Search: 'Botafogo'

Brazilian Kerlon's cheeky antics rile opponents, reports Robert Shaw

The controversy surrounding the drible da foca (seal dribble) of Cruzeiro’s teenage midfielder Kerlon has the makings of a modern Brazilian footballing fable. The storm centred on an incident in a remarkable match between Cruzeiro and local rivals Atlético MG on September 16. In the 80th minute, with his team leading 4-3, Kerlon’s trademark dribble – juggling the ball with his head while on the run – was brought to a shuddering halt by the intervention of opposition full-back Coelho, who barged violently into the Cruzeiro player. Coelho was sent off and later suspended for 120 days, effectively ending his season. But the episode has provoked a wider debate in Brazil about the boundary between tricks and provocation in football.

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Celtic’s 'Brazil international defender' lived up to his name, but not his reputation. Dan Brennan explains how the club blew around £9 million for ten appearances

In February, the Maracana was the scene of a humiliating defeat for fallen Brazilian giants Botafogo as they were felled by regional nobodies Americano in the semi-finals of the Rio de Janeiro state championship. Failing to marshal their back-line was a man who, if you’re a Celtic fan, would have prompted flickers of recognition and perhaps an involuntary shudder. Rafael, as they call him nowadays, is a bit older and sports a jazzy new blond hairstyle. But beneath the coiffure, he is still, by all accounts, Scheidt.

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The team with most points winning the league? The teams with fewest going down? As Robert Shaw writes, that hasn’t been the way in Rio and São Paulo – until now

In the highly political world of Brazilian football, two developments received universal acclaim in 2003. First, Palmeiras and Botafogo, two traditional powers, were promoted back to the 24-team top flight a year after relegation. Earning a return on the field, rather than through negotiations in a smoke-filled room, won plaudits for both clubs, who had not been expected to tolerate the humiliation of second division football.

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The eternally controversial former Rangers goalkeeper took the high road to Elgin in the autumn – but, as Dan Brennan relates, the low road would have led, amazingly, to Brazil

For all its merits, Elgin is not Rio. Ask Andy Goram. This summer, the 39-year-old former Rangers goal­keeper appeared close to an improbable move to Brazilian top-flight side Botafogo, after a chance encounter with the club’s representatives in Selkirk, where he was organising a six-a-side tournament.

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Two of the biggest clubs in Brazilian football have been affected in different ways by the strange nature of the game there. Robert Shaw investigates

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, Botafogo v Santos games were titanic struggles involving the cream of Brazil’s talent, with Garrincha and Pelé taking top billing for their respective sides. In 2002 the two clubs had divergent fortunes. Santos won the championship, beating Cor­inthians 5-2 on aggregate in December’s play-off final. The team were coached by Emerson Leão, the former goalkeeper renowned more for modelling swimming trunks than for a less-than-successful spell as national coach during World Cup qualifying.

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