Brazilian Futebol

News and opinion about Brazilian football (soccer).

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Cruzeiro hopes rivals can win

In Brazil, team rivalries are stronger within particular cities. Thus, someone who cheers for Flamengo will basically prefer any team to win but Vasco, Fluminense or Botafogo, the other big teams in Rio de Janeiro. In Sao Paulo, the rivalry is set for Corinthians, Palmeiras, Sao Paulo and, to a lesser extent, Santos. In Porto Alegre, it's Inter and Gremio. And in Belo Horizonte, it's Cruzeiro and Atletico Mineiro. rarely will you see someone from Atletico cheering for Cruzeiro, or vice-versa. This Wednesday might be one of these days, however.

Trailing sao Paulo by eight points, Cruzeiro travels to Caxias do Sul to play Juventude, hoping to get three points to close the gap to the leaders. Meanwhile, in Belo Horizonte, Cruzeiro's crosstown rivals Atletico face no one other than Sao Paulo. A win by both teams from Belo Horizonte would cut the lead to five points, with Cruzeiro still holding a game in hand. For Sao Paulo, a draw on the road will not be considered that bad.

The defending champion is worried about what may happen away from the pitch though, as the country's Sport Court signalled with the possibility of punishing the team for an incident during the game against Goias last month, in Goiania. Even though the game was not played at Sao Paulo's Morumbi Stadium, the court is saying that a Sao Paulo fan invaded the pitch and put the players and referees at risk. The team could be punished with the loss of up to ten home games, which would either be played at a neutral venue or with closed gates.

In other games in the 24th round of the Brazilian Serie A soccer league, Corinthians hosts America Natal with the moral obligation of getting the three points at home. Atletico Paranaense travels to Goiania to face Goias, while Flamengo is at home to Figueirense needing a win to get out of the bottom four. Santos will try to recover from the 2-0 loss to Corinthians when it plays Inter at home. Gremio tries to build on the 3-0 win over Botafogo playing another team from Rio in Porto Alegre: Vasco. Fluminense travels to Recife to face Sport, Parana is at home to Nautico and Botafogo hosts a shaken Palmeiras, which is still trying to understand how it lost to Cruzeiro 5-0.

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