First half was pretty competitive so the final result is a bit surprising. Bragantino lost gas or gave up after Palmeiras 2nd goal. Luiz Araujo now scores the 2nd. Pedro assist. Put it on a platter with that pass.
5x1 in the end. nice show for the home fans. Even got Flaco in for a goal after the international break. Flamengo up 2x0 now with a Pedro assist to Luiz Araujo
Some news ahead of the Sunday Flamengo x Palmeiras clash. Weverton is out of the match due to a hand fissure. The second in line is technically Lomba, but most fans want Carlos Miguel to get the nod. Abel had previously stated that Miguel was 3rd in line so he'd have to go back on his statement. Some reports are saying Miguel is training with the starting team. On Flamengo's side, from what I've read Saul hasn't trained normally and is out or at least very doubtful.
Flamengo 3 x 1 Palmeiras - HT Atrocious individual mistakes from Fuchs and Anibal on the 3 goals. Got punished on all 3. Fuchs trying to draw a foul on the PK was simply ridiculous. Specially for a player his size.
Huge result obviously but as you say, the title race is as open as ever. Flamengo and Palmeiras are 5 points ahead of Cruzeiro, with one game in hand. Palmeiras have first place on the tiebreaker. But now Flamengo and Palmeiras have Libertadores semis, while Cruzeiro gets the week off, and Palmeiras host Cruzeiro next week. EDIT: The big question for me from this match and the upcoming games is whether Pedro or Vitor Roque get a call up from Ancelotti. I would hope Richarlison isn't called up in November so he can see one or two other options. You can definitely make arguments for both of them right now.
Looks like Flamengo felt the sequence of matches. Surprising loss to Fortaleza playing mostly a starting lineup. If I am Abel I'd go with a 1st team starting lineup tomorrow against Cruzeiro. A win would be huge. Libertadores has become 2nd plan.
Dominate possession, get caught on the counter (could have given up more) and fail to score despite your "superiority". It's the kind of loss that defines Flamengo's most frustrating tendencies. Hope we can hold on at Racing, even getting a goal and widening the lead, because I agree with you, @celito Palmeiras are positioned to win the Brasileirao if the take 3 points tomorrow. A 3 point lead with 9 matches to go isn't much, but with the head to head matches done, Palmeiras will be in control. Would be really funny if the matches against Mirassol determine the outcome. Looking at the schedule, both Flamengo and Palmeiras face a lot of the same opponents still: Santos, Fluminense, Atlético MG, Ceará and Mirassol. So each team has at least one clássico left and some potentially tough opponents, but as first and second they are favorites in every remaining match.
Santos got a point against Botafogo away today. They have a brutal schedule till the end of the season playing Palmeiras twice, Flamengo, Cruzeiro, Mirassol. Every point for them is crucial.
A goalless draw between Palmeiras and Cruzeiro. Garbage game from start to finish. 41 fouls many of which were and some that weren't. At some point it looked like the ref had the over on the fouls. Nothing really more to say. Sad display of football.
Obviously a win for Palmeiras would have been a much worse result for Flamengo, because it would effectively mean a 2 game lead (since Palmeiras have the tie-breaker), but who knows, the one point could be the difference in the end. Regardless, Flamengo need to focus on Wednesday's match above all right now. No real breaks form now one. Both Palmeiras (vs. Santos) and Flamengo (vs. Sport) have a make-up game during the international break.
Sad display of biased refereeing. Palmeiras committed 24 fouls and had 2 yellows (one of them, the ref wouldn't even give, before VAR called him up and insisted for a straight red on the criminal foul on Wanderson that took him out of the season and was absolutely a red card offense; the coward ref then reluctantly gave a yellow when a red was needed) while Cruzeiro had 16 fouls but collected 7 cards, including the double on Fabricio Bruno resulting in a red, when Fabricio was fouled, not the other way around. Completely unwarranted second yellow when Fabricio didn't even touch the Palmeiras player. So a criminal foul by Palmeiras is not sanctioned with a red, and then a Cruzeiro player is unfairly sent out when Cruzeiro were growing and just had their third great, almost-score opportunity. Oops, can't let that happen, so let's fabricate a red card to stop Cruzeiro from beating Palmeiras. Think of it. Cruzeiro had about 1 card for each 2 fouls while Palmeiras had 1 for each 12 fouls. Palmeiras would have to have more than 80 fouls to get the same proportion of cards. I decided to stop watching the Brasileirão. It's organized robbery against Cruzeiro. Neutral journalists from all over Brazil (with no ties to Cruzeiro or to Minas Gerais) highlighted no fewer than 8 games when Cruzeiro were scandalously robbed by refs, which would mean up to 24 points. Cruzeiro should be leading Brasileirão by A LOT of points and should be the champs with several rounds to spare, but the biased or bought refs won't allow the team to win, while protecting the two rich teams Flamengo and Palmeiras, under CBF's complacent eyes. It's a travesty. No wonder Leo Jardim is outraged and said it's no fun to coach in a country where these things happen. I'll go back to watching only my Milan in Serie A (which doesn't have great refereeing either, but at least it is not as bad as Brasileirão).
Palmeiras go to Juventude tomorrow in one of the last matches of this round. Flamengo x Sport starts in half an hour. The other two top 4 teams played today. Mirassol drew Botafogo 0x0. ending their winning streak, but they're still more than one win ahead of Bahia, even if they win tomorrow. Cruzeiro beat Vitória 3x1 with a couple of Kaio Jorge goals, but they are still behind Flamengo on points, even before this week's matches. Palmeiras and Flamengo have 2 fewer matches than Cruzeiro, one of which is this week's remaining fixture, and the other one is going to be played during the international break. If all teams win their remaining matches before the break, and Palmeiras and Flamengo win the make-up match each of them have, they will be 7 and 8 points clear of 3rd-place Cruzeiro with 5 matches (15 points) left.
Solid win for Flamengo, 3x0. Dominated the first half but didn't score, Sport's keeper with some big saves. Biggest event though was that Carrascal left injured, hopefully more as a precaution. Second half Bruno Henrique scored one, then Arrascaeta came in, Bruno Henrique scored again and Arrascaeta got the third on a brilliant free kick. With the match comfortable and only 15 minutes left, Filipe Luís brought in some of the less used subs, Juninho and João Victor, as well as Evertton, one of the few youngsters who has seen some minutes recently. Evertton promptly got himself sent off. Next match is at São Paulo on Wednesday.
I don't know what CBF will do with the schedule for Palmeiras and Flamengo. Originally Palmeiras plays Gremio and Flamengo plays Atletico on the 30th. But that will have to be moved because of the Libertadores final. Since the Intercontinental Cup starts on Dec 10 for the CONMEBOL champion, I don't see how they are going to fit that in. The Palmeiras x Atletico match will also be moved up a day to the 18th because of the Sul-Americana final.
I guess they can't move those matches up, since that would mean less time to prep for the final, but that is the only noticeable break there. The other options are after December 7 OR, to rearrange matches so there are three in 6 or 7 days after the final. I think whoever wins the Libertadores is going to be sacrifice that last week for the Intercontinental, especially if CBF puts the postponed matches at the end of the season. Once the Copa do Brasil semis were set and CBF could reschedule without affecting Libertadores teams, they got a chance to put the Copa do Brasil semis and final on show as the end of season event. Intentionally or not, I think they also increased the chances of getting two different winners for Libertadores and Brasileirão, unless of course, someone somehow wraps it up by the 23rd.
I think what they will have to do is move the matches from the 23rd on the 22nd (Sat). Then the matches on the 30th (vs Gremio and Atletico) gets moved to the 25th (Tuesday) before the Libertadores final instead of after. CONMEBOL has this rule that the teams have to be at the final where the match will be played on Wednesday.
Didn't want to start a new thread for this, and I'm putting it here because it applies far beyond Ancelotti, but the 2o Fórum Brasileiro dos Treinadores de Futebol began today, hosted at CBF and with Ancelotti as a guest. And Leão and Oswaldo de Andrade thought it was appropriate, on stage with Ancelotti behind them, to rant about foreign coaches coming to Brazil. It was embarrassing. It was bad enough that, despite initial comments defending it as democratic expression, the Association of coaches had to emit a written apology to CBF, the President of CBF and Carlo Ancelotti. Of course, the letter neglected to mention Leão, only mentioning Oswaldo, so it sort of undermines the apology.
Leão in a clumsy way voiced that he changed his mind about foreign managers. But obviously he hasn't fully. That was his way of acting "diplomatic" in front of Carlo. What Oswaldo said is worse because he says a Brazilian coach will take over after Carlo wins the WC next year. He simply put an end date to Carlos job. Absolutely embarrassing.