This post is going to be a pretty big update on all things Cruzeiro within the last three weeks (everything from seal dribbles to a crazy Englishman on Gol TV), so enjoy the ride.

Cruzeiro vs. Vasco
On Sunday, Vasco played host to Cruzeiro. We came in knowing that Vasco would be a direct threat to our chances of qualifying for Libertadores. Even though Vasco has been practically unbeatable at home this season, we took care of business. Ramires (who has simply been a revelation this season) scored one of the goals and Thiago scored the other. Good performance by the boys, came out took three points and are now eight points clear of third placed Santos. Cruzeiro trail São Paulo by nine pints, but anything is possible; let’s just wait and see.

RapoGalo: The Clássico
The game had a great crowd, just under 41,0000 –mostly Cruzeiro fan– which made the atmosphere great. The game started off mostly with Cruzeiro calling the shots. It only took 12 minutes for my favorite Cruzeiro player, Roni, to score. Again in the 25th minute it was Roni making it 2-0 Cruzeiro, this time from the penalty spot. Atlético would not play dead in this game and showed off some incredible class and entertaining ability as Gerson and then Marinho scored for Atlético and sent the game into half time as a tie, 2-2. Atlético came out with ambition and completed an incredible comeback in the 58th minute. Marinho scored from the spot and became the name of the hour. It wouldn’t last. Guilherme was probably the best player of the match, and after being introduced as a sub in the second half, he scored and tied things up once more. Lightning struck twice, as Guilherme got another one 13 minutes from time. It was the games seventh and last goal. 4-3 Cruzeiro.

The Little Seal is back
One of the games highlights was the seal dribble. For those of you who don’t know, Kerlon is a 19-year-old who was being called Brazil’s Next Pelé (yes it is an official title) 2 years ago. After 2 long injuries, which have kept him out for practically the last 2 years, he made his re-debut a couple of games ago. One of the things Kerlon is famed for is the seal dribble. Yes, I bet you have seen it before a thousand times o YouTube. He pops the ball on top of his head and bounces it there. The move was first seen in the 2005 South American U-17 Championship. The move itself isn’t that effective, in my opinion, in getting around defenders. What it does do though is draw fouls and it wasn’t any different in derby. Kerlon popped the ball up and was fouled just outside the box by a viscous elbow from Coelho. Coelho got red carded and any chance of Atlético tying the match was gone. In the post game interviews all the Atlético players stated how the move was used inappropriately. In my opinion it was a totally legal thing to do and Coelho’s hit was very very viscous and he deserved to be sent off. The Cruzeiro fans began chanting Kerlon’s name after the red card.

Seal dribble and Clássico aftermath
The Atlético vs. Cruzeiro Clássico, played nine days ago, has been talked about all over Brazil. Every player has there own opinion on whether the seal dribble was an appropriate thing to do. Some say Kerlon was wrong to do it and only did it to get Coelho sent off, while other say it was Coelho’s fault for being so aggressive.

The Clássico also had some bad news, two people died and four were injured. One of the victims was a 90-year-old man who wasn’t even involved in the fighting. It’s sad how stupid these people are. Killing each other because of their love for there club? Stupidity.

AJ and DJ are back as well
Doesn’t it some like a lot of people are coming back? Well, it’s not only Kerlon and I, but DJ as well. Remember a while back I told you about our manager being suspended? Well, Cruzeiro’s great lawyers were able to prove his innocence and now that São Paulo have a 9 point lead he’s learned his lesson he has been able to return. He was present in the game against Atlético and Vasco, thankfully.

The boss in action.

Other games
These are the results you missed:
Cruzeiro 5 – 0 Palmeiras (Finals stats)
Juventude 1 – 0 Cruzeiro (Finals stats)
Cruzeiro 2 – 0 Gremio (Finals stats)
Flamengo 3 – 1 Cruzeiro (Final stats)

Courtesy of Benny from Blog do Cruzeirense

New site
Cruzeiro has updated their site, for those off you who read Portuguese. The site is now done by Globo — the Brazilian media lords. For all its hype, the site turned out to be very disappointing. Besides the new layout, the site got worse. The history section has close to nothing, squad information doesn’t even feature the player’s number, it’s just in Portuguese, and overall, very poor quality. For those of you who want to check it out here it is.

Non-related
Some unrelated news I wanted to talk about:
1.) I was watching the Barcelona vs. Sevilla game the other day on Gol TV and Ray Hudson was calling the shots. I like the guy and his crazy (sometimes sex involved) quotes, but as I was watching that game, he pissed me off to the point of no return. Aren’t commentators suppose to be neutral? His love for Argentina and all thing Argentine is beginning to annoy me. Must he mention an Argentine player when there isn’t even one on the field? Though he is better than some of Gol TV’s Spanish commentators who sometimes call gamed in broken English.

2.) The Brazilian Série B isn’t that popular, but some great players and teams have been there. A team that has really caught be attention is Ipatinga. The club was formed in 1998 and is already close to coming to the first division. Like most new clubs, Ipatinga had to climb itself up the state league latter (in most Brazilian states there are three leagues). Once they arrived at the first division of the state level and finish among the top four they could begin to play in the Brazilian Série C. After a couple of tries they were promoted last year from the third division and are currently second in the second division this year. I’m from the city of Ipatinga so that’s way I’m really rooting for this team. It would be incredible for them to be in the first division by just there tenth professional year.

Personally I want to see that number get into the high thirties this season and the only way to do that, besides selling every good player we have, is to be successful. By successful I mean a good placement in the Brazilian championship (top four) and even a good run in this years Sudamericana would help. As we all know success and championships really help a club, but in Brazil 75% of a clubs revenue tends to come from selling their players.

Transfers

Here are the players Cruzeiro have sold so far in 2007:

Sold:
€4.2 million – Fábio Santos
€1 million (has already returned from loan) – Wágner
€250 thousand (one year loan to Sporting, valued at €7 million) – Gladstone
€2 million – Luizão
$500 thousand – Rômulo
€3.5 million – Araújo
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Total: €11.1

Bought:
Renan and Fábio Santos – R$ 450 thousand (on loan)
Ricardinho – free
Marcinho – free (traded for Leandro and Martinez)
Leandro Domingues – R$ 800 thousand (50% of rights)
Maicosuel – R$ 1.3 million (60% of rights)
Fellype Gabriel – free
Rafinha – undisclosed
Pedro Júnior – free (traded for Teco)
Nenê – R$ 350 thousand (55% of rights)
Rômulo – R$1.3 million (60% of rights)
Marcelo Moreno – club did not pay (US$ 400 thousand Spanish investors bought 90% of the players rights and passed to Cruzeiro 40%. The other 10% belongs to the athlete.)
Ramires – free (70% of rights are valued at US$ 300 thousand)
Léo Fortunato – R$ 200 thousand (payed to Madureira to end player’s contract)
Marcelo Tavares – free
Mariano – R$ 150 thousand (rights are valued at R$ 500 thousand)
Daniel – free
Roni – free
Fernandinho – R$ 600 thousand (25% of rights)
Thiago – US$ 540 thousand (50% of rights).
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Total: €2 million

Possible sales:
Weldon – Yokohama Marinus of Japan– US$ 200 thousand

Possible buys:
Anderson – Benfica – €2.5 million or loan

Comparison to other Brazilian clubs
I know what you’re saying, “€11 million, that’s it?” I know that even by Brazilian standards that is somewhat pitiful and other clubs in Brazil have made that or even more than that in just one sale this season (namely Internacional and São Paulo). But think about this – many players in Brazil aren’t actually owned by the club itself, instead clubs usually just own a small stake of the player and usually get help from “investors” to supply the cash. When it comes time to sell the player the “investors” usually end up making more money off the deals than the club itself. With Cruzeiro though, this is not true. The club owns practically all of its players and doesn’t need to rely on foreign companies to purchase its players. So what does this mean? Well it means that almost all the money Cruzeiro makes goes directly into the club’s piggy bank and unlike other clubs, the money doesn’t need to be split with “investors”. In addition, much of the revenue that clubs like Flamengo or Corinthians make go towards paying old debts, in some cases these debts get to be as high as €50 million (cough, cough Corinthians cough, cough). According to club president, Alivimar de Oliviero Costa, Cruzeiro manages to pay all its expenses (although, he did say “sometimes with difficulty”), but Cruzeiro have no debts, which is a really good thing. And on top of all Cruzeiro hasn’t really had to sell “key” players this season and has really only sold “unwanted” players. While other clubs have been making a lot of money but selling their most important players in the process.

Future transfers
Although Cruzeiro won’t be ably to cash in a ton of money this season, I believe there will be plenty of cash coming in next season. Cruzeiro currently has two of Brazil’s “next Alexandre Pato”. They are Guilherme (who you here me talk about all the time – he is almost the same age as Pato, has played almost the same amount of games as Pato this season and has scored more goals than Pato this season, which makes him – in my opinion of course – more expansive than Pato). The other promise is Kerlon, who was voted best player and top scorer in the U-17 South American Championship in 2005. Kerlon was back then considered a big Brazilian promise. He also became famous for his Seal Dribble, where he dribbled the ball with his head (a YouTube favorite). Kerlon should have been in Europe by now, but in the last two years he has been hit with two huge injuries that has kept him out for an enormously amount of time, he is currently still injured. Manchester United were interested in Kerlon two years ago and Inter and AC Milan were interested last year and lately there have been reports that Torino may be interested. Kerlon is valued at €10 and the only way Guilherme is going is for €20+. If any European club presidents are reading this (cause I know you are) I would recommend you buy, out of the two, Kerlon. Because once he heals and starts playing again, he’ll become much more valuable. Take for example Pato who seven months ago was worth €7 and now? €20. Kerlon, in my opinion, will be pretty big in a year or two. Remember – Kerlon and Guilherme – you heard it here first.