For Flamengo goalkeeper Bruno scoring goals has become as important as saving them and he’s not alone, says Robert Shaw
By common consent, the Vasco da Gama v Flamengo derby on March 22 was a relatively clean game marred by overzealous card-waving from referee Luiz Antonio Silva dos Santos. However, observers also pointed out that the official somehow missed a wild halfway-line follow-through by Flamengo goalkeeper Bruno that threatened to decapitate Vasco’s Edu Pina.
The A-League’s second season was punctuated by shocking tackles and bizarre rows, but also by huge crowds and entertaining matches. Mike Ticher believes that football is proving a success Down Under
Say what you like about the A-League, you cannot accuse it of thinking too small. In the first season, Melbourne Victory finished seventh out of eight. Second time out they gambled on a move to the vast Telstra Dome and were rewarded with a gallop to both domestic honours in front of preposterously large crowds. On February 18 they thumped Adelaide United 6-0 in the Grand Final (having also finished top of the league) before 55,436, a record for a club game in Australia. For that they could thank five goals from Archie Thompson, a referee who looked kindly on an early characteristic lunge by Kevin Muscat and a self-destructing Adelaide team who lost their captain Ross Aloisi after a similar challenge.
Brazil travelled to Germany as favourites, but Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and friends rarely looked worth the hype. As Robert Shaw explains, they paid the price for putting commercial concerns ahead of football
Carlos Alberto Parreira is an articulate coach, accustomed to giving presentations. But when it really mattered at the World Cup he was strangely speechless. After Thierry Henry slipped past a sleeping defence, Parreira seemed dumbstruck and delayed shuffling his pack, with Robinho left on the bench until it was too late. Brazil’s formation based on an attacking quartet was set in stone, although the notoriously cautious coach had only really seen it work well against Argentina in the Confederations Cup final last June and in the drubbing of Chile in September.
What do you do when you stop being the world's best player? Diego Maradona still hasn't come up with a satisfactory answer, as Martin Gambarotta reports
Of all the visits Diego Maradona received while ailing with a faulty heart in a private clinic in Buenos Aires, one stood out for its symbolism and could well have a place in local football lore in the future. The visit lasted 15 minutes. Enough time for an 18-year-old boy by the name of Javier Saviola to drop his national team shirt at the feet of Diego’s hospital bed. Saviola, River Plate’s new sensation, had just ended the season as the league’s top scorer. Only one other player had accomplished a similar feat when he was younger: Diego Maradona.
Mention Brazil and most people become emotional about Pelé, Garrincha, Romario and other legends. Cris Freddi sees it differently
I hate Brazil. Not the country – I’ve never been to the country. But I hate Brazil. Like all fair-minded people, I am the Brazil hater.