Two week break

Posted on 23 May, 2011 by Brian

Readers,

Unfortunately some real life commitments of mine mean that I am going to have to take a two week break from updating this blog. Sorry about that. For any urgent questions (eg. has Neymar signed for Barcelona) send me an email brian@brazilfooty.com and i’ll do my best to reply. Otherwise you can follow the latest Brazilian football scores on soccernet.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/league/_/id/conmebol.libertadores/copa-libertadores?cc=3888

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/league/_/id/bra.1/brazil?cc=3888

Brazilfooty.com is a nice transparent place so go ahead and read the competition, I don’t mind.

See you in June,

Brian

Why the Brazilian Championship is so hard to predict

Posted on 22 May, 2011 by Brian

Just in case my predictions go horribly wrong, I am writing my excuses now. The Brazilian Serie A is the hardest league in the world to predict (no sitting on the fence here) and here are the reasons why: Continue reading →

Brazilian Championship: The big kick off

Posted on 22 May, 2011 by Brian

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 →

Santos into Libertadores semi-final

Posted on 19 May, 2011 by Brian

Neymar celebrates his goal for Santos against Once Caldas (Getty Images)

Santos drew with Once Caldas in a chilly São Paulo to reach the last four of the Copa Libertadores. Neymar, once again, was the star of the show; he scored the goal in the 1-1 draw (which classified Santos 2-1 on aggregate) and was a constant outlet for Santos down the left hand side of the field. Continue reading →

State Championships come to an end

Posted on 16 May, 2011 by Brian

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 →

Top 10 youngsters playing in Brazil

Posted on 13 May, 2011 by Brian

Colo-Colo v Santos - Copa Santander Libertadores 2011

And the winner is.... (photo: Getty Images)

I have finally finished the most complex piece of work in this blog’s history: a list of the top 10 youngsters playing in Brazil. In order to compile the list, I have followed countless rumours and leads, gone through player dossiers, match reports, television footage, trawled the state championships, lower leagues and youth divisions up and down the country, interviewing coaches, fans and scouts alike. All in the hope of finding the best up-and-coming talent in Brazil in order to report to you, this blog’s readers. Continue reading →

Another Brazilian Cup surprize: São Paulo out

Posted on 13 May, 2011 by Brian

Lucas' São Paulo are out of the Brazilian Cup (Luiz Pires - VIPCOMM)

One day after Coritiba and Ceará progressed at the expense of Palmeiras and Flamengo, São Paulo are the latest big name to be knocked out of the Brazilian Cup by supposedly inferior opposition. They lost to Avaí in Florianópolis 3-1 (3-2 on aggregate). Vasco are the only ‘big name’ left and are through to the semi finals after beating Atlético Paranaense on away goals. The semi final first legs will be played next week.

In other news, Neymar is going to be a father for the first time and São Paulo is not going to be a host city in the 2013 Confederations Cup. The five cities that will be hosting the competition are: Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Brasilia and Salvador.

Santos take first leg lead to Brazil in Libertadores quarter final

Posted on 12 May, 2011 by Brian

Alan Patrick (Getty Images)

Santos beat Once Caldas in Colombia 1-0 thanks to a goal from Alan Patrick who only played due to the injury to Ganso. Zé Eduardo was once again utterly useless up front for Santos. Watch out Genoa fans: you have signed a donkey! Continue reading →

Ceará dump Flamengo out of Brazilian Cup

Posted on 12 May, 2011 by Brian

A kick in the teeth? (Alexandre Loureiro/VIPCOMM)

Ceará, the team from the state of… you guessed it… Ceará, beat Flamengo in the Brazilian Cup to reach the semi-final of the competition. They drew 2-2 on the night but progress thanks their 2-1 win in Rio last week. Pretty big upset this considering the difference in the size and cost of the two teams. They will play Coritiba in the semi-final, after they also caused an upset by beat Palmeiras 6-2 on aggregate. They won the first leg 6-0 last week. Continue reading →

State Champs: stuck with the wrong match

Posted on 9 May, 2011 by Brian

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. Continue reading →

Brazilfooty

News, insight and analysis of the beautiful game

Monthly Archives: May 2011