In other Estaduais today, Atl-MG lost to América-MG. But it was 2x1, and not enough to overcome the first leg deficit. Atlético advance and the final will be Atlético-MG vs. Cruzeiro.
Santos pulls through on PKs. SFs are set. Santos x Bragantino Palmeiras x Novorizontino Palmeiras x Santos would be a fair final.
Looking back at the Carioca, the Botafogo x Fluminense game was really huge. Fluminense should have won, or at least tied, which would have made the semis Fluminense x Nova Iguaçu and Vasco x Flamengo. Because Fluminense fell to fourth, they had to face Flamengo. Sure, Nova Iguaçu could have upset Fluminense, but I have to think the outcome would have been different then and we would have had a Fla x Flu final again. For Nova Iguaçu, it's their first state final ever. In the Paulista, Santos sneak through on PKs, but that's still Corinthians out of the top 8 and São Paulo out of the top 4. Big year for the minnows in both states.
Carpini has already experienced being insulted by the fans, and one does wonder how long the political capital he earned early on will last. Being eliminated in the Campeonato Paulista to a team from the interior isn't a good result by any means, but hopefully Carpini will be pragmatic and make adjustments. With this year's state tourrnament now over for SPFC, it's the Campeonato Brasileiro and the Libertadores - two extremely difficult tournaments which leave little room for error.
Atlético-MG and Scolari have parted ways. https://ge.globo.com/futebol/times/...-e-tem-pressa-na-busca-por-novo-tecnico.ghtml I thought about posting this in the Brasileirão thread. But even though they've underwhelmed, Atlético are in the final of the Campeonato Mineiro. I'm sure a big reason for this timing is to get someone before round 1 of the Brasileirão.
Leila's plane pinching in to get Palmeiras' players back in time for Thursday's semi-final, including Rios: https://ge.globo.com/futebol/times/...ra-para-reforcar-palmeiras-na-semifinal.ghtml
Santos are in the Paulistão final after beating Bragantino 3x1 Palmeiras plays Novorizontino tomorrow to determine the other finalist. The final will be played Sunday Mar 31 and April 7 Meanwhile, some other regional tournaments continued during the international break, most notably the Campeonato Gaúcho. Grêmio beat Caxias 3x2 yesterday. They went up 3x0, had a player sent off for a high boot to the face and gave up 2 second half goals, but held on (they also won the first match). Inter were the big news though as they were eliminated after two draws with Juventude. They lost on PKs when Robert Renan tried a "cavadinha" (panenka) on the 7th shot and was saved.
Another match, another Endrick goal Palmeiras 1x0 Novorizontino Paulistão final will be Santos x Palmeiras over the next two Sundays. Brutal schedule coming up for Palmeiras though: Sun - Paulistão final Wed - Libertadores Sun - Paulistão final Wed - Libertadores then the Brasileirão starts with 3 matches in 8 days (Sun/Wed/Sun basically, though the exact days are still TBC).
Santos takes the 1st leg 1 x 0. Another really sub par performance from Palmeiras. Low energy, square passes ... nobody played well. Sometimes I think Abel, considering the schedule of games coming up, sends the team to play at 70% and try to just get a draw. That's what it felt like yesterday. endrick was subbed early in the 2nd half. He the ball with space near the top of the box where he could have just cleared to the left and taken a good shot but instead chose to pass the ball to an overlapping Mayke. Made no sense. It's clear the leg is still bothering him. Instead I had to watch Rony take a 35m+ shot and Richard Rios take wild shots from poor positions. I think we will still turn this around in the 2nd leg.
I understand Abel's frustration though, like I said above, the schedule is ridiculous. Two days in between Paulista semis and final and two days before the Libertadores debut in Argentina. Flamengo also only has two days to train before the Libertadores, but at least they didn't have a semi on Wednesday or Thursday. Of course, Flamengo's final was also the easier one, even if it took an iffy PK to open the scoring. The other major state finals all had upsets this weekend. Cruzeiro came back to tie Atlético-MG 2x2. Maybe not an upset since Cruzeiro had the better campaign, but of course on paper Atlético-MG should be winning this one. Now they have to win away. Grêmio drew Juventude 0x0. And Bahia, after opening up a 2x0 lead, lost 3x2 to Vitória. Rogério Ceni's explanation is that he doesn't have the tools on the bench to keep the same playing style or rhythm after subs come on. It's the second loss to Vitória so far and they'll play once more for the second leg of the final and twice in the Brasileirão.
Flamengo almost ended on a 0x0 draw, but got a Bruno Henrique goal late in the second to win the second match as well. All the estaduais are over! Atlético-MG won 3x1 to take the Mineiro. Grêmio won yesterday, 3x1, over Juventude. Athletico-PR beat Maringá. Vitória tied Bahia to hold on to the title after winning the first match last week. And with that... the Brasileirão begins next Saturday: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/brasileirão-2024.2129609/
Flamengo, Atlético-MG, Grêmio, Palmeiras have all won their respective state tournaments. Flamengo had it in the bag after winning the first match 0-3 away at Nova Iguaçu. The first of Tite's titles at Flamengo, and I don't think Tite will fail to win other tournaments with the Rubro-Negro. Atlético-MG wins 1-3 de virada over Cruzeiro in a Mineirão with only Cruzeiro fans. Galo wins a fifth consecutive state title. Grêmio with a 3-1 win at home over Juventude; this is Grêmio's 7th consecutive state championship win. Looks like Renato Portaluppi still knows how to get the most of players. Palmeiras, lastly, wins 2-0 at home over Palmeiras. Abel Ferreira's 10th title with the Academia. It's not a surprise and probably not a coincidence that these 4 state champions are all in the Libertadores. And while Grêmio lost in the altitude of Bolivia while Flamengo and Palmeiras drew while Atlético-MG won by goleada, these teams will now bring all they can to achieve continental glory. It seems not much has changed for 2024 - Flamengo and Palmeiras are the best, closedly followed by Atlético-MG. But Scarpa is now with Atlético-MG!.... and that could make a difference. Congratulations Ombak and Celito.