After a four-match hiccup, SPFC continues its comeback, with three straight wins; the team beat Athletico Paranaense away 1-2 on Wednesday, with the team now in 5th place in the Campeonato Brasileiro. At this pace, SPFC should finish high enough to earn a direct berth for the 2025 Copa Libertadores (in case the 2024 Libertadores champion is not SPFC).
Fluminense lose again. 1 x 0 to Fortaleza. It's still early, but Fluminense are starting to dig themselves into a deep hole. Corinthians also battered 3 x 0 against Cruzeiro.
Helping me out in Cartola this week too... Flamengo dropped points at home to Cuiabá. They'll remain in first at the end of this round, but only 1 point ahead of Palmeiras (if they close out the win, or Bahia if they somehow turn it around). Botafogo x Atl-MG starts in 30 mins and Botafogo can also close that gap. Cuiabá are a tricky team, but I really thought we'd have an easy round since it was at home, so I went all in and had about 5 players on my cartola team from Flamengo... that 1 Cuiabá goal cost me like 16 points. Fluminense losing away to Fortaleza isn't surprising, but like you said, they need to start finding points (and 1 at home to Inter last round is not enough). Midweek they go to Criciúma, which is a tough away place, despite Criciúma not being great. There are so few guaranteed points in this league.
Botafogo beat Atlético with 3 nice goals from outside the box. Atlético with another loss and another (deserved) red card.
Vasco 2 x 0 Corinthians Nice FK for the second goal. Vasco now with 20 points. Big steps away from relegation. Va cair ...
Didn't see the game but Grêmio with another defeat. When Grêmio got relegated in 2021, they had 11 points in their first 14 games. This season, 11 points in their first 14 games. They did that through 2-5-7, this year they're at 3-2-9, adds up the same.
Wonder if Renato will get sacked. Coudet just got sacked by Inter. They lost to Juventude in the CdB.
Lol that literally must've just happened, I was watching the end of that game and saw that concession. Inter dying with these stoppage time concessions lately, happened in their last "home" game too and they also threw away stupid points late to Criciúma and are the only team in the last eight matchdays to fail to beat Fluminense. At the risk of great ignorance, it doesn't feel like Juventude should be the best team from...what's the short form of Rio Grande do Sul, and could I get away with calling it the Gaúcho state?...but that's where things look right now. I have a Twitter friend from Porto Alegre (we have the same favorite hockey team) who has been wishing terrible things on Renato for some time now.
Game got complicated in the 1st half but in the 2nd half, two quick goals and Palmeiras beat Atletico-GO 3 x 1. Dudu came in again for around 20 mins but he looks really off. Really thinking he should have gone to Cruzeiro. Estevão didn't score but still keeps impressing me with his overall game. Missed a couple of goals, one of which turned into the own goal. Flamengo lost to Fortaleza at home. I had a feeling they'd have trouble in this game. Way too many players missing. Gabigol almost scored a tying goal near the end but was offsides. Fluminense got a point at Criciuma. Probably the type of game against an opponent they should be winning.
That's actually Fluminense's first point away from home all season. They were seven losses in seven away trips entering tonight in the league.
Fortaleza was always going to be a tough match for Flamengo during this Copa América stretch. Fans should be satisfied with 3rd place and only 2 points behind Palmeiras and Botafogo (who also won tonight) and hopeful that we can leapfrog them with the return of our players next week and the potential additions of Claudinho or Marcos Antônio. Bahia can overtake us as well, this weekend, because we don't play, so we will be one match behind these teams at the top. Inter have a make-up match for Copa do Brasil (and lost the first one!) so Flamengo has the weekend off. This upcoming week will have 8 matches spread out between from Saturday to Wednesday, while the Copa do Brasil make-up matches happen over the weekend. Next Saturday/Sunday (20/21) will be a full round of matches with players back form Copa América.
I thought Atletico would be a contender this season .. but they drop more points today. A 1 x 1 draw at Juventude. There is still time, but it's not looking good for them 11 points off pace. Corinthians losing at HT 1 x 0 at home to Criciuma on a major deflection goal. They can't buy a break.
Botafogo 1 x 0 Palmeiras It was a very good game. Specially 1st half. Some great saves from both GKs kept the game with only one goal. Damn I didn't want to lose this one. Estevão also went out with an ankle injury. Hopefully nothing too serious. Once of those where your foot gets caught underneath your body as you fall.
Textor got what he wanted. 8 months of ref conditioning. This wasn't even a yellow ... E aí, torcedor, o lance era para cartão? pic.twitter.com/9RUzfESTlw— ge (@geglobo) July 18, 2024
Flamengo gets an unusual PK awarded. I get that the rule says you can't kick another ball to interfere with the play, but that ball is clearly interfering with the play. I'd think the ref should have stopped the play.
How is VAR not able to annul the play from when the second ball appeared on the field? Like, we've seen plenty of cases where a second ball is briefly on the field (I think something vaguely confusing happened in the Madrid/Bayern 2nd leg) but most of the time it's inconsequential, not affecting play, and quickly handled without fuss. This...was none of those.
Right. This ball technically was in the way of the Criciuma player who could theoretically challenge Everton. If he doesn't kick the ball, and a goal is scored, would it be disallowed ? What if he trips on the ball ? Bizarre situation.
If he trips on the ball, no question the play is stopped. The way he played the ball is the worst thing he could have done. I didn't get to watch the game, which is probably for the best, considering Criciuma scored first, Pedro missed a PK and we tied and won it late... But the first thing I saw as soon as I was home and look up the match was that play. The way he made the ball bounce off of the other one is so deliberate, it was clearly instinctive. Anything else would have warranted a stop, but playing it off the other ball is a correct PK. Crazy that we needed that to beat Criciuma though.
With São Paulo, Bahia, Cruzeiro dropping points, getting some separation up top. Fortaleza did win and are now in 4th with a game in hand compared to Botafogo and Palmeiras, but right now the Brasileirão is looking like a Botafogo, Palmeiras, Flamengo race. Whatever happens in the CdB and Libertadores will probably as usual interfere with the race.
Botafogo and Palmeiras also won yesterday, maintaining themselves in first and second. That Flamengo PK keeps them in third, with one fewer match played. Flamengo have two very winnable matches before the complicated stretch begins. Fortaleza moved up to fourth place. Bahia lost at home to Corinthians in what looked like the biggest result of the week until... the last game of the round just now. Fluminense won away from home and are no longer in the lanterna! Fluminense also have one match in hand compared to Vitória, who are above them, so they have some opportunity to climb based on that too. EDIT: We were we posting at the same time, basically the same summary too!
I would have thought the ball being basically interfering with the play (from a defensive point of view) it would have taken precedence regardless of what the Criciuma player did. Even if he doesn't step on the ball accidentally he could still have to change his path or run because of it to make a challenge. The refs in the ref forum seem to think it should have been a drop ball and not a PK. I don't know what the rule says but that would also be a bit unfair as it takes away a bit of a clear chance at the goal. Strange one for sure.
And there were a couple of more controversial VAR calls over the weekend. 1 - Cruzeiro goal disallowed because of a soft foul in the build up of the play. The ref wasn't giving those types of fouls during the game and had a clear view of the push on Ze Rafael and signaled play on. But then VAR intervened and he changed his mind. Perhaps it was due to some contact on the foot, but it wasn't clear. I've seen these reviews done but it's definitely a grey zone one. I also thought Flaco had a claim for a PK earlier. Didn't think he stuck out his leg as much as people said looking for contact. 2 - Juventude goal disallowed for a hand ball in the build up . First, it looked more like upper arm / shoulder which FIFA has said is not to be considered an arm. Second, I thought handballs in the build up of a goal were not reviewable by VAR unless it was the player who scored the goal who touched the ball with his arm. Really difficult keeping these rules straight. It's like a full time job.
Competitive game between São Paulo and Botafogo so far. Tied at 2 with 15 mins to go. São Paulo better in the 2nd half. Wasted a couple of great chances. Could be up 3 x 2 right now.