jon & sid

glad you liked it - feel free to tell Goal.com this as well hahaha

when are the two of you going to be in SP?

i'll be in Rio tomorrow (sunday) to do the São Paulo vs Palmeiras game (yes, i know! but don't ask! haha)

Thanks for the round up, I've left a pro-Flamengo comment.

I've duly commented, pitaco.

I fly in to Sao Paulo next weekend, spend a few days there before going to Rio. Then I come back to SP, then head up north to Recife and Salvador. Back to SP for a few days before flying back on the 9th. Can't wait!

Got my first proper look at Flamengo last night and I have to say I was quite impressed with their comfortable win over a mediocre Vasco.

The match was over as a contest after 7 minutes when Juan, again reaching the byline, was upended - have to disagree with pitaco, thought it was a clear pen - and Ibson converted. Some ridiculous Vasco defending led to the second by Fabio Luciano and Cristian sealed it with a 25 yard scorcher. A late consolation from Vasco changed nothing - by then two thirds of their fans had walked out - and the rubro-negro maintain their 5 point lead.

Thanks to everyone for the welcome and the viewing tips. They are much appreciated. Is that the same Fabio Luciano with Flamengo who once was with Corinthians and I believe was in Turkey?

Yes it is. He was with Fenerbahce for about 4 years and before that at Corinthians. He joined Flamengo about a year ago when they were in the relegation zone and as captain, he's really sorted the defence out. Not the fastest player - he's 33 now - but excellent positional sense and a cool head.

The games are coming thick and fast now and after the midweek round Flamengo's lead has been cut to 2 points after their first away defeat of the season to Coritiba with Cruzeiro, Palmeiras, Sao Paulo and Internacional all gaining three points on them.

Could the bubble be bursting? They've lost Renato Augusto to Germany, leading scorer Marcinho to Qatar and, most worryingly, they've adopted a new shirt with thinner hoops which just doesn't look right. At least manager Caio Junior is staying but they need to get back on track at home to Vitoria this weekend.

A 1-0 defeat to Vitoria and the lead down to 1 point. Even if Marcinho had stayed, Flamengo lack real quality up front and, without the suspended Juan who from left back is their main attacking threat, they struggled to create chances. However a goal wrongly disallowed by the lineswoman didn't help. Mind you, the last bandeirinha to cause controversy at the Maracana ended up posing nude in Playboy.

One player I do like the look of is Marquinhos of Vitoria who have bounced back into 4th place.

An indication of the competitiveness (or mediocrity, whichever you prefer) of the Brasileiro is that the bottom 6 teams all won this weekend so despite their last gasp win Flu stay in the relegation zone.

Poor old Sid has been quite down about has page views recently, so this one is for you Sid.

It´s the least I could seeing as he´s letting me sleep on his sofa for a couple of days.

Off to the Maracana tonight to watch Flu vs Vasco de Gama. I hope Coutinhi is playing.

I was reading where Coutinho was bought by Inter Milan but because he's not 18 (only 16 still!) he obviously can't play in Europe yet so he'll remain another 2 years with Vasco.
http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-latamcoutinho&prov=reuters&type=lgns

The linked article says it was a deal brokered by the now ex Vasco president Eurico Miranda. I didn't know that dinosaur was now an "ex president!" Good news for Vasco as the club are now run by ex player Roberto Dinamite, a dynamic forward who I remember from the 1978 World Cup.

Meringue - have a look at page 4 of this thread for some discusson of the fall of Eurico.

Vasco have announced what amounts to a firesale of their young talent which is indicative of the financial problems built up under the old regime. As for Coutinho, I would think that very few people other than Vasco insiders and Inter scouts have actually seen him play so there's absolutely nothing I can tell Ursus about him. Hopefully Vasco fans will be able to see him play at least a few times before he's shipped off to Italy.

I think I'll let Jon write the report about last night's excellent entertainment at the Maracanã - a 3-3 draw between Vasco and Fluminense.

In other news, Flamengo blew it again by missing a penalty in a 2-2 draw at Portuguesa. That makes it just 1 point out of the last 9 and they could be overtaken by Grêmio tonight. At least they've taken my advice and ditched their awful new shirts.

Vitória go second with 2 goals from the aforementioned Marquinhos. I'm getting quite good at this talent-spotting lark.

Hi guys,

This is my first post here as the Brazilian thread that you have here was recommended to be me.

I will post in this thread regularly as I am a big follower of Brazilian football. I live in Wales and I'm not portuguese speaking but I support Internacional, and have an english language blog about them and the Brasileirao.

It's a bit of a first, as it's the only real english language source of info about the club and has been going for a couple of months now. The blog is very regularly updated with news, highlights, features and info which celebrate Inter's history and culture and Brazilian football. http://internacionaluk.blogspot.com/

The blog has been quite well recieved so far and has even made the Porto Alegre daily newspaper, 'Zero Hora' after someone wrote into them about it.

I'm not here purely to advertise my blog and will follow this thread regularly but I thought it is related to what your discussing so feel free to get involved and leave any comments or questions etc. Hope you like it!

Matt

Welcome Matt.

Found your blog (though I think you need to fix the link above.) Good to get a Porto Alegre perspective and it's certainly regularly updated!

Not a good week for you what with Grêmio's result on Thursday. How do you explain Inter's abysmal away form? I haven't seen them this season but to follow a great win v São Paulo with a defeat at Ipatinga seems strange even by the standards of Brazilian football. They're in Rio next week against Fluminense so I'll let you know what I think of them.

So here's the promised match report, a few days after it took place I'm afraid but still...

Vasco da Gama 3 Fluminense 3

This was a clasico between 2 of the Rio sides so I must admit to being a bit disappointed at only 20, 000 turning up. The Maracana is an absolutely superb stadium and deserved to be much fuller for a game like this. However, both teams are struggling near the bottom of the table so it's not too surprising I suppose.

But that was really the only disappointment of the night. It was an exciting game of football, made even more exciting by being right in the thick of the Fluminense crowd. You are not restricted to sitting in just one seat and so you are free to move into other areas of the ground.

The supporters really do make the spectacle, certainly at this game and on others I've seen on TV. With flares, flags, chanting etc it's just like every football match should be like. And to those people who say that all those fine Brazilian women are just planted in the crowd for the benefit of the TV cameras, I'm happy to say that's not the case. There were plenty of them there, singing and dancing when winning, crying and looking distraught when losing. And not a boyfriend in sight!

What? You want to know about the match? It was great - Fluminense coming back from 3-1 down to equalise 3-3. Poor defending from Flu, especially from Rafael who was to blame for 2 of their goals. He was then given the booing treatment for the rest of the match, with such vitriol I haven't heard since Ronnie Wallwork's Hawthorns heyday. Old-timer Edmundo was up front for Vasco da Gama and scored 2 goals, looking very quality and self-assured in the process.

Kitwise, the Vasco diagonal stripe is an acknowledged classic but I must admit to coveting the Fluminese kit more. A kit with horizontal stripes, when done well, is a thing of pure beauty, and their home strip is done extremely well.

Brazilians seem to have a great feel for kit design - certainly when you compare their kits to some of the Mexican monstrosities I saw when travelling there last year. In fact, I found it hard to get into Mexican football full stop and I feared the same for my trip to Brazil. Thanks in no small part to the help of sidjames, I can rest easy.

Thanks sidjames, the link is fixed now.

I take it your living in Rio then? You Brazilian or?