Campeonato Paulista A1 - Week 2

Mirassol 1-1 Catanduvense
Botafogo SP 2-1 XV de Piracicaba
Oeste 2-3 São Paulo
Ponte Preta 5-1 Bragantino
Paulista 3-0 Comercial
Linense 3-3 São Caetano
Palmeiras 1-1 Portuguesa
Guaratinguetá 0-2 Corinthians
Mogi Mirim 3-0 Guarani
Santos 2-1 Ituano

Two games into the season and only four teams remain with 100% records after two games. São Paulo and Corinthians you would expect, but the other two are Paulista and Mogi Mirim. São Paulo has to come from a goal behind to help secure their victory at Oeste while Corinthians had a much easier time of things down at Guaratinguetá where two first half goals from Chicão and Alessandro saw the Muskateers home. An early goal from Hernane set Mogi Mirim on their way to a 3-0 victory over promoted Guarani. Another side new to the top flight, Comercial, were easily dispatched by Paulista with Chiquinho's last minute goal putting the icing on the cake of another 3-0 victory.

With Oeste, Comercial and Guaratinguetá still waiting to pick up a point this season, the other team yet to make an impression on the league table is Bragantino. They ended up on the back of a 5-1 defeat at Ponte Preta, who bounced back from their weekend defeat although three goals in the final three minutes made the scoreline a little lop sided. A still under strength Santos were another side to pick up their first win of the season but they needed a last minute Alan Kardec goal to defeat Ituano at the Vila. Botafogo SP were the other side to get their first win of the season when they defeated promoted XV de Piracicaba. Gustavo Bastos with the winner nine minutes from time.

At the Pacaembu, Palmeiras needed a Ricardo Bueno goal nine minutes from time to rescue a point after Portuguesa had gone ahead four minutes after the break through Maylson. Catanduvense picked up their first point at the season at Mirassol. Sergio Manoel put the home side ahead with nine minutes gone but Washington levelled fifteen minutes later. Finally the highest scoring game of the week was at Linense where the home side came from behind twice in an exciting 3-3 draw with São Caetano. The visitors were two up inside eighteen minutes before Éder Marcelo levelled for Linense five minutes after the break. Carlos Silva put São Caetano ahead again half way though the second half but Fabio Santos squared matters four minutes later but neither team could find a winner.

Week three takes place this weekend and they line up like this

São Paulo x São Caetano
Oeste x Mirassol
Portuguesa x Guaratinguetá
Botafogo SP x Comercial
XV de Piracicaba x Bragantino
Corinthians x Linense
Catanduvense x Palmeiras
Paulista x Santos
Guarani x Ituano
Mogi Mirim x Ponte Preta

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Campeonato Carioca 2012

With the Paulista kicking off this weekend the action also gets underway in the other of the state leagues we cover in Brazil. The Campeonato Carioca. The 111th edition kicks off this Saturday afternoon with Flamengo looking to defend both the Taça Guanabara and the Taça Rio.

The sixteen clubs are split into two groups with the Big 4 in Rio, Vasco da Gama, Flamengo, Botafogo and Fluminense seeded so two are in each group. Friburguense return to the top flight after a 12 month absence and they take their place in Group B while Bonsucesso also come into the top flight and they will play in Group A.

The format of the competition is unchanged. The teams are drawn into two groups with the big four seeded two to a group. The first stage is the Taça Guanabara where all the teams play a single round robin against the teams in their group, giving seven games. The top two in each group meet in a single game semi final with a group winner playing the opposite group runner up, which if level goes straight to penalties, before a single game final which again goes to penalties after 90 minutes.

The second stage is the Taça Rio, for this the clubs play every team in the opposite group giving a total of 8 games. As with the Guanabara the top two in each group meet in a single game semi final with a group winner playing the opposite group runner up, which if level goes straight to penalties, before a single game final which again goes to penalties after 90 minutes.

If a team wins both stages, as happened last year with Flamengo, they are automatically crowned state champions and the need for the play off is not required. Otherwise the winners of the Taça Guanabara and Taça Rio meet over two games at the Engenhão with the winners over the two games being crowned State champions.

The Big Four normally fill the play off spots but Boavista surprised everyone last year by making the Taça Guanabara final while Olaria pipped Botafogo to a place in the Taça Rio Semi Finals. This year though things could be a bit different with three of the big four, Botafogo being the exception, have the Copa Libertadores to contend with. Flamengo still have to get through the qualifying stage which starts the week following the opening fixtures. Fluminense and Vasco da Gama have qualified directly in the group stage so their distraction is a possibly great than that of Flamengo.

So the action gets underway this weekend and we'll have a round up of things on Monday

The opening fixtures are

Olaria x Nova Iguaçu        
Madureira x Macaé        
Fluminense x Friburguense        
Flamengo x Bonsucesso
Boavista x Duque de Caxias
Vasco da Gama x Americano        
Bangu x    Volta Redonda        
Botafogo x Resende

2011 Craque do Brasileirão Awards

The annual awards ceremony took place at Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro on Monday to celebrate the achievements of the 2011 Brasileirão season. The ceremony is run in conjunction by the CBF and media outlet Globo.

Here is who won what

Player of the Year: Neymar (Santos).

Leading scorer: Borges (Santos) with 23 goals

Craque da Galera: Dedé (Vasco da Gama)
This award is voted for by a fan vote and Dedé got 46% of that vote

Best Newcomer: Wellington Nem (Figueirense)

Coach of the Year: Ricardo Gomes/Cristóvão Borges (Vasco)

Referee of the Year: Leandro Vuaden

Team of the year 4-4-2 (apparently)

Goalkeeper: Jefferson (Botafogo)
Right Back: Fagner (Vasco da Gama)
Centre Back: Dedé (Vasco da Gama)
Centre Back: Réver (Atlético-MG)
Left Back: Bruno Cortês (Botafogo)
Midfield: Ralf (Corinthians)
Midfield: Paulinho (Corinthians)
Midfield: Diego Souza (Vasco da Gama)
Midfield: Ronaldinho Gáucho (Flamengo)
Forward: Neymar (Santos)
Forward: Fred (Fluminense)

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