Brasileirão 2010 - Brazil's finest soccer

This is the 40th (or 41th according to some) + Show Spoiler + edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro (Brasileirão) and it looks more interesting than usual. Brasileirão is the most competitive of all national leagues in the world (considering only the most traditional countries) and the reason is very simple: out of the 20 teams, 14 won the league at least once, and IMO 4 stand for this year's trophy, with perhaps another 7 teams.

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Background - the CHAMPIONS

São Paulo (6 total) - 77, 86, 91, 06-08.
Flamengo (5 total) - 80, 82, 83, 92 and 09.
Corinthians (4 total) - 90, 98, 99 and 05.
Palmeiras (4 total) - 72, 73, 93 and 94.
Vasco (4 total) - 74, 89, 87 and 00.
Internacional (3 total) - 75, 76 and 79.
Grêmio (2 total) - 81 and 96.
Santos (2 total) - 02 and 04.
the following hold 1 title each: Atlético MG (71), Atlético PR (01), Bahia (88), Botafogo (95), Coritiba (85), Cruzeiro (03), Fluminense (84), Guarani (78), and Sport (87).

Last ten years (2000-2009): Vasco, Atlético PR, Santos, Cruzeiro, Santos, Corinthians, São Paulo (3x), Flamengo.
the fans from the state of São Paulo have all the reasons to be happy as they won half of the last ten year's leagues, especially São Paulo's three years of dominance (Santos and Corinthians being the other champions). The other major team from the state of São Paulo is Palmeiras, which still grieves over 09 league, after leading half of it only to slump hard in the last ten rounds or so. No one could say who would win. A recover from Palmeiras? São Paulo closes in and takes the lead, 4th league in a row? Internacional, Cruzeiro and Flamengo following the two leading teams? Or even the first half dominant team, Atlético MG? While Palmeiras slumped, Flamengo made an incredible come back and won the title in the last round, competing with four three other teams. It ended like this:


five points separates 1st and 5th place

But things aren't as good as they seem to be. The 2009 league left a lot of soccer fans disapointed. Upsets were common, as the top teams would lose to the mid and bottom teams - bad performances, bad³ performances, superb performance by the other teams, unluckiness; key players injuried or suspended; and the controversial decisions made by the referees. Although they are part of every league, these and other factors seemed more intense this time and made the Brasileirão 09 less beautiful, but not enough to belittle Flamengo's award.

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Brasileirão 2010


Ceará and Avaí: 2010's upsets?

with 5 rounds played (out of 38), Corinthians leads with 13 points (4 wins and 1 draw), followed by Ceara and Fluminense. Can't assume much based on these 5 rounds, it's too soon. However, the teams at the bottom will probably struggle until the league's end.

Who to look out for?

Corinthians, São Paulo and Internacional - currently these are the best teams overall. 2010 is Corinthians' centenary and they will do everything to win, as it's their last hope for a title this year and they have invested so much money. On the other hand, São Paulo always look strong for this league because they make little changes in their roster each season; the only problem is that they'll be facing Internacional in the Libertadores semifinals and their schedule will be tight. Internacional faces the same problem, plus they've kicked Jorge Fossati, despite his achievements in Libertadores 2010. These 3 stand out for their current rosters, the most important factor in the long run.

Santos - they play offensively, with beauty and grace. Many claim Santos to be the absolute favorite, but I don't think so. Although they scored so much this season, won the Campeonato Paulista 2010 (São Paulo state championship, the most prestigious state tournament in Brazil), and is close to win the Copa do Brasil 2010 (a national cup, figuring minor teams and with far less prestige than Brasileirão; also, the teams playing Libertadores don't play in this one), Santos have a lot of trouble when facing other strong teams. Their defensive system does not work so well as their offense, which is their major problem. Anyway, even now Santos is a strong candidate, imagine if they overcome their flaws.

Atlético MG, Botafogo, Cruzeiro, Flamengo, Fluminense, Grêmio and Palmeiras - these will be fighting for a spot to Libertadores 2011. Depending on how well their inevitable roster changes after the World Cup go, they might aim higher or be satisfied with a Sul-Americana 2011 spot (a far less important South American league compared to Libertadores, equivalent to what the UEFA Europa League, former UEFA Cup, is to UEFA Champions League). I'd say Atlético MG, Cruzeiro and Grêmio have better chances, but like I mentioned it will come down to how well they can manage their roster from now on. This in fact can be applied to the first 4 teams too, though less likely to happen. Roster changes occur because Brazilian teams have to sell their players to richer teams as a way to pay debts and due to the player's desire for even better life conditions; not to mention most good young players have their rights under groups of businessman, greedy in general. These are few of the many things that put Brazilian teams a level below the top Europeans.

Avaí and Ceará - it's been common in the first half for a less competitive team to surprise others. This year however, we have Avaí (with a good 6th spot last year) and Ceará (from last year's B league), and I have good expectations. I'd be very glad to see them performing good.

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After the World Cup, I hope the teams to recover from their slumps, if any, and or reinforce their team with better players to make an even better league.

Leave level of performance, skills, boring format and referees mistakes aside; even with so many difficulties for the teams,

which other major national soccer league is this balanced?

The championship have just begun and these predictions are probably very shallow. With that said, the purpose of this blog is only to give an idea of how competitive the Brazilian Soccer scene is.