New season

By: André | January 23rd, 2011

And I’m back! Too much work, too many classes, and now — after one month — I got tired of doing nothing during my summer vacation and decided it’s time to come back to this blog.

So, what’s new? Well, if you haven’t heard that Flamengo signed Ronaldinho, one might ask if you live on this planet. So, that is not exactly new, is it? The important thing is that we’re paying him a lot of money (around $1,000,000 a month), expecting him to give us back more than we’re spending on his wages and hoping that on the field he gets as close as possible to that good ol’ Dinho from way back — 2005/2006, to be more accurate.

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His first match will probably happen on Feburary 2nd but which team he’ll face is still uncertain. On this date, Flamengo are supposed to play against Nova Iguaçu but some say Nacional (Uruguay) are willing to pay Flamengo $600,000 to have the ‘Ronaldinho’s debut match’ and this game would happen on February 2nd. As I said, it’s still uncertain. What we know for sure is that he is already giving the team the financial return they expected, as for his first match the board is negotiating an one match only shirt sponsorship and they’re aiming for $300,000 (which, in my opinion, sounds a little low).

And who else did they sign? Vander, who came on a loan from Bahia and on the first matches of the season he’s proven to be a good deal. I myself haven’t seen a player adapting to our shirt so quickly like he did; Felipe, former Braga and Corinthians goalkeeper, who claims to be rubronegro, and sometimes is a great goalie. During the period he is not being a great goalie he’s just shit. Let’s hope that during his time spent at Gávea he keeps restrict himself to ‘being a great goalie’. Thiago Neves who scored a hat trick in the 2008 Copa Libertadores final, when he played for Fluminense. Despite having this huge problem, he is a good player and just needs to keep his mouth shut. Bottinelli, who appears to be a great player, but as I have seen playing for only a few minutes, I can’t comment.

And who left? Vanderlei Luxemburgo stated that Petkovic, Kleberson and Correa won’t be used on the first team. The last one, as he’s on loan from Dynamo Kyiv I suppose they will send him back to Ukraine. Now, about Pet and Kleberson, I have no idea… Their wages are big — Kleberson already said he doesn’t want to leave Flamengo to get paid less — and their contracts don’t end right now. Flamengo owe money to Pet and being one of our players is part of the deal to decrease the amount he has yet to receive. Pet’s contract ends 31st December 2011. Kleberson deal extends to 31st December 2012.

Has the season already begun? Yeah! Flamengo played two matches, winning both. The first was against Volta Redonda (2-0) and the second happened yesterday — against America-RJ — and the score was 3-1. During the pre-season, which took place in Londrina, Flamengo played twice, drawing the first match against the local team and beating América-MG in the second game (2-1).

Is there any problem with this team? Of course. And it continues to be the defense. We’ve playing without a good LB since Everton left to some insignificant Mexican side, and without good defenders since Fabio Luciano retired. Looking at the most likely starting eleven (Felipe, Leo Moura, Wellinton, David and Egídio; Maldonado, Willians, Bottinelli, Thiago Neves and Ronaldinho; and Deivid) it’s clear that we have a top class midfield, a good striker, an outstanding RB, a terrible LB and two poor defenders. Luxemburgo needs to focus on the defense now. We can’t let small teams score just like yesterday against America-RJ.

Is there anything else you want to tell us, André? Just a quick note. The U18 team qualified to the Copa São Paulo final — the closest to U18 Brasileirão we have — and will play against Bahia next Tuesday 10am local time. If you’re interested on watching great players who might become legends one day, turn on your TV (or click on your live streaming site) and watch these kids. They’re pretty nifty.

Is this all? Actually, no. I’ve been looking for someone to share the burden of writing about the World’s Greatest. I’m on vacation now but in a month I’ll be back to work and university so I won’t be to frequent as I’d like to be here. So, if you want to be my blogmate, apply here.