There are two storylines this week.
One will be played out on Wednesday when the remaining fixture of Round Three sees two of the teams with 100% records go head to head against each other. Sao Paulo travel to Atletico Mineiro at 20:50 local time in a tussle of third versus fourth, Minas Gerais versus Sao Paulo state.
For Mineiro, CSKA Moscow's former Brazilian pair Dudu Cearense and Daniel Carvalho line up alongside ex Inter / Serie A star Amantino Mancini and defender Leonardo Silva. Sao Paulo feature the talents of Lucas and Casemiro, up and coming stars of Brazil's next generation along with veteran legends, Rivaldo and captain Rogerio Ceni in goal. Sevilla's former striker Luis Fabiano also suits up for the 6-3-3 squadron as he hopes to become an integral scoring part of Sao Paulo's Serie A campaign. Both teams have six points from two games with the Belo Horizonte club boasting a healthy difference of +5, to edge into third place.
The other tagline of week three are the seemingly different fortunes of the two clubs from Santa Catarina. Avai, who have played in the top flight the last two seasons, finishing an impressive sixth in 2009 and a rather more modest 15th last year, are in free fall. They have lost three games on the trot, including their latest defeat, 3-1 away to Santos, on Sunday, to prop up the table with no points and eight goals in the red. Figueirense, promoted last season and back in the top flight for the first time since 2008, are flourishing, in contrast. They dispatched Atletico Goianiense 2-0 at home, to collect their second win in three games and sit in a very respectable sixth spot, above all four Rio clubs as well as both Santos and Internacional.
Saturdays other games saw Palemeiras beat Athletico Paranaense 1-0 at home with a late goal from Chico. Palmeiras are still unbeaten and have seven points from their three games. The situation for their opponents Atletico Go is looking desperate with their third straight defeat leaving them in 19th spot. A promising position in the top flight, built up over several seasons, looks about to unravel.
Santos bounced back from last weekend's reverse to Botafogo by beating Avai at home and now look to their Copa Libertadores final versus Uruguayan side Penarol. Striker Borges scored a double before Mauricio Alves replied for the visitors. The two legs of the final are on June 15th and June 22nd. Sao Paolo's remaining club, Corinthians, top the table at present with a 1-1 draw at Flamengo. Although they surrendered their perfect record, reaching the summit is decent enough consolation, having played the 2009 champions away from home.
Defending champions Fluminense beat Cruzeiro with a double from Rafael Moura and the Belo Horizonte club, boasting Copa Libertedores top scorer Wallyson, are now in some discomfort, sitting in the fourth relegation spot of 17th with just one point from three games.
Rio's other clubs fared much worse. Vasco Da Gama were brought down to earth in spectacular fashion losing 5-1 away to Coritiba, losing not only their perfect record but a large chunk of their healthy goal difference. For Coritiba, Anderson Aquino scored a hat trick. Meanwhile Botafogo drew their game with Ceara and will be glad to have gotten their trip to the Northern outpost out of the way early in the season. Vasco's loss was the all the more surprising given that it beat the same opponents in their Copa Do Brasil first leg at home the previous Wednesday. The result will be a massive boost for Coritiba who host Vasco in the final's second leg tomorrow.
Gremio and Internacional both won, ensuring a perfect weekend for the Porto Allegre clubs. Gremio, captained by ex Barcelona midfielder Fabio Rochemback got a double from Junior Vicosa to down Bahia. Internacional, the Catania of Brazil, have the most foreigners with four Argentines in Pablo Guinazo, Andres D'Alessandro (remember him from his time in Europe?), ex-Bordeaux star Fernando Cavenaghi and Mario Bolatti. Rounding out the foreign contingent is Uruguayan national team defender Gonzalo Sorondo. Inter scored an impressive 4-2 away win over America Mineiro with a double from striker Oscar supplemented by goals from Cavenaghi and D'Alessandro. Both clubs remain in midtable although on the up, with Gremio temporarily fifth.
As for America, they seem destined for a swift return to Serie B. Just one win out of three games and with Cruzeiro potentially climbing above them as the season progresses, they will hope to be the best of a bad bunch of teams, comprising themselves along with Avai, Bahia, Atleticos Paranaense and Goianiense, Ceara and Coritiba.
With Bahia the season is yet to ignite. Winless, having coneded seven times, the northern giants are stuck in 18th spot.
At the moment the Sao Paolo clubs are doing all the running and a pair of them topping the table with Corinthians in first and Palmeiras in second. The Rio clubs are still discovering their consistency with Vasco in seventh ahead of Fluminense and Flamengo in eighth and ninth respectively. But for Santos, and at least till the start of the Sao Paolo - Miniero game tomorrow, all Sao Paolo teams are unbeaten. In any case, Santos has been keeping one eye on their promising continental campaign, which they have reach the final of.
Anderson Aquino, with his three goal haul, joins Vasco's Bernardo at the top of the scoring charts. Dario Botinelli, Ronaldinho and Lucas are among a host of others with two goals each.
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- All three of the Sao Paolo clubs in action avoided defeat
- Both Porto Allegre clubs won
- Only one Rio club Fluminense won, with the other three picking up two points between them.
- Four teams are still winless in Avai, Atletico Paranaense, Bahia and Cruzeiro.
- Till Wednesday night's game, five teams are unbeaten with Corinthians, Palmeiras, Atletico Mineiro, Sao Paolo (in that order in the table) joined by Flamengo.
- Avai have conceded 10 goals already while Atletico Goianiense have only scored one.
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At least the top 12 sides will qualify for continental competition next spring while the bottom four teams will get relegated to the 2012 Serie B.
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Pending the midweek game, Internacional were the big winners with a 4-2 away over America while Coritiba's 5-1 home win over Rio giants Vasco was a massive shot in the arm which should help them go back up the table.
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Next up is the second leg of the Copa do Brasil which falls on the same day and is played at the same time as the Sao Paolo - Mineiro game. Vasco hold a healthy 1-0 lead from the first leg but surrendered a 5-1 defeat to their opponents in the league match on Sunday.
I predict Sao Paolo to edge Mineiro and Vasco to hold off Coritiba to hoist the Cup.
Next week is a an early season six-pointer that is a potential relegation battle as Avai take on fellow winless bottom feeders America Mineiro at home.
Porto Allegre plays Sao Paolo with Inter hosting Palmeiras and Sao Paolo playing Gremio at home. Having beaten Flamengo, table toppers Corinthians host the defending champions Fluminense while Santos travel to Cruzeiro, just days before their opening game against Penarol.
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