SA Blog Number 11: Campeonato Brasileiro Heading For Exciting Finale
10th November 2009
With only four games remaining, this year´s Brazilian championship is heading for one of the most enthralling finishes in recent times. At the time of writing, four teams have a realistic chance of lifting the Trofeu do Campeonato Brasileiro.
Holders São Paulo have their sights set on a fourth straight title and becoming the first team to win 7 overall. They lead the table with 59 points after a 1-1 draw with Grêmio on Wednesday night. Palmeiras sit 2nd, having missed the chance to regain top spot after a 1-0 defeat to relegation threatened Fluminense on Sunday. Flamengo are 3rd with 57, two points off the lead, while Atletico Mineiro occupy fourth with 56 points. Of the four teams; São Paulo have arguably the easiest run in, and are most people’s favourites for the title.
The overwhelming majority of Brazilian clubs have changed coaches during the campaign, some taking the opportunity to regroup halfway through the season. Palmeiras took a leaf out of Sao Paulo´s book and kept the majority of their players from last year, adding just the prestigious signing of Vágner Love who they enticed back from CSKA in Russia. Internacional rejected offers for their key midfielder Andres D´Alessandro whilst Flamengo signed Brazilian international Adriano, who currently leads the scoring charts alongside Diego Tardelli of Atletico Mineiro on 18 goals.
Unlike many leagues across the water in Europe which have become very predictable, and almost mundane, one thing’s for sure: the Campeonato Brasileiro is anything but banal. This league is a lot of things, but boring it’s not.
This is a league with plenty of faults, taking the general format for starters. It’s basically the same as it has been since 2006 (three years without a total transformation isn’t bad going for Brazil’s top flight). 20 teams battle it out over 38 rounds from May to December. For the seventh consecutive season Série A has been contested in a double round-robin format and the team with most points is declared the champion, with the bottom-four teams being relegated – simple, hey?
In Brazil, this sort of regularity has been very controversial, however. The Campeonato Brasileiro was often decided through an "Octagonal", which consists of a single elimination tournament rather than the standard European model. The Brazilian purist will argue this model takes away the ´dramatic´ feeling that comes with play-offs and finals.
One big problem with the league starting in May is the Copa Libertadores (South America´s Champions League), which finishes in July. Many of the big clubs base their wage structure around this tournament, meaning numerous clubs’ best players, who more often than not are the biggest earners, find themselves out of contract in July as the Libertadores comes to an end. This subsequently coincides with the start of the European transfer window, so even if a club has a player tied down to a longer contract, an impressive Libertadores campaign for a usually persuades a European club to pounce.
Another problem (as discussed in SA Blog 6) is the incredible number of managerial causalities. An astonishing 29 managers resigned or were sacked by the top 20 clubs in 2008. This term has been no different, with the number currently standing at 18.
One of the many reasons for this is simply that there is no future planning in Brazil, from grass roots to the first team. Young players are being sold at an ever decreasing age. Any promising player can bank on being sold to a big European club to appease the business syndicates and investors –the likes of which are in charge of all transfer policies at the majority of Brazilian clubs- who are merely interested in making a quick buck rather than building a foundation. Managers simply just don´t have enough time to create the team they want, many have no say in transfers and have to work with what they have.
One thing South American football has taught us is to expect the unexpected, especially in Brazil. Many of the so called big clubs have often struggled. Many have even been relegated – those to have dropped to Brazil’s second tier in recent times include Palmeiras in 2002, Grêmio in 2004, Corinthians in 2007 and Vasco da Gama in 2008 (Vasco currently sit top of the second division and have already won promotion back to the top flight).
The next big team to drop could be Fluminense, who continue to struggle just as they did 12 months ago (they avoided the drop by just one point last season), and currently lie 17th with 36 points, although their current form will give the Fluzão faithful a reason to be optimistic. They have won their last three games and are undefeated in eight – the great escape could be on once again!
More surprisingly though, is Sport Recife’s current plight. They find themselves rooted to the foot of the table and three points adrift. The Leão do Norte reached the last 16 of this year’s Copa Libertadores and let their league form suffer, much like Fluminense in 2008 who reached the final, before succumbing to LDU Quito of Ecuador. With some tricky ties still to play, most notably title chasing Palmeiras, Internacional and, more crucially, Fluminense, it´s hard to see Sport Recife avoiding relegation.
It´s been a bad year for both Recife clubs, as local neighbours Náutico occupy 19th place with 35 points, but with three wins in their last six games there is still plenty of hope for Timbu. They avoided relegation last season by the skin of their teeth, staying up on goal difference, and are currently five points from safety with four games to go.
Santo André, minnows from the state of Sao Paulo, won promotion from Série B last season and it was always going to be tough for them. Another defeat on Sunday night (2-0 to Corinthians) means they are rapidly running out of games and find themselves six points from safety.
If Santo André do manage to survive, with Grêmio Barueri practically safe in 12th place, nine points ahead of the drop zone, it is a wonderful testament to the league as whole and its unpredictability. This scenario would see all four promoted clubs avoiding the drop, big-spending Corinthians in 10th and Avaí in 9th being the other two.
So, São Paulo have the easiest of the run in. Vitória, Goiás and Botafogo are all winnable games, and their penultimate game is bottom club Sport at home. Palmeiras still have a few tricky ties; Atlético Mineiro and Grêmio will be no pushovers. Adriano’s Flamengo look like they might just pip Palmeiras into 2nd, with Corinthians away on the 28th being their only difficult game remaining.
At the bottom, it´s anyone´s guess. Fluminense are fully five points behind Coritiba, who have struggled since star forward Keirrison left the club, and have some testing fixtures ahead. They face an in form Flu in the penultimate round of fixtures, not to mention 4th and 5th place teams Atletico Mineiro and Cruzerio.
One thing is for sure, this year’s Campeonato Brasileiro is going right down to the wire.
Campeonato Brasileiro League Table
Elsewhere In South America
Things are getting pretty exciting in Argentina too....
Argentina Apertura 2009 Week 13: All Hail Unbeaten Banfield
Banfield: Falcioni’s Invincibles
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dexter
:::2009-11-11 13:39:48
Fantastic. southamericanfootball.co.uk is a great website. Fair play fellas.
Jon
:::2009-11-12 23:30:09
Wow, I sincerely hope the British leagues are this tight at the end of the season, not likely!
Reading the Argentinian stuff, I was wondering how Apertura/Clausura would work out in England. I reckon it would make for a much more exciting league, with the top two teams each season making the CL...
I´m game!
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