Vasco held Flamengo to a goalless draw on Saturday. Even 1st half and arguably Vasco with the better scoring chances but Flamengo could have won it in the second half. Leo Jardim made some great saves to keep the clean sheet. Yesterday Palmeiras beat Fortaleza away .. a place Abel has struggled to get results. Fortaleza had a mixed team. Game looked in hand with a 2 x 0 lead but we ended up needing a last min PK save to keep the 3 points. A ridiculous PK call IMO. Then again we got a favorable soft PK against Sport. David Luiz looked like a light pole in Palmeiras 2nd goal. Grenal ended up with a 1 x 1 draw. Fluminense conceded a late draw to Vitória at home to break Renato's initial run of wins. I might add ... a great goal from Vitória. Cruzeiro lost to Bragantino 1 x 0 again with Dudu and Gabigol on the bench. I believe it's the 3rd straight game with them starting on the bench. Both are on at least 3 year contracts and high wages ... that's a problem for Cruzeiro.
Looks like Gremio is getting Mano as coach and Felipão as director. At Corinthians, it looks like Dorival thing didn't work out or wasn't a real enough thing. Dorival has said to a journalist that he wasn't contacted. Probably a case of some middle man trying to connect the dots and trying to get a feel for his acceptance by the fans. Instead, Corinthians are trying to get Tite to return to the club and just waiting for his answer. Tite has been supposedly been waiting for some offer from Saudi Arabia to fill his pockets with money. He might be waiting for JJ's job.
Tite said no to Corinthians. There were talks going between both parties but he decided to take some more time off to take care of his health. "O técnico Tite recusou a proposta do Corinthians e anunciou pausa na carreira por tempo indeterminado para cuidar da saúde mental e física."
Flamengo 4x0 Corinthians, with Dorival watching. He confirmed he will sign with Corinthians. Flamengo scored early, then got two quick goals late in the first half, including a bad pass from Hugo Souza that Pedro pounced on. Arrascaeta now has 5 goals in the Brasileirao and is the artilheiro, but Pedro is already on 4, having scored twice against Juventude and twice today.
Palmerias with a disappointing loss to Bahia at home yesterday. Missed half chances again the story. I would have taken the point but Bahia scored near the end of the game after bunkering on defense for most of the 2nd half.
When I left, I had just checked scores and it was 0x0. I was surprised to come back to see the loss, but then again, if you're at 0x0, one play is all it takes to win or lose. The early goals for Flamengo are at least half the reason behind the two goleadas we imposed on Juventude and Corinthians.
One early game today for this weekend's round... unbelievably (or very believably I guess) São Paulo tied again! 0x0 with Fortaleza.
Meh .. I don't see any progress in getting him scoring chances. Ironically every time Flaco comes in, he gets into a position or two where you'd think it would have been a perfect chance for Roque. And then Flaco squanders the chance. Abel has brought back some grit to the midfield. Giay is turning out to be a warrior. I will be watching Flamengo play and see if Gabigol is subbed in.
Vitor Roque with a winner in the dying minutes of the Choque Rei. Not really a good game. Palmeiras x São Paulo have been ugly affairs lately.
Were it not for that late winner we'd have Flamengo and Bragantino tied for first alongside Palmeiras. Bragantino in third and Cruzeiro one point behind in fourth are the early surprises. And Inter, despite the solid start are down in 13th. Botafogo won big today despite Inter playing better according to some of what I read. But as is typical, there is not much separating the middle of the pack. From 5th to 16 is only a 4 point different right now. Santos x Ceará the only game left this week.
One goal in 3 clássicos. Pretty shitty display entertainment wise. And the Corinthians goal barely crossed the line. Flamengo 0 x 0 Botafogo Corinthians 1 x 0 Santos Cruzeiro 0 x 0 Atletico There was another clássico where Bahia beat Vitória 2 x 1. Flamengo saved some starters as Filipe Luis is managing player work load. Palmeiras came from behind to beat Bragantino with another away win 2 x 1. Paulinho wasn't in the roster and the excuse given is they are still getting him up to physical shape ... but the fact that it's taking time for him to come up to speed is starting to raise eyebrows among the media Palestrina.
Next round is Palmeiras x Flamengo. A win would put Palmeiras 7 points clear from Flamengo with one game to go before the CWC break. An early must not lose game for Flamengo. It has been a good few years since we've beaten Flamengo in the league. Rios will be suspended for the match as will Abel.
I've only watched the goals, and didn't think our PK was merited. But I did get the picture that, at least after the Palmeiras penalty that Rossi saved, the game was not the best. Good result for us though and hopefully our mid-week game is as easy as it should be on paper. Our last game before the Mundial is with Fortaleza. Not an easy match, but it's at home and Fortaleza are on inconsistent form. Biggest result of the round (so far, and probably regardless of tomorrow's matches) was Mirassol beating São Paulo (in Morumbi). And Santos beat Vitória today, with Neymar playing for 35 minutes. Both teams are still in the relegation zone.
After all the money invested in the past couple transfer seasons, Abel starts Mayke as right wingback / right wing while leaving Mauricio and Paulinho on the bench. He moves Estevão out of his best position to play in the middle where he disappears. Abel doing Abel things. I mean ... we neutralized Flamengo for most of the game (specially 1st half), but we didn't create anything. I don't understand it.
About the PKs. - The one for Palmeiras once the ref calls it on the field, VAR shouldn't be calling him to review it if there isn't a conclusive angle, which there wasn't. There is a video from the stands that shows it was indeed right on the line so the PK technically ended up being the right call. - The one for Flamengo, tough to ignore a stretched out arm like that, but not enough of a tug to slow down Arrascaeta IMO. One of those that looks way worse in slow motion. But hey, we got a BS PK against Sport so one day your the hunter, the other your prey. Just wish it hadn't been against a direct rival. That always hurts more.
Cruzeiro 2 early goals from corners. Big bummer ... kind of killed the game. Unless we pull one back before HT. Gonna finish 4th before the break.