Been somewhat distracted by Brazilian booty these last few days so have not been fully concentrating on the football, I~m afraid. Fill me in on the last 2 Corinthians results, sid, if you don~t mind.

And now I~~ve pitched up in Recife to find Nautico are away and Sport are playing tomorrow. Tomorrow~s no good to me, I~ll be off on a beach somewhere.

Hopefully I~ll be able to catch a game when I~m in Salvador.

Reading between the lines, I assume that email did the trick. Congratulations, mate.

As for Corinthians, they also scored (twice) at Paraná without reply which was a relief for them as they'd only got 2 points from the previous 3 games. They've a comfortable 4 point lead over Barueri with a game in hand.

If you're in Salvador next Tuesday, you can catch some Série B action with Bahia v Ponte Preta. Unfortunately, Série A Vítoria are away for their next two games.

Your team is in the relegation zone and selling off its best young talent, the wages are late and the only reason the manager hasn't been sacked is that the club can't afford to. Two players have refused to play citing fears for their personal safety after a visit to the training ground by angry supporters and another couple are rumoured to have faked injuries in protest at not being paid.

No problem for Vasco who responded with a 6-1 thrashing of Atlético Mineiro and are now, somewhat improbably, the league's leading scorers.

At the other end of the table things carry on as normal with Flamengo losing and everyone else winning. They're now in fourth place with just two points and two goals from the last five games and a tough match at home to Cruzeiro on Sunday. If Flamengo's directors don't sort out some attacking reinforcements very soon they could find themselves being paid a visit by discontented fans.

Yeah, Flamengo do seem to self-destructing at the moment, don~t they? As I was watching the game I was wondering whether you were watching it in that bar where all the Palmerias fans congregate in Rio.

Thanks for the Corinthians updates. Interesting that Barueri are second as I was actually there a couple of weeks ago with the family of my friend~s wife (who are all big Corinthians fans -see how they shun their local club to support a big one, twas ever thus).

I reckon I~ll be able to make that Bahia game, fingers crossed, which will make up for missing out on going to any games around here. Sport played Ipatinga the other night and the local paper was raving about a 19 year-old striker who scored on his debut for Sport. Cico is his name - you heard it here first!

No, she never got back to me (I know I was completely off my face and it was about 5 in the morning but I was sure that she was the one!) however things have moved on quite nicely since then.

Inter finally set to end their away curse! 2-0 up at half time at Flu.

Renato Gaucho out?

Sid, do you know of Premiere FC? I've suddenly been given it for free on my bare bones cable TV package. There's so much Brazillian football on there it's difficult to concentrate, especially since I'm supposed to be writing a dissertation at the moment. It seems like they show every game from Serie A and B plus some other state championship games.

One that I watched the other day was Vitória against Bahia, cracking atmosphere inside the ground but a god awful game, highlight of which was a rastafarian pitch invader (Bahia supporter) who needed 5 policemen to restrain him. What's the deal with state championships, is there popularity very dependant on the state it's played in? I remember watching a Carioca game between Vasco and another team whose name I can't remember and there being absolutely nobody watching it.

ps welcome Matt! Sidnei was quite impressive for Benfica tonight.

Watch out, Steveeee. PremiereFC can seriously damage both your work ethic and your social life. On a basic cable package you get Sportv which shows a couple of live games a week but, in a vain attempt to boost crowds, not in the state where the game's being played. The full package that you've got does indeed show every game with no restrictions and is a valuable investment for any bar or restaurant. It's one reason why attendances are so variable and, in many cases frankly, rubbish e.g. 10,000 for Flu v Inter last night. I have to confess that I was one of those who chose the bar option.

Not sure why Vitória v Bahia was on - the state championships are long over but as a Salvador classico it would have been a good atmosphere. Many clubs have a big Rasta thing going on. Giant flags with a picture of Bob Marley are quite common. I can't get into the State Championships myself - it's a bit like Brentford or Millwall playing in a pre-season league against the big London clubs and standing absolutely no chance of winning. For Brazilians, though, they do have an important historic resonance as the national championships only started in 1971. Just checked and the last non-big 4 club to win the Carioca was Bangu - in 1966!

Matt - just a month after losing the Libertadores on penalties the crowd were calling for Renato's head. Both Fluminense and Flamengo are paying for the lack of forward planning in getting replacements for players lost to Europe and, in Flu's case, the Olympics. Don't know if you saw the game but Inter, who have of course strengthened their squad, were pretty comfortable winners. I liked the look of Nilmar.

Jon, glad to hear things have 'moved on nicely'. In Salvador, make sure you check where Bahia are playing. Their regular stadium, the Fonte Nova, has been closed since last year when a hole opened up on the terraces killing eight people.

Going to Flamengo v Cruzeiro this afternoon hoping that the rubro-negro can get back on track but I really can't see where the goals are coming from. If they lose, they're out of the top four.

Jon wrote:
[quote]Yeah, Flamengo do seem to self-destructing at the moment, don~t they?

Sport played Ipatinga the other night and the local paper was raving about a 19 year-old striker who scored on his debut for Sport. Cico is his name - you heard it here first!

quote]

Fla went from near bottom to third last season - seems they're intent on doing the opposite this year! haha

think the Sport guy's name is Ciro

Yeah, you~re right - it~s Ciro. So you didn~t hear it here first at all because I messed his name up.

My game of choice tonight will be Athletico MG vs Sport, although I think they have a suspended striker, Roger, back so my man Ciro will only be on the bench.

Saw a Corinthians game on telly last night. Bloody hell, they made heavy weather of a 0-0 home draw against Criciuma.

Sid, thanks for the tip - it appears Bahia are playing at the Joia de Princesa on Tuesday

just discovered that the Brasileiro is back on your TV screens in the UK! i put something on the message board if you want to take a look. but if you can't be arsed, the games are on SportsXchange (Sky Channel 456) haha

Flamengo's fall from grace continues with a 2-1 defeat to Cruzeiro, the only bright spot being an excellent headed goal from debutante Vaninho. Another forward Diégo Tardelli broke his arm but on yesterday's performance won't be any great loss. The crowd has started to turn on some of the players, manager Caio Jr and, more deservedly, the directors. Things could get ugly.

Rogério Ceni was back on the scoresheet for São Paulo - twice. That makes it 82 career goals and I was surprised to learn that more of them have been free kicks(44) than penalties(38).

Just to add to what pitacodogringo posted about Brazilian football appearing on UK tv, he is correct although I cannot find a shedule of games which would be nice.

Also, (even better as I have Virgin not Sky!) the SportsXchange channel also streams live on the internet.
http://www.sportsxchange.tv/

When I said earlier that things could get ugly at Flamengo I wasn't exactly expecting a group of fans to go along to the training ground and chuck a bomb (yes, a bomb) onto the pitch slightly injuring a couple of players. It didn't have the desired effect as Flamengo went down to a somewhat unfortunate injury time defeat at Goiás to make it seven without a win.

Two of the other three Carioca clubs are also in crisis. Flu supporters conducted a mock funeral at the Maracanã and unveiled a big banner accusing the team of being without 'fight, respect and a manager'. Of course they do have a manager in Renato Gaúcho, who a month ago was taking them to within a penalty shoot-out of the Copa Libertadores. The team responded with a surprising 3-1 win over São Paulo, Washington recapturing some of his previous form with a hat-trick.

I went to Vasco where a 2-0 defeat to a useful Coritiba side led to angry scenes at the end and the dismissal of manager António Lopez. Outside Rio, Santos lost at home to the hitherto hopeless Atlético MG and manager Cuca was sacked. He's already being touted as Vasco's new manager.

Just an average Wednesday night in the Brasileiro.

I did't realise Antonio Lopes was so close to getting the sack. I was under the impression Vasco's performances were more down to the poor squad they have than the coach.

Out of interest, what's the San Januario like to visit?? I've seen losts of pictures of it and it looks like a cracking little stadum. Very unique looking with the benches behind the goal and the Victorian style main entrance. I'd love to know what you think of it.

I love going to the São Januário in the same way that I prefer the older non-identikit English grounds. And the SJ's U shape is certainly unique with seating on just one side and terraces stretching round the rest of the 'U' and, as you said, the trainers' benches behind the goal at the empty end of the ground.



On Wednesday there was a pretty good atmosphere even with only 6000 in the ground and we sat on the terraces just a few metres away from the pitch giving it an intimacy that the Maracanã lacks.



It's not an easy ground to get to (90 minutes on the bus from the other side of Rio) and after the game it's wise to make a sharpish exit as it's not the safest of areas.

Vasco's performances are largely down to the poor quality of the squad but that's never stopped Bazilian clubs dispensing with their managers. Some of the locals were mystified by some of his team selections and there seemed to be a lot of dressing room unrest. And of course the club are broke - pitaco reckons that two of their better players, Leandro Amaral and Wagner Diniz may have to be sold and there's always the possibility that Edmundo may decide he's had enough and pack it in.