On Saturday (15) we had the beginning of the Brazilian Championship, with some curiosities. For example: of the four teams from Rio de Janeiro that dispute the championship, three debuted yesterday.
Fluminense and Vasco went to Belo Horizonte and beat América-MG and Atlético-MG, respectively.
Tricolor ran over Coelho, showing the same great football as Carioca, the Copa do Brasil and the debut in Libertadores. A style that Fernando Diniz always liked, which is that of fast touches, movement, but now with much more aggression and objectivity than before. In the debut of the Brazilian, he took on a good team, runner-up from Minas Gerais, who clashed with Galo and simply passed over.
The questions are always the same: will Fluminense have the stamina to pay for this type of football with non-stop games in a row? In a moment of difficulty, will Fernando Diniz have emotional balance?
So far Tricolor pleases everyone, but Diniz was expelled in the only difficult game (a 2-0 defeat by Flamengo).
The team from São Januário went to Mineirão to face Atlético-MG, always a candidate for the title. And just 10 minutes into the game, he already scored two goals, and with the base boys. The great Andrey Santos did the first and Gabriel Pec, the second. And he could have done more for the disorganization of the Rooster. Then Atlético improved and started to press, and only scored their goal in the first half stoppage time.
In the second, there was that crazy pressure, but with more desperation than organization, with more impetus than tactics, and with a “supposed” aggressiveness that didn’t scare anyone.
In the Libertadores debut, he also lost in Mineirão to Libertad, but without the Hulk, and now he lost to Vasco with him. That is, it is not the absence of the Hulk that is leaving the team fragile defensively and without offensive objectivity.
In the second half there were countless crosses, several lateral passes, an uncreative midfield and slow to make the ball reach the attack. Without Allan, the team is predictable, slow and boring, because the passes are only lateral.
Midfielder Otávio plays most of the balls to the side, unlike Jair’s time (who is at Vasco), who, together with Allan, dictated the dynamics of the team and set the pace of the game. I think Galo’s biggest deficiency is there: he doesn’t have dynamics and he doesn’t even set a pace favorable to his style.
Then I see today the following speech by Argentine coach Eduardo Coudet: “I don’t know how we lost that game.”
Well, Coudet, your team lost to Libertad and Vasco because they didn’t play well and they don’t have the skills to turn a match around.
Game volume does not mean game dominance, because in the second half the two great chances for the Rooster were in stoppage time, with a beautiful shot by the Hulk (and a great save by Leo Jardim), and a header by the Uruguayan defender Mauricio Lemos, who scored the goal, and nothing else.
If Coudet thinks the defeat was due to bad luck and injustice, Atlético-MG will not get anywhere.
The defeats for Libertad and Vasco were identical. The team conceded goals at the beginning of the game and could not tie the match, because it did not show objective reaction power to equalize or turn the result.
The other team from Rio to play on Saturday was the glorious Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas, against São Paulo Futebol Clube. It’s nice sometimes to write the whole name of the club, because it’s rare to use and the names are nice.
Well, Botafogo debuted very well, beating a competitor with the same objective, which initially is to stay away from the relegation zone. The two teams will need to improve a lot to have a football worthy and worthy of representing the great history of the clubs.
The team from Rio won with goals from Tiquinho and, in the last ball of the game, with Carlos Eduardo. For Tricolor, the goal was from Calleri and nothing else.
Like Coudet, Rogério Ceni also doesn’t know how his team lost. It’s always the same story: São Paulo is eliminated from Paulista by Água Santa and draws in the Copa do Brasil with Ituano playing badly, and Rogério never knows why.
Rogério’s excuses have been the same for years because he always used game numbers as justification for a possible unfair defeat. So let’s get to the numbers:
- Shots on goal: Botafogo 12 x 16 Sao Paulo
- Ball possession: Botafogo 32% x Sao Paulo 69%
- Passes: Botafogo 293 x 646 Sao Paulo
And my question is: so what?
São Paulo demonstrates a great fragility and lack of aggressiveness, both defensive and offensive. Like the Rooster, an objective reaction leader is lacking.
OK, there are many injured players and some only come back at the end of the season, but will that be the justification for the whole year?
Since the beginning of the year, Rogério Ceni’s team has not evolved at all, and continues to oscillate enormously, from average to poor football. And it doesn’t go beyond that.
Botafogo also does not pass confidence to its fans, who in the crucial moments of the game played their part, both to buy the unbearable number of passing errors and to encourage and make Engenhão boil, motivating its players to seek victory, as it happened.
The attacking team that I liked the most in history (Rogério, Roberto Miranda, Jairzinho and Paulo César) won the direct confrontation against a rival who has the same weight on the scales and who plays for the same things. Stay away from relegation and qualify for the Sudamericana. Anything else will fall from the sky.
#Ceni #Coudet #lost #debut #dont #Wake