Santos lose three in a row with full strength team

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

Santos 4 5 Flamengo: Ronaldinho hat-trick

Ronaldinho magic (Wander Roberto/VIPCOMM)

The best game of the season so far and some commentators are even saying it was one of the best ever games in the Brazilian National Championship. Stars of the future, past and present, heroes, villains, dislocated shoulders, missed penalties, brilliant goals from free kicks, brilliant dribbles, clinical finishing, brilliant passing, poor defending and goalkeeping. This game had it all (except for a red card I suppose)! Continue reading

Corinthians bid for Tevez: where did all that money come from?

But how can they afford my wages? (Getty Images)

Corinthians’ bid for Carlos Tevez was truly sensational. A few years ago it was unthinkable that any Brazilian club could pay such a large transfer fee (between £40 and £50 million depending on who you believe) for any player. That’s not to mention his wages which are reported to be above £200,000 per week at Manchester City. The question is where did all this money come from? Continue reading

Santos win 2011 Copa Libertadores

Neymar - the best in South America (Getty Images)

Santos have won the 2011 Copa (it’s a disgrace) Libertadores. They beat Peí±arol 2-1 in the final second leg tonight. Unfortunately a mass brawl involving both sets of players, club officials and other unknown people ensued at the of the match. The Santos players accused the Peí±arol players of being sore losers but the Brazilian press later reported that the brawl started when somebody dressed stewards uniform hit a Peí±arol player for absolutely no reason. No matter who started it, everybody involved should be ashamed. What a disgrace! Why does this happen so often in Libertadores matches?  It happened after the final last year and in the match between Fluminense and Argentinos Juniors earlier this year. Continue reading

Libertadores final: difficult night for Neymar but advantage Santos

Neymar struggled against some tough marking (Getty Images)

After the drama of volcanic eruptions in Chile and the subsequent ash cloud that has covered most of southern South America, the Copa Libertadores final first leg finally got the go-ahead to be played on Wednesday night as scheduled.

In front of 60,000 screaming Peí±arol fans (including Diego Forlán), who put on quite a spectacle, Santos will be the happier of the two teams after they came away from the match with a 0-0 draw. Not a bad result at all for Neymar and co. especially because away goals count for nothing in the final, unlike previous rounds. Continue reading

Brazilian Championship: The big kick off

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

State Championships come to an end

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

Santos take first leg lead to Brazil in Libertadores quarter final

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