The Brazilian championship, the Brasilerão as it is called, using the common suffix “ão” to indicate its importance, its weightiness – literally this could be translated “Big or Great Brazil” – will start on Saturday with three early matches, while the remaining seven games will be played on the Sunday. As in Argentina, in Brazil, all the teams are more or less on the same footing, even though, in recent years, the São Paulo and far-south teams have always battled it out for the title. At Sao Paulo, the largest city in South America, there are three well-known squads: Corinthians, Palmeiras and São Paulo. To these must be added Pelé’s old team, Santos, which is the port of São Paulo.In the beautiful town of Florianopolis (Santa Caterina) plays Figueirense. In the Rio Grande do Sul, the country’s southernmost state, are Internacional (recent winner of the Copa Libertadores) and Grêmio, which competed in the local derby of the city of Porto Alegre, and Juventude, which represents the town of Caxias do Sul. The best known teams of course are those of Rio de Janeiro: Flamengo, Fluminense, Vasco de Gama and Botafogo: teams that have made the history of Brazilian football. Always in the south, in the state of Paraná, taking part this year in the A league are Atlético Paranaense and Paraná, both from Curitiba.
In the state of Minas Gerais, historically fundamental for Brazil, we have the big match between Cruzeiro and Atlético Mineiro, the classic of Belo Horizonte, the state capital. At Goiania, there is Goiás, a team that is always competitive. Finally, of numeric importance are the teams of the Nordeste, Brazil’s poorest area: Náutico and Sport are from Recife, in Pernambuco, América is from Natal, in the Rio Grande do Norte, a place about to be “launched” on the tourist market.

The Brazilian championship has got off to an exciting start. In the most important match of the day, at the Maracanã, a Flamengo still reeling from being knocked out of the Libertadores was beaten by the Palmeiras of the usual fantastic Edmundo, former Napoli and Fiorentina. A couple of great wins from the other carioca squads (meaning from Rio de Janeiro): Vasco just got the edge over América at Natal, while Botafogo surprised Internacional at Porto Alegre 3-2. Fluminense also did well to recover a great draw with Cruzeiro. The other teams of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, whose nickname is gauchos, also did badly: Grêmio lost badly against Paraná, Juventude was overawed by Corinthians. Santos of Vanderlei Luxemburgo, one of the tournament favourites, lost the opening game against Sport at Recife, fielding just one regular player in view of the mid-week challenge of the Libertadores quarter finals with the Mexicans of América. Sport’s town rivals, Náutico, did much worse: they were defeated at Belo Horizonte by Atlético Mineiro. Figueirense took six goals at home from Atlético Paranaense, while in the other early Saturday match, Sao Paulo beat Goiás at the Morumbi stadium: the second goal – a penalty – was scored by the goalie-goleador Rogerio Ceni, a formidable penalty kicker.

The second day of the Brazilian championship clearly took second place with respect to an exceptional event: Romario scored his 1000th goal – a penalty, exactly like Pelé in the same situation, against Sport of Recife in the “São Januario” stadium, the facility of Vasco de Gama, the team in which Romario grew up and which for some time now has already withdrawn his number 11 shirt and is ready to build an enormous statue showing the “Baixinho” (the little one in Portuguese) to be located in front of its headquarters. Romario has played, and scored, everywhere in Europe, but also in Arabia, in the USA and in Australia. In Brazil, he has also played for Flamengo and Fluminense, Vasco’s city rivals, but the Vasco fans have always had a special place in their hearts for Romario and were lately rewarded when, notwithstanding generous offers from clubs all over the world, asking him to score the 1000th goal for them, the Baixinho chose Vasco, his home. Romario dedicated the goal to his family, of which he is very fond, especially after the birth of his fifth daughter, Ivy (who suffers from the down syndrome) who Romario calls his princess and who convinced him to take part actively in a series of meetings and events to help the associations who deal with this problem in order to try and cancel all prejudices regarding the illness. Romario is another Romario, now with a thousand goals as well.

FLAMENGO - BOTAFOGO 2-2

After the first three days, the Brazilian championship has produced the first big surprise: Paraná, the small Curitiba club is the only team with a full score thanks to a surprising win at Belo Horizonte against Cruzeiro - 4-3. The two big matches of the day were both draws: São Paulo and Palmeiras failed to score a single goal and put up a rather poor show altogether. Goals – two per side, on the other hand, as is traditional, for the Flamengo – Botafogo match, played at the Maracanã stadium. Draw for Vasco away to Nautico, while the other Rio squad, Fluminense, put up a great show to win 3-0, on Saturday at the legendary Rio stadium against Internacional, still with zero points in the championship. A great win for Santos at Curitiba against Atletico Paranaense: Luxemburgo’s team will be playing in the week in the Copa Libertadores, against another Brazilian club, Gremio, it too a championship-match winner (1-0 against Sport of Recife). Another big match, Corinthians – Atletico Mineiro, which involved two of the biggest supporter groups in Brazil, ended up a goalless draw. Big achievement for Goias against Juventude, while just one goal was enough for Figueirense to beat America of Natal.

PALMEIRAS - CRUZEIRO 1-3

The solitary record of Paraná did not last long in Brazil. As expected, it was beaten at home by São Paulo (penalty goal scored by the goalie Rogerio Ceni) and lost the championship lead in favour of the more famous Botafogo, which took advantage of Grêmio’s hangovers tied to the semi-final of the Libertadores and won by three goals. Draw with goals in the carioca classic between Vasco and Fluminense (various reserves were fielded in the Flu team in view of the Copa do Brasil match), with Romario’s team moving into third place in the championship together with Corinthians, stopped by Santos at Vila Belmiro. A great and surprising away win for Cruzeiro which beat Palestra Italia by three goals and moved the Palmeiras environment which is at less than three points from the top. Flamengo drew with Sport at Recife; same score (1-1) at Minerão between Atlético Mineiro and Atlético Paranense. Significant home wins for Figueirense over Goiás and for Juventude over América of Natal.

Table: BOTAFOGO 10 points, PARANA' 9, VASCO and CORINTHIANS 8, ATLETICO PR, SAO PAULO and PALMEIRAS 7, GREMIO and FIGUEIRENSE 6.

VASCO - GREMIO 4-0

The draw of championship leader Botafogo meant there is now a threesome at the top. Vasco, thanks to a goal from the immortal Romario (two goals for him) and bad performances from Gremio (which has its mind set on the Libertadores final), and Corinthians, making up ground against América of Natal, have now caught up with Botafogo and taken the lead, one point ahead of Parana. Curitiba’s squad played a great game to draw 4-4 against Nautico at Recife. Easy wins for Figueirense against Flamengo (4-0), for Fluminense against Sport and, away from home, for Goias against Atletico Paranaense. Important away wins for Atlético Mineiro against Sao Paulo at Morumbi and of Juventude against Cruzeiro at Minerao. After being knocked out of the Libertadores semi-final, Santos was beaten by Internacional, with a decisive goal from Alexandre Pato, the new talent of Brazilian football.

BOTAFOGO - NAUTICO 3-1

There are two main reasons why the Brazilian championship leader, Botafogo, has surged ahead: the first is that the historical team of Rio de Janeiro, coached by Cuca, is playing well. The other, quite simply, is the extra match: on Friday it played an early 12th round against Vasco and Botafogo won 4-0. The game was played during the week because of the Pan-American Games due to be staged in Rio. Between Saturday and Sunday, the sixth round was played and Botafogo won again 3-1 against Náutico, while Vasco was beaten by São Paulo at the Morumbi Stadium. Corinthians, who are just behind the leaders, drew 0-0 with Paraná. There were two away wins of the day, Cruzeiro beat Grêmio, busy preparing to make up lost ground in the second match of the Libertadores final against Boca, while Santos beat Juventude 2-0. Draws for Flamengo – Internacional (2-2), Atlético Paranaense – Fluminense (1-1) and Sport – America (2-2). Bad match for Palmeiras away to Goiás. Convincing win for Atlético Mineiro over Figueirense, 4-1.

Tabla: BOTAFOGO 17 puntos, CORINTHIANS 12, VASCO 11, ATLETICO 11, PARANA 11, SAO PAULO 10.

A half-day the one just played in the Brasilerao. Half-day because the championship leader, Botafogo and some of the teams close on its heels, starting with Corinthians, were unable to play because their matches were scheduled in a Rio de Janeiro that is preparing for the Pan American Games. The prestige victory of the day went to Sao Paulo, which beat Santos 2-0 at Vila Belmiro. Both teams have players engaged in the Copa America in Venezuela (Alex Dias, for Sao Paulo and Maldonado for Pelé’s former team) and what is more the Luxemburgo squad lost Zé Roberto, who returned to Europe to sign up with Bayern Munich.

A great win for Gremio in the Porto Alegre “derby” against Inter – at the Beira Rio stadium – and here too, star players Alexandre Pato and Lucas were absent, being engaged in the preparations for the under-20 world championship to be played in Canada. The other “classic” of the day was played at Belo Horizonte, between Cruzeiro and Atletico Mineiro and exciting moments were not lacking here either: the former were in front, 2-0 when they were caught up by Galo before scoring another two goals to win 4-2.
Palmeiras is still passing through a bad period and lost at home to Atlético Paranaense, while another away win, at Recife, against Nautico, put Goias up among the championship leaders, along with Parana, which beat Sport. Bottom position for America, beaten by Fluminense at Natal.

CORINTHIANS - PALMEIRAS 0-1

Despite the fact that competitions continue for national teams, the Brazilian championship goes ahead, with Botafogo always in the lead. On the last day, the team coached by Cuca beat Fluminense 2-1 in the classic derby match. Significant was the place where the match was played: the new stadium named after Joao Havelange, opened for the occasion and located in the Engenho de Dentro quarter (in fact the facility is also more simply known as “Engenho”) of Rio de Janeiro. Another game was played several kilometres to the south, at Curitiba: Paraná was forced to a draw (2-2) by Atlético Paranaense. A draw also for another team on the heels of Botafogo, São Paulo, stopped by Figueirense 0-0. Clear victory on the other hand for Goiás (3-0 against America) and second place to be shared with Paraná. Another classic match, historically one of the most important of the country, saw Palmeiras beat Corinthians, despite the fact that the “Verdão” had to play without some of its best men, engaged in the Copa America (Valdivia) and World Under 20 (David). “Derby” at Recife as well, with Sport thrashing its rivals Náutico. Cruzeiro beat Vasco 3-1 but the game was not as easy as it might appear from the score. Finally, draws between Internacional and Atlético Mineiro and between Grêmio and Santos.

Colombia - Brazil 0-0

Brazil -Ecuador 5-0 (2 Kakà, Elano, Ronaldinho, Vagner Love).

Table: SAN PAOLO 67 points, PALMEIRAS 54, CRUZEIRO 53, SANTOS 52, GREMIO 51, FLAMENGO 49, FLUMINENSE 48, FIGUEIRENSE 45, BOTAFOGO 45, ATLETICO PARANAENSE 45, INTERNACIONAL 44, VASCO 43, ATLETICO MINEIRO 43, NAUTICO 43, SPORT 43, GOIAS 41, CORINTHIANS 38, PARANA 34, JUVENTUDE 31, AMERICA 16

SPORT - SAN PAOLO 1-2

Classifica: San Paolo 70 punti, Santos 55, Palmeiras 55, Cruzeiro 54, Gremio 54, Flamengo 52, Fluminense 49.

VASCO - PALMEIRAS 2-2

CLASSIFICA: San Paolo 73, Santos 59, Cruzeiro 57, Flamengo 55, Palmeiras 55, Fluminense 55, Gremio 54, Botafogo 50, Atletico Paranaense 50.

Cruzeiro - Flamengo 3-1

Santos - Atlético Mineiro 2-2

FLAMENGO - SANTOS 1-0

CLASSIFICA: SAN PAOLO 76 punti, SANTOS 59, FLAMENGO 58, CRUZEIRO 57, PALMEIRAS 55, FLUMINENSE 55, GREMIO 54, BOTAFOGO 53.

São Paulo 1 x 0 Grêmio

Goiás 1 x 1 Corinthians

Peru - Brazil 1-1

Brazil - Uruguay 2-1