Cruzeiro 3 - 0 Corinthians: Cruzeiro makes it six straight

By: AJ | August 27th, 2007

Corinthians played host to Cruzeiro on Saturday (apologies for the late report) and in front of 30,000 Corinthian fans Cruzeiro won 3-0.

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

Positions as of August 26, 2007
Team		Pts	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	São Paulo	44	21	13	5	3	29	7	22
2	Cruzeiro	38	20	12	2	6	47	35	12
3	Botafogo	37	21	10	7	4	41	29	12
4	Palmeiras	36	21	10	6	5	29	25	4
5	Vasco	35	20	10	5	5	35	21	14
6	Santos	33	21	10	3	8	33	27	6
7	Grêmio	32	21	9	5	7	21	21	0
8	Internacional	31	21	9	4	8	28	26	2
9	Goiás	30	21	9	3	9	29	28	1
10	Atlético-MG	28	21	8	4	9	31	30	1
11	Sport	28	21	8	4	9	33	36	-3
12	Paraná	27	21	7	6	8	24	26	-2
13	Fluminense	27	21	6	9	6	24	20	4
14	Corinthians	27	21	6	9	6	24	29	-5
15	Figueirense	25	21	6	7	8	30	35	-5
16	Flamengo	24	19	6	6	7	29	31	-2
17	Atlético-PR	23	21	5	8	8	30	30	0
18	Náutico	20	21	5	7	11	28	40	-12
19	Juventude	17	21	4	5	12	22	40	-18
20	América-RN	10	21	3	1	17	17	48	-31
Pts – points earned; G – games played; W - wins; D - draws; L - losses; GF – goals for; GA – goals against; GD – goal differential


	Team qualifies for both Copa Toyota Libertadores 2008 and Copa Nissan Sudamericana 2008
	Teams qualify for the Copa Toyota Libertadores 2008
	Teams qualify for the Copa Nissan Sudamericana 2008
	Teams relegated to Série B 2008
	Fluminense qualified for the Copa Toyota Libertadores 2008 by winning the Copa do Brasil 2007

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