesting the curse isn't gone, it just found a new body. Poor Gabriel Noga, it was a no contact injury, I hope it's nothing serious though. He was a young central defender with solid potential.
Abel is now compared to Bruno (goalkeeper who murdered his girlfriend) and is responsible for the increase in violence against women on weekends. Not to mention he assaulted the female ref in the game by putting his hand on her shoulder. Amazingly Casagrande doesn't mind his behavior and wants him to coach the NT. Can't trust a Corinthiano ...
The player's union want Abel to be punished with multiple game suspension for his acts. O que a Fenapaf alega: - A federação enviou uma "notícia de infração" que envolve o português ao procurador-geral do STJD. - O órgão disse que Abel "vem apresentando comportamentos à beira do campo não condizentes com sua função" de maneira recorrente e afirmou que o treinador, "de forma desequilibrada, extrapola os limites de respeito aos demais profissionais". - A atitude em que o treinador obstruiu Arrascaeta na final da Supercopa do Brasil foi vista como "acintosa e agressiva". - A federação disse que, pelas "inúmeras situações de descontrole" de Abel, quer a aplicação do artigo 258 do CBJD (Código Brasileiro de Justiça desportiva) por parte do STJD.... I mean, it's kind of rich coming from player's union as football players constantly push the limits of in field ethics, fair play and behavior.
The mention of Bruno in a comparison to Abel was absolutely baffling. How these people manage to complete these sentences without being laughed off right away is beyond me. As for Fenapaf, would be meaningful if they regularly made such statements. As it is Palmeiras made a statement in response pointing out that the players' union failed to reach out to a single Palmeiras player in making that statement. You'd think that would be a basic thing to do.
Flamengo played their last Campeonato Carioca match before the Club World Club today. A measly 1x0 win over Boavista. VP is starting to get some heat, because everyone expects Flamengo to be steamrolling everyone. Will be much more interesting to see how they do in Morocco next week. The opponent will be determined Saturday between the AFC winner, Wydad Casablanca and the other AFC team, Al Hilal.
Currently second place in Rio is the mighty Volta Redonda! Despite the 2 draws, Flamengo are firmly in first. They'll probably be overtaken while in Morocco and the three classics/biggest matches happen after they come back as well as the match against Volta Redonda. Similar picture in São Paulo where Palmeiras are the top team, despite the concerns like a lack of reinforcements.
Resumo da fase do Palmeiras .... o cala comemola o Golantes de fazer o Golpic.twitter.com/MpjI95H29R— Cebolinha 💚 (@CeboIinhaaa) February 4, 2023
Flamengo came back from 1x0 down and a penalty saved by the Volta Redonda goalkeeper to win 3x1 on goals by Gabi (2) and Pedro. The storyline was VP is going to experiment a bit and today's experiment was to bench Everton Ribeiro to get another Vidal into the midfield. Results wise it looks like more of the same - Flamengo turned the game around after Everton Ribeiro came back in, but he came in for Gerson, not Vidal, so it was still a little different. (Pulgar came in for Vidal when the match was still 1x1.) Next week is the Recopa vs. Independiente del Valle, with carioca matches this Saturday (Resende) and then next Saturday Flamengo starts a stretch of 3 clássicos in a row: Botafogo, Vasco, Fluminense in that order.
Tomorrow is Corinthians x Palmeiras. Abel has a good record vs the Gambas. 7 wins, 2 draws, and only 1 loss. I am hoping that Endrick gets it going tomorrow (if he plays). Giovani, also from the youth system, has been impressing with the minutes he is getting.
Today was the final round of the Paulista and the penultimate round of the Carioca. Paulista quarter-finals start next weekend. The quarters are between 1st and 2nd place teams in each group (since teams in the same group don't face each other in the first phase). Palmeiras ended the first phase with a 0x0 draw. They will play São Bernardo. Santos were eliminated by Ituano. The match-up form Santos' group will be Bragantino vs. Botafogo-SP (Ribeirão Preto). In Rio... Flamengo are on top with one game to go. But I buried the lede there. They lost to Vasco today 1x0, meaning that the Wednesday Fla x Flu will decide the winner of the first phase. I think Vasco can even steal second place if Flamengo lose and Vasco beat Bangu. Fluminense, by the way, are in form, having beaten Bangu 5x0 yesterday. More pressure on Vitor Perreira. His only win in a classic or deciding big match so far was 1x0 over Botafogo, curiously with a mix of his backup defense and the youth team in midfield and attack. Carioca semi-finals also start next week, but we won't know the match ups until the Wednesday round concludes. By the way, the Paulista breaks for the international schedule, the carioca does not. Curiously, this could hurt Vasco (Andrey) and Fluminense (André) this time. Normally you'd expect Flamengo to be the team worried about players coming back from the international window.
We had the best record in the group phase and we play the team with the second best record . Awesome format … lol
16 seconds in and Gabigol gets a YC for a foul and then kicking the ball at the player. WTF ? Like he is setting the tone for the game.
Yeah, that was quite a confusing start to listen to. Later Gabi put the ball in the net after a play had already been whistled, he's playing with fire. Flamengo is up 1x0, had another goal disallowed (not the same play I referred to above) and seem to be doing well with VP's system (the starting line-up is very different today). Wouldn't be surprised if Gabi is sent off eventually though, whether for a stupid retaliation, or for taking his shirt off if he scores late. It could be anything.
I hate to say it but I saw this coming. Flu turns the score around near the end. Flamengo had a great 1st half but noticeably faded in the 2nd. Or perhaps they were trying to hold the draw which is all the needed. VP is gonna get killed also because he took Gabigol out midway through the 2nd half.
Aside from Gabigol, most of the substitutions we made were to bring in players that should have improved things - Vidal, Ayrton Lucas (allowing Cebolinha to move up and securing the left side) and Everton Ribeiro, but it never gave Flamengo control of the match and you're right, you could see that chance coming. Predictably, especially with Felipe Melo on the field now, a confusion after the goal escalated into a bunch of cards and a red to Felipe Melo. There will be added time, but it breaks up the rhythm and Flamengo will be lucky to get a real chance in the last minutes.