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Brasileirao June 2011
Brasileirão 2011; Sao Paulo clubs steal a march
Paul Tobitt
The three teams from the biggest city in Brazil occupy the first three positions in the table. São Paulo, Palmerias and Corinthians. Naturally, one cannot read too much into the league table as it stands with thirty three rounds left but there are some early indications as to who will be the teams to catch.
Quietly, efficiently and perhaps rather fortuitously, São Paulo find themselves four points clear of Palmerias after gaining maximum points from the first five games. The attacking midfielder, Lucas has been particularly impressive and has been rewarded with a call up to the seleção who will play in the Copa America in Argentina. It´ll be interesting to see how São Paulo cope without him and also how they measure up to some of the bigger teams when they meet up. Arguably, their first major test of the season comes on Sunday when they will take on an in form Corinthians side .
Big Phil Scholari has not lost the knack of turning out well organised and competitive sides. Palmerias have managed to gain 11 points thus far and last weekend Avaí were on the end of a 5-0 drubbing. Kleber, the striker is surely a key factor in how much Palmerias achieve this season. Flamengo have expressed their interest in signing him but much will depend on the financial details of any offer. One can only wait to see what the outcome is of what is likely to become an ongoing soap opera.
Uninspirational Ronaldinho
If one is to highlight the dominance of the SP clubs one must also call attention to the inauspicious start to the season that Flamengo are experiencing. They are of course unbeaten and have faced both Corinthians and Botafogo but after winning just seven points they are in fact only a couple of places above the relegation zone.
The question is will they be able to turn some of these draws into wins? In a league where draws have been scarce and only one nil nil has been recorded Flamengo would be sitting higher up the table if they had won three and lost two. Ronaldinho has not been able to influence any of the games substantially and has often drifted in and out of the play. At times, some of the passing has been neat but they have failed to create enough scoring opportunities.
One bore draw so far
A curious statistic after 50 games is that only one has finished goalless. It took five weeks to happen and involved Flamengo who are until now specialists in the art of sharing a point. The feeling is that teams are in general shaping up to be offensive and perhaps they are better drilled, especially in the art of counterattacking. Naturally this is something that can be better analyzed further into the campaign. But the smaller clubs are most definitely aware that an average of a point per game in this league will send them down.
Like the title, top goalscorer is anyones guess
Last year, Jonas who played for Gremio scored 23 goals throughout the season and was subsequently sold to Valencia. Who are players that are likely to shine this year in a league where genuine top quality strikers look thin on the ground. Both Luis Fabiano and Adriano have a lot of experience between them but how well they can recover from their respective injuries remains to be seen. Adriano's return to football with Corinthians is not due for at least another couple of months. However one player who has impressed playing for the same team is Willian. He has scored on three occasions thus far and has looked sharp and shown some real quality in finishing.
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