Can reigning Champions Corinthians juggle Libertadores and Serie A? (Getty)
It’s the big kick off in the Brazilian Serie A (also known as Brasileirão) this weekend. And we’ve got some inside track, fans’ opinion and the local angle on some of the main teams below. So read on and get all the inside scoop. Continue reading
Neymar: tormentor of Sao Paulo defender Piris (Wander Roberto/Vipcomm)
Explaining the State Championships in Brazil is confusing at best. There are 26 states, each with their own system. Most are split into two phases with the winner of each phase playing a final over two legs starting next weekend. In the state of Sao Paulo things are a little bit different: there is only one phase and the semi-finals took place this weekend. Neymar scored a hat trick to put his Santos team in yet another final Continue reading
Can he guide Corinthians to the title this year? (Getty Images)
The Brazilian Serie A never ceases to amaze me. The obvious, inevitable, just never happens. It’s incredible. Continue reading
Good chance the in-form Leandro Damião will be thumping his chest again come Sunday (VIPCOMM)
With no less than eight fiercely contested local derby matches to be played in the Serie A this weekend, I can hardly contain my excitement. I am like a kid in a candy shop. It is a truly mouth-watering fixture list. Sumptuous Brazilian club football, tasty tackles, a banquet of goals with the added spice of local pride at stake! I am running out of superlatives and strange culinary metaphors…. Continue reading
Santos players and coaching staff look on as things go from bad to worse against Vasco (Getty Images)
How ironic this beautiful game can be. After overcoming all the odds to win the Copa Libertadores and São Paulo State Championship, Santos have all but thrown their Serie A title hopes out the window with three losses in the space of a week. Continue reading
Denilson signs for São Paulo (Luis Barreto/VIPCOMM)
The transfer window for Brazilian clubs to sign foreign based players closed on Thursday night. The window has been dominated by the Carlos Tevez saga and rightly so. But some big names have arrived almost unnoticed. Here they are: Continue reading
They are State Champions but can they be National Champions? (Lucas Uebel - VIPCOMM)
The Brazilian National Championship kicked off yesterday afternoon which makes my report at least one day late. Sorry about that! Better late than never, right? In my report, I give a short comment on each of the twenty teams and my prediction about where they will finish in the league table. For a full explanation on Brazilian football and all of the club competitions see this link. Continue reading
Cruzeiro win the Minas Gerais State Championship (Washington Alves - VIPCOMM)
After months of football, the Brazilian State Championships came to a dramatic close today. Starting in São Paulo, Santos won the local competition for the second successive year, beating Corinthians 2-1 in a tense but ultimately low quality game of football. Continue reading
Grêmio and Leandro (left) got the better of Internacional (Jefferson Bernardes, VIPCOMM)
The afternoon got off to a terrible start with the news that Corinthians would be wearing jerseys with their mothers’ names on the back as a Mother’s Day tribute. I needed to call on all my powers of concentration to get this shockingly lame marketing gimmick out of my head and focus on the important afternoon of football ahead, starting 16:00 local time. And what an afternoon it promised to be: Corinthians vs. Santos, Internacional vs. Grêmio and Atlético Mineiro vs. Cruzeiro to name just a few of the mouth-watering ties.
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Not even Guiñazu could save Inter (Lucas Uebel/VIPCOMM)
Four Brazilian clubs were dumped out of the Copa Libertadores in spectacular fashion last night. Going into the evening’s games, only Grêmio had a difficult first leg score to overturn. Internacional lost 2-1 (3-2 agg) at home to Peñarol, Cruzeiro lost 2-0 (3-2 on agg) at home to Once Caldas and Fluminense were humiliated 3-0 (4-3 agg) against Libertad in Paraguay. Grêmio lost their away match against Universidad Católica from Chile 1-0 and 3-1 on aggregate. Continue reading