Edmundo: Goalkeeper for a Day! (and he managed to cry…)
September 5, 2008
With a career full of highlights (not only for the good football), Edmundo does not cease to make into the headlines. At the age of 37, the forward is back after playing as a goalkeeper for Vasco. In the match, his club lost 3-1 at home for Cruzeiro, who moved to the second spot in the league. Cruzeiro was leading 2-1 (Guilherme and Ramirez had scored for the visitors) when goalie Tiago was ejected after making a penalty. Because Vasco had made the 3 subs, Edmundo went for the most under appreaciated position of football. Even losing, the fans were very supportive, but the Animal could not stop Guilherme, who scored the final goal of the match. After that, Edmundo made two good saves, giving the only moments celebration for the fans.
Emotional as usual, the forward cried after the match and said that refs keep stealing his club and that Cruzeiro players kept saying humilliating things throughout the match. Don’t cry Edmundo. We promise you won’t be the goalie in the next round.
Highlights (including lots of tears and words you won’t find in a Portuguese-English dictionary):
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Canal 100 Tuesday (Late Anniversary Edition)
September 4, 2008
Late again. But on Tuesday it was the 98th Anniversary of Corinthians. As a tribute, I searched for images of the club seen through the lens of Canal 100. Couldn’t find much stuff, but what I found is sweet. It is the historical goal of Basilio in the 1977 state championship final against Ponte Preta. After 23 years Corinthians was lifting a trophy. The version I found removed the narration of Canal 100 to add the thrilling voice of Osmar Santos, one of the greatest radio commentators in Brazil (later he had a brain injury in a car accident and was forced to stop). Only for today I’m gonna mess with the original version. As Santos says in the video “party of the people”. This is Corinthians. Enjoy!
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2 Clubs Fighting for the Brazilian Title
September 1, 2008
There are still 3 months to go, but the race for the Brazilian title seems to be down between 2 clubs: Palmeiras and Grêmio. Cruzeiro, Botafogo and São Paulo, who were claiming to be in the race, had disappointing results at home on the weekend.
Botafogo took on Naútico, club fighting against relegation. The locals scored through Carlos Alberto, but missed a ton of chances and were punished with 8 minutes for the end of the match. The final result was 1-1.
A one draw was also the result of the match between Cruzeiro and Coritiba. Like Botafogo, Cruzeiro scored first through defender Espinoza. With 42 minutes into the second-half, the blue team had the chance to increase the lead, but forward Guilherme had a penalty denied by keeper Vanderlei. As if that wasn’t enough, two minutes later Coritiba tied with a goal by Thiago Silvy. Terrible result for Cruzeiro, who has been having a terrible start in the second-half of the league. Cruzeiro won only a 33% of the points in the second –half of the tournament.
Definitely saying goodbye for the title is São Paulo after one of the poorest matches of the league. The 0-0 draw against Santos at home exposed a club with no power to get the third Brazilian title in a row. For Santos, the draw wasn;t helpful to escape relegation.
On the other hand, Palmeiras, playing as the visitant, had a great match against Atlético-PR. Diego Souza scored twice in the 2-1 victory.
The only reason for Palmeiras fans not to be happier is that Grêmio is consistent. Every round it seems they will lose, but that’s just a dream for the rivals. Even when Vasco decides to pull one of its best matches in the league, Grêmio is able to win. Playing in front of 30 thousand fans, Marcel scored the goal that gave the victory for Grêmio in the 2-1 match. Every round the title gets closer. Will Palmeiras be able to stop the leaders?
In the remainder of the round, the best match was the Fla-Flu derby at Maracanã. Dário Conca scored a long-range golazo for Flu, but Fla played better the first-half. The goal by Marcelinho Paraíba (yes, the one who was in Germany), in which the ball almost did pass the line, was fair. In the second-half, Maurício scored for Flu another from a long-rage, but this time it was a mistake of keeper Bruno. With 1 minute left, Kléberson scored with a header. The draw kept Flu close to relegation and Fla far from the title and the top 4.
In São Paulo, the only good thing for Portuguesa was the cool black third kit they debuted. The one draw left the club in the relegation zone.
When relegation is close, even a good result is bad. Ipatinga remains in the last spot, but on Saturday the club got a draw against Vitória, who was playing at home. In general, that would’ve been a good score, but given the actual situation, the victory was only result.
The only two clubs besides the two leaders to win were Sport and Goiás. The first beat Inter-RS again this year. The 1-0 shows one more time the instability of Inter. Goiás beat Figueirense 2-0. Good result for escaping relegation.
Portuguesa’s new kit:
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Winter Transfers - Final Report
August 29, 2008
In bold, activity that happened in the past month. With the transfer window in Europe almost closed, this is it. Unless some huge deal is offered overnight. This year, the bleeding of talents wasn’t as bad as in previous years. Gremio kept Leo. Sao Paulo kept Hernanes. Inter kept Nilmar. And some nice transfers happened, such as Daniel carvalho and D’Alessandro to Inter. But in general, it is bad to see people like Thiago Neves, Alex Silva, Diogo, Alex (ex-Inter) and Valdivia leaving. They did make things more interesting. Probably I missed a few names (I hope some of you can help me), but here is the list:
LEAVING:
Renan - goalkeeper. (Inter-RS to Valencia)
Marcinho - Midfielder. (Flamengo to UAE)
Rodrigo Tabata - midfielder. (Santos to Gaziantepspor -TUR)
Cicero - midfielder (Fluminense to Hertha Berlin)
Gérson Magrão (Ipatinga to Cruzeiro)
Gil -forward (Inter-RS to Botafogo)
Reasco - rightback. (Sao Paulo to LDU)
Rodrigo Mendez - forward. (Gremio to Arabia)
Souza - forward. (Flamengo to Panathinaikos)
Morais. midfielder. (Vasco to Corinthians)
Valdivia - midfielder (Palmeiras to Al Ain)
Alex Silva - defender (Sao Paulo to Hamburg)
Thiago Neves - midfielder (Fluminense to Hamburg)
Diogo - forward. (Portuguesa to Olympiacos)
Alex -midfielder. (Inter to ??)
Gabriel – right-back. (Fluminense to Panathinaikos)
Renato Augusto – midfielder. (Flamengo to Bayer Leverkusen)
Diego Cavalieri – goalkeeper. (Palmeiras to Liverpool)
Roger – midfielder (Grêmio to Qatar)
Fernandão - forward (Inter-RS to Qatar)
Adriano – forward (returning from loan; São Paulo to Inter Milan)
Fábio Santos – defensive midfielder (returning from loan; São Paulo to Lyon)
Marcinho – offensive midfielder (on loan; Cruzeiro to Kasima – JP)
Henrique – defender ( $10 million Euros; Palmeiras to Barcelona)
ARRIVING:
Gérson Magrão -midfielder. (Ipatinga to Cruzeiro)
Gil -forward (Inter-RS to Botafogo)
Tcheco - midfielder (Saudi Arabia to Gremio)
Gustavo Nery - leftback - ( ? to Inter-RS)
Eduardo Ratinho - rightback. (Toulouse to Fluminense)
Anderson - defender. (Lyon to Sao Paulo)
Rodrigo - defender. (Dynamo Kiev to Sao Paulo)
Gonzalo Fierro - midfielder. (Colo-Colo to Flamengo)
Sambueza - midfielder. (River Plate to Flamengo)
Alvaro - defender. (Levante-ESP to Inter-RS)
D’Alessandro (Zaragoza to Inter-RS)
Daniel Carvalho (CSKA to Inter-RS)
Josiel - forward. (Al-Wahda to Flamengo)
Thiago Ribeiro. forward (Qatar to Cruzeiro)
Jeci – defender. (Coritiba to Palmeiras)
Souza – midfielder. (On Loan. PSG to Grêmio)
Gerson Magrão – midfielder. (Ipatinga to Cruzeiro)
Leandro Zárate – forward. (Unión de Santa Fé to Botafogo)
Maicosuel – midfielder. (Cruzeiro to Palmeiras)
Roberto Brum – defensive midfielder (Portugal to Santos)
Lenilson - midfielder (Jaguares to Atletico-MG)
Rosinei – midfielder (Real Murcia to Inter-RS)
Bolivar – defender (loan; Monaco to Inter-RS)
Andre Lima – forward (loan; Hertha Berlin to São Paulo)
Fabiano Eller – defender (loan; Atlético Madrid to Santos)
Michael – midfielder (Dínamo Kiev- to Santos)
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Canal 100 Tuesday
August 26, 2008
With the end of the Olympics, Canal 100 Tuesday is back. Today, I went further inthe past. The match is for the 1965 Rio State Championship. Bangu, once a traditional side from Rio, thrashed Flamengo with a 3-0. Look at the third goal by Paulo Borges. It’s pure genius. The nice twist about this match is that the creator of Canal 100 was a Flamengo fan (which also helps to explain why Flamengo is so popular in Brazil), and for this match, they had everything ready for a Flamengo celebration. Not only it did not happen, but also Bangu humiliated the rival. Here, the end of the video has been cut, but in the original version, as Bangu celebrated the victory, the anthem of Flamengo could be heard on the background. Another trick by the creators. Enjoy.
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