The Game
Paraná Clube 2 x 2 Cruzeiro, Wednesday, 6:30 PM Eastern Time, Estádio Durival de Brito, Curitiba, 22nd round of the Campeonato Brasileiro 2007 – Attendance: ? – Profit: ? – Referee: Lourival Dias Lima Filho (BA) – Assistant referees: Alessandro Rocha and Adson Márcio Lopes Leal (BA) – Yellow card(s): Ramires and Charles (Cru) – Goals: Wagner, 25th; Josiel, 57th, Marcelo Moreno, 58th, Josiel (penalty), 70th minute – Paraná: Flávio; Daniel Marques, Neguette and Toninho (Batista); Leo Mattos (Alex), Adriano, Beto, Éverton (Goiano) and Paulo Rodrigues; Vandinho (Vinícius Pacheco) and Josiel. Manager: Lori Sandri / Cruzeiro: Fábio; Jonathan, Émerson, Thiago Martinelli and Fernandinho; Charles and Ramires; Leandro Domingues (Maicosuel) and Wagner (Aldo Souza); Alecsandro and Marcelo Moreno (Nenê). Manager: Ivan Izzo (Dorival Júnior was at a hearing at the time of the game). – Historically – Cruzeiro and Paraná have played 23 matches. Cruzeiro has won 10, tied 5, lost 8, scored 40 goals, conceded 32. In the Campeonato Brasileiro, they have played 17 matches, Cruzeiro has won 6, tied 3, lost 8, scored 30 goals, conceded 28. Cruzeiro and Paraná have never played each other in a final.

All the goals & All the plays

Cruzeiro 3 – 0 Corinthians: Alecsandro +10
How things change, in the beginning of the championship Cruzeiro had gotten off to a horrible start and in the second round lost 3-0 to Corinthians. A couple of months later Cruzeiro faced Corinthians again, this time Cruzeiro were coming off five straight victories, while Corinthians were just now beginning to find their form. Cruzeiro played well and got three points and again relied on another extraordinary performance from Alecsandro. Alecsandro has got so far nine goals in just six appearances. For those of you who are not familiar with the guy here is a quick lowdown: Cruzeiro bought him just over a year ago and after some “OK” performances he found himself being loaned out to Sporting Lisbon of Portugal for one year, Sporting could opt to buy him after his loan spell was over. Sporting instead let him go after his loan spell was done. Alecsandro arrived at Cruzeiro pretty late (the Brazilian championship was well underway), and after arriving and practicing two weeks with the squad he was given a chance to play. And play he did, nine goals in six games! He has only played 25% as many matches as the championship’s leading scorer, Josiel, but is only four goals shy of Josiel’s 13. Why has Alecsandro been such a pleasant surprise? Because he only had mediocre performances for Cruzeiro when he first arrived and because of his physical attributes (he is on the heavy side, Cruzeiro fans used to refer to him as O Gordinho (Little Fatty)). So I guess we weren’t expecting him to play so well and trust me it has been a good surprise! As for Cruzeiro so far I only have one thing to say-STAY HUMBLE AND RESPECT YOUR OPPONENTS!!!!!!! Being a Cruzeiro fan, you learn to never believe you are a title or Libertadores contender unless you are mathematically proven to be so. São Paulo is still a very strong team and haven’t lost or conceded a goal in a very long time now. So the road to glory this year will be tough. The club directors seem to be doing their part and have reportedly rejected offers for players such as: Wagner, Guilherme and Alecsandro.

The Table

The Game
Corinthians 0 x 3 Cruzeiro, Saturday, August 25th, 2007, 5:10 PM Eastern Time, Pacaembu, São Paulo, 21st round of the Campeonato Brasileiro 2007 – Attendance: 32,439 paid (Nestlé promotional tickets), 26,356 present – Profit: R$241,000.00 – Referee: Carlos Eugênio Simon (Fifa-RS) – Assistant referees: Marcelo Barison and Paulo Roberto S. Conceição (RS) – Yellow card(s): Betão, Ricardinho (Cor); Emerson, Thiago Heleno (Cru) – Goals: Alecsandro, 28th; Jonathan, 62nd, Alecsandro, 80th, – Corinthians: Felipe; Fábio Ferreira, Zelão and Betão; Edson (Moradei), Ricardinho, Vampeta and Gustavo Nery; Arce (Everton Santos), Finazzi and Wilson (Bruno Bonfim). Manager: Paulo César Carpegiani / Cruzeiro: Fábio; Jonathan, Emerson, Thiago Heleno and Fernandinho; Charles and Ramires; Maicosuel (Marcinho) and Leandro Domingues (Aldo Sousa); Alecsandro and Marcelo Moreno (Nenê). Manager: Dorival Júnior. – Historically – Cruzeiro and Corinthians have played 62 matches. Cruzeiro has won 19, tied 17, lost 26, scored 77 goals and conceded 88. In the Campeonato Brasileiro, they have played 42 games. Cruzeiro has won 14, tied 13, lost 15, scored 43 goals and conceded 47. The two teams have played each other in a Campeonato Brasileiro final, the 1969 Taça de Prata, at the Mineirão. Cruzeiro won 2 x 1, but the title was won, awkwardly enough, by Palmeiras who had scored one more goal then Cruzeiro against Botafogo.

All the goals & All the plays

1.) Bad refereeing – In the first leg, Goiás won 2-0, with contraversial calls by the referee, especial when he awarded a last minute penalty that didn’t really exist.

2.) Cruzeiro B – Cruzeiro put out their B team in the Sudamericana and what do you expect when you put out a B team? Elimination.

3.) The post – Goiás played a good defensive game last night, but if it wasn’t for the all mighty post Cruzeiro would have scored more goals.

4.) Goiás’ defense – Goiás’ defense was practically uncrackable. Goiás played São Paulo last weekend and not even São Paulo’s A team, arguably the best in Brazil, could score on Goiás and the match ended up 0-0. Goiás played even more defensively against Cruzeiro and it was actually incredible Cruzeiro managed to score!

5.) No Roni, no Guilherme – Of course one of the other reasons Cruzeiro didn’t advance was because our two key goalscorers didn’t even play a minute last night.

6.) Advantages of being eliminated – less games, while our opponents in the Brazilian championship have more.

7.) Complete focus in Brazil – Cruzeiro will now have play completely focused in the Brazilian championship.

Overview
Overall, I feel that Cruzeiro played with “raça”, which means class and superiority. It’s just that Goiás’ defense was just to strong. Oh yea… congrats to Jonathan, Thiago Heleno and Ramires, three players that, I feel, had a breakout game.

The Game
Cruzeiro 1 x 0 Goiás (aggregate Cruzeiro 1 x 2 Goiás), Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007, 8:45 ET, Mineirão, Second leg of the first round of the Copa Sudamericana 2007 – Attendance: 11,409 paid, 12,656 present – Profit: R$52,947.50 – Referee: Wagner Tardelli (SC) Walter Reis and Ednilson Corona – Yellow card(s): Ernando, Vítor, Cleber Gúcho, Elson, Fábio Bahia (Goi); Wagner, Charles, Thiago Heleno (Cru) – Red(s): Elson (Goi) – Goals: Thiago Heleno, 14th minute – Cruzeiro: Fábio; Jonathan (Diego), Emerson, Thiago Heleno and Fernandinho (Marcinho); Charles and Ramires, Leandro Domingues and Wagner; Alecsandro and Nenê (Marcelo Moreno). Manager: Dorival Júnior / Goiás: Harlei; Fábio Bahia, Leonardo and Ernando; Vítor (Fernando Miguel), Amaral, Cléber Gaúcho, Élson, Paulo Baier and Chiquinho; Cristiano (Fábio). Tec: Paulo Bonamigo – Historically – Cruzeiro and Goiás have played 40 matches. Cruzeiro has won 21, tied 9, lost 10; scored 54 goals, conceded 43. In 25 games of the Brazilian Championship, Cruzeiro has won 13, tied 6 and lost 6, scored 37, conceded 28 goals. In the Copa Sudamericana, 4 games: Cruzeiro has won 2, tied 1, lost 1, scored 6 goals, conceded 6.

The Goals

The Game
Cruzeiro 3 x 2 Botafogo, Sunday, July 29, 2007, 6:10 ET – Mineirão, 15th round of the Campeonato Brasileiro 2007 – Attendance: 13,302 paid, 15,344 present – Profit: R$183,350.00 – Referee: Leonardo Gaciba da Silva (RS-Fifa) – Assistant Referees: Altemir Hausmann and Paulo Ricardo Silva (RS) – Yellow Card(s): Daniel, Charles, Guilherme (Cru) and Zé Roberto (Bot) – Red Card(s): Daniel (Cru) – Goals: Guilherme, 46, Wagner, 76, Guilherme, 80, André Lima, 86 and Renato Silva, 90 (+2) – Cruzeiro: Fábio; Jonathan, Emerson, Tiago Martinelli, Fernandinho; Charles, Ramires (Daniel); Marcinho (Maicosuel), Wagner; Roni (Nenê) and Guilherme. Manager: Dorival Júnior / Botafogo: Júlio César; Juninho, Alex (Zé Roberto), Renato Silva; Alessandro, Túlio, Lúcio Flavio, Joílson, Diguinho (Ricardinho); Jorge Henrique, André Lima. Manager: Cuca

“This team of mine is looking like a yo-yo, they go up and down.”

All right, now back to business. The São Paulo and Atlético-PR games… OK well I had said before that these games were crucial and that we would have to win these games at all cost, but it seems that the Cruzeiro players weren’t listening to me. Cruzeiro’s finishing is beginning to scare me because they could have finished off both São Paulo and Atlético-PR, but bad finishing got in the way of that… The 2-1 lose to São Paulo and 2-2 draw with Atlético-PR might depress some people, but I’m a positive person and Cruzeiro are only eight points (five if Cruzeiro wins on Sunday) from leaders Botafogo and can do themselves and the league a favor if they were to beat Botafogo on Sunday. It’s good to note that Cruzeiro has been without key players in both the São Paulo and Atlético-PR games. The Fab Four should play together for the first time in two rounds on Sunday. As for the Botafogo game, I’m not going to say much, but Cruzeiro have to beat them if they want to challenge for the title, it’s that simple. Gonna keep this post short so you don’t have to read my elongated analysis and opinions on the games gone and games to come. Do or die for Cruzeiro now…

Cruzeiro last season got off to a great start, they led the league until the World Cup break and Wagner had scored 9 goals in less than half a season…that’s when it all fell apart. Players were fired and sold, 1/3 of the squad was injured, and we said hello and good bye to two coaches. But we didn’t just kiss good bye to the championship, oh no, why just stop there? We kissed good bye to the Libertadores. So like I was saying, here we are, Sudamericana time. (Sarcastically) Yeh!

But in my opinion it’s not that bad. The money probably isn’t very good at all, but hey what did you expect. Point is that it’s an international competition. We can at least try, but for some reason we don’t (Santos beat us in the very first round last year). It’s a great chance to bring silverware to the club. Not only that but it’s a moral booster and can fuel is to fight for Libertadores qualification this year. By winning the Sudamericana we will also get a chance to play Boca in next year’s Recopa, (S. America’s European Super Cup). In my opinion, I feel that the staff should stop wasting their time telling the fans that there will definitely be Libertadores next season, or how much they hate the Sudamericana. They should focus their energies in maybe trying to win this thing.

It doesn’t help that we are going to play Goiás, a team that has been on fire this year. So yea, we are probably going to lose .

Any who, I’ll have details and the goals when Cruzeiro plays Goiás on August 16.