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

“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…

Transfers

Porto has sold Pepe to Real Madrid for €30 million. So they said what the hey, let’s go out in a Brazilian shopping spree and buy some of their future prospects. And of course they go after Cruzeiro’s worst sector this year, the defense. Now Cruzeiro lost a couple of weeks ago Gladstone, who was really the only good defender we had, to Sporting Lisbon, on a one year loan deal with a buy out clause. So now Cruzeiro has decided to sell any hope our defense may have. So comes in to play Luizão, who was part of Brazil’s disappointing U-20 World Cup team. Porto has set their eyes on him and he will probably go. Even if he doesn’t go to Porto, it is reported that Boca Juniors are interested. If Cruzeiro were to sell him to Boca, it would be a very strange move. It is one thing to sell a player to our Portuguese rivals, at least they are in Europe, but to a fellow South American rival country like Argentina. Besides Luizão would be treated like dirt in Argentina. Anyway, those rumors have died down just a bit these days. Which is good, very good. Though Araújo is also said to be leaving, even though he has stated that he is fully committed to the team and tournament. We will just have to see. Speaking of future transfers now, Cruzeiro’s two biggest promises Guilherme and Kerlon, will probably be sold in the next year or two. Guilherme, 18 years old, was called up to the U-20 World Cup, but was later taken off the list. He is definitely a good player, has scored a lot of goals for us and is part of Cruzeiro’s “Offensive Quartet”, along with Araújo, Wagner and Roni. Kerlon is the other “promise” I had mentioned, he is good, but has been injuried a lot and hasn’t been able to show his moves, so Europe may not be in the near future for him. In my opinion, these two may hit European catalogs in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

But on the bright side Cruzeiro have finished up a deal with experienced São Caetano defender and captain Thiago, which will be a good edition to our defense. Also Cruzeiro might have an interest in Léo from Benfica, and Filipe from Deportivo de La Coruña (who had a good season in Spain), both being defenders. Not sure of our chances to get either, but both would be great in our squad.

Game review
The game against Goiás was in my opinion and in the opinions of the players the best performance by Cruzeiro so far this year (I even had an argument with a fellow blogger about it and I admit I got I bit carried away). Cruzeiro though scored first and let Goiás score in the 75 minute, but quickly took the lead again. The win stopped Goiás’ winning streak and also helped the league in general, because this week all of the top four dropped points. This was good for Cruzeiro’s confidence, beating the second placed team in the league. Though our schedule only gets harder… (Oh yea, almost forgetting, last week I read Cruzeiro was the club that brought the most fans to their games! This round Cruzeiro had the highest attendance in Brazil as well with 27,000, although the big derby Fla-Flu hasn’t been played yet do to the Pan American Games in Rio.)

Pre-game
Cruzeiro’s next opponent, after beating the second placed team, is last placed Náutico. Cruzeiro should win this game, but remember Cruzeiro have a habit of losing to smaller teams. It’s a game Cruzeiro should definitely win, especially because no player is out with a red card or accumulation of yellow cards for this game. D.J. (Dorival Júnior) will have a chance of repeating the same team with Cruzeiro for the first time in 43 games! Many are asking for the Offensive Quartet to stay, but D.J. may have other plans. A good victory here would help Cruzeiro’s goal deferential, if they don’t concede a goal. Cruzeiro though should be careful because after Nautico they must play São Paulo, and can’t risk losing players to suspension (we have been given 80 cards in total this year: 70 yellows and 10 reds!). After that we play Atlético Paranaense and Botafogo, two very good teams. What score do you predict? Is Cruzeiro going to go up or down in the standings (currently 8th)?