Football Explaination 101

Dále Vasco. This week the absurdly translated Bullet-Train from the Hill (A Trem Bala da Colina) beat Palmeiras 2-0 in the Copa Sudamericana and 1-0 in the Brasileirão. I make no secret about being a Vascaino and those who aren’t can’t figure out why, those that are nod their head in knowing appreciation of a shared sentiment (que não pode parar). A few people have asked me what these different tournaments are and how they all fit together. I’ll use Vasco as an example.

In 2011, Vasco da Gama will play in 4 different competitions, some simultaneously: Campeonato Carioca (divided into the Taça Rio and the Taça Guanabara), Copa do Brasil (which they won), Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A, and Copa Sudamericana.

The Campeonato Carioca is a three division competition that is restricted to professional teams in Rio de Janeiro State. All of the other Brazilian states have similar competitions. Teams move between divisions through the globally recognized and recognizable system of relegation and promotion (top teams in lower divisions move up, lowest teams in all divisions move down or out). When Vasco won the second division in 1922, América, Fluminense, Flamengo, Botafogo, and Bangu, formed a separate league so that they would not be forced to share the field with players from lower social classes who were challenging the false notions of amateurism and social exclusion. Rio had a apartheid system in football from 1923 until full professionalism was instituted in1933.

The Copa do Brasil is a playoff system between 64 teams that qualify by either winning their state leagues, being in the CBF’s (Brazilian Football Federation) top ten ranked teams, or by riding a pack of botos between Manaus and Belém. Vasco won this year’s tournament which automatically qualifies them for the Copa Libertadores next year, more on that later.

The Campeonato Brasileiro, or Brasileirão, is a four division affair that extends across the length and breadth of this great land. Vasco are playing in the Serie A for the second consecutive year (2010, 2011) after competing in the Serie B in 2009 (for having finished in 18^th place in 2008). Ironically, the trauma of going to SErie B might have been one of the best possible things for Vasco as they were able to get some of the dead wood from the previous administration out of the front office and the Rio fans, whatever their faults might be, certainly come to the aid of their team when they’re struggling. Vasco had the highest attendances of any team in Brazil in 2009.

Vasco is also in the Copa Sudamericana, and were randomly pitted against Palmeiras twice in the same week. Once for the Copa, once for the Brasileirão. The Copa Sudamerica is open to almost every team in the top flight of Brasilian footy. A top 14 finish qualifies. The bottom four drop out of the league so there are only two teams in the first division that don’t qualify for extra pay days with TRAFFIC Sports (who own the transmission rights to all South American continental matches). Why have less footy when you can just make up a reason for teams to fly all over the place to play 10pm Wed night games? Similar to the newfangled Europa League and the oldfangled UEFA Cup, no one really takes this Cup seriously until the semi-finals.

The 2012 Copa Libertadores beckons, and this is a much more serious matter. Like the UEFA Champions League this features the top teams from all the domestic leagues in CONMEBOL who play two round robin rounds before moving to a home and away knock out round where away goals count more than goals scored at home. That is to say that if Vasco were to play LDU to a 2-2 draw in Quito and also drew 1-1 at the São Januário, they would progress to the next round by virtue of more away goals scored. If they lost 3-1 away and won 2-0 at home, they would also go through. Got it?

The winner of the Copa Libertadores in 2010, Santos F.C., will dispute the World Club Championship with the other winners of the confederation tournaments. Usually this is a showdown between the European champion (Barcelona) and the South American. However, much to the delight of Gremistas, in 2010 Inter Milan won after beating Congo’s TP Mazembe who had shocked Internacional of Porto Alegre in the semi-final.

That more or less takes care of the club competitions. This scenario repeats itself around the world with variations here and there. In the USA, for instance, there is no system of promotion and relegation. This, in part, owes itself to an antiquated exception in the anit-trust laws that gives monopoly power to the “Major Leagues”, who are able to set significant barriers to entry in to their relatively closed circuits of capital circulation. In Argentina, when a major team gets relegated, they change the entire league structure. As the bosteros of San Lorenzo put it to River: cambiaran a las reglas cuando ibas a la B, la platea te regaló un teniente-coronel, vos sos asi, vos sos gallina, junto com Boca sos la mierda de Argentina!

Argentina x Korea

The irony of the name Soccer City is probably lost on FIFA. From the air, the stadium looks to be surrounded by nothing, a world apart, a huge bowl of money, a colorful tip jar sitting in isolation from the dichotomous reality of Johannesburg.  FIFA is an increasingly savage and rapacious beast, gnashing their teeth at the slightest provocation. During the Holland x Denmark match, twenty female Dutch fans were forcibly removed from the stadium because they were suspected of engaging in some kind of guerrilla marketing campaign, when in reality they were just trying to have some fun.  

Here in Brasil, the 2014 World Cup Local Organizing Committee, run by the mind-numbingly corrupt president of the Brasilian Football Federation (CBF) has decided that the Morumbi Stadium in São Paulo will not be used in the 2014 World Cup. The reasons were clear enough for anyone who has ever tried to go to a game there, but the final excuse was that São Paulo F.C. and the city couldn’t find a financing package for a project that had exploded from an initial estimate of R$136 million to R$630 million. The transportation and tourist infrastructures of São Paulo are in no condition to receive the Shiner Circus, much less the World Cup. The decision to exclude the Morubi could be a sign that logic is starting to enter the thinking of the 2014 LOC.

Argentina x Korea this morning had me up at 7am boiling water for mate and heating up some empanadas for the 8:30 kickoff.  Argentina were dominant but Korea were strangely slow and didn’t look to impose themselves on the game at all. This World Cup has been very strange in that regard. There are a few teams that it is impossible to try to play football against. If you try to play attacking football against Spain, Holland, Argentina, Germany, a loss is guaranteed. The best that Korea could hope for was a draw and they set out their stall to defend like the goal was the 38^th parallel, but Di Maria and Tevez used the space that Messi vacated and picked apart the Korean back line.

Messi was dropping into deep midfield positions to pick up the ball. In the absence of the injured J.S. Veron, Messi and Rodriguez provided the incisive passes to Di Maria and Tevez and Higuain. The latter was probably the worst player on the field for Argentina yet he ended up with a hat-trick. In the first fifteen minutes of the game, Higuain fell over when trying to control the ball and then blasted fifteen yards over inside the box.  His first goal (32^nd minute) was abetted by the Korean keeper, the second he was offside (and the easiest goal of his life), and the third was more due to the brilliant passing of Messi and Agüero. Higuain should have had six. The bad news (for Argentina) about the hat-trick is that it hides Higuain’s poor overall performance and means that Milito will not see the field.

The good news for Argentina was Di Maria’s first half performance, the loss of the Messidependencia of the Nigeria game, the improved organization of the midfield, Gutierrez’s improvement at right back (though he will miss the Greece game through card accumulation), and the massive improvement over the performance against Nigeria.

The bad news:  a very worrying injury to center-back Samuel, Di Maria’s disappearance in the second half, DeMichelis total lack of concentration as the first half was coming to a close, gifting the Koreans a goal. Also bad: Maradona’s inabilty to make tactical changes in response to changed tactics from the opposing manager. Korea were able to impose themselves much more in the second half and were very close to an equalizer on two occasions. Maradona was too slow to bring on Agüero, but when he did they scored two goals in ten minutes.

The Argentina commentators on DirecTv are brilliant, so much more pleasant than the burros at OGlobo. The final words of the game: Señores e Señoras, Argentina es candidato al título.

Dàle.

A Pantera de Santarém

Nas primeiras duas rodadas do Campeonato Paraense, a Federação Paraense de Futebol (FPF) interditou o estádio de São Raimundo F.C. de Santarém sem explicações. Duas semanas depois, sem modificar o estádio de jeito nenhum, o FPF liberou o Colosso do Tapajós para sedear um jogo da Copa do Brasil entre ‘A Pantera’ e Botafogo F.C. de Rio de Janeiro. O placar de 1 a zero à favor do time Amazônico deu uma alegria aos Santarémenses, até a semana seguiente. Devido a um protesto de Botafogo com a Confederação Brasileiro de Futebol (CBF), foi revelado que a FPF demorou mais que uma semana em registrar três novos jogadores de São Raimundo e decidiu anular o resultado insólito de São Raimundo. Mas não só isso. O time pequeno de interior do Pará que não mostrou respeito suficiente ao time famoso do Rio de Janeiro sofreu uma perda de seis (6) pontos! A partida de volta foi marcado pelo dia 11 de Março no Stadium Rio o estádio mais novo do Brasil (também conhecido como Estádio Olímpico, Estádio João Havelange, Engenhão, e o Fechadão). Com três pontos à menos entrando o campo, A Pantera precisava de ganhar no tempo regulamentário e depois ganhar os penalites.

Botafogo saiu na frente, a Pantera empatou. Botafogo de novo, dois a um. Logo depois um gol de São Raimundo anulado sem explicações. O juiz ficou com cara de pão, deixou tudo o mundo saber que a justiça futebolística não é cega. Botafogo marcou seu terceiro, e tudo o mundo anticipou a porrada, mais São Raimundo marcou de novo, três a dois, antes de Botafogo meteu seu quarto gol. São Raimundo, time lutador, fechou o placar 4-3. A Pantera não morreu de nem mostrou inferioridade ou provincialidade, só umas falhas graves na defesa revelavam a distância entre o campeão de Campeonato Brasileiro Serie D 2009 e o Botafogo de Garrincha que só salvou sua posição na Serie A na última rodada do ano passado.

No marcador global, os times empatavam 4-4, com três gols fora de casa para a Pantera. Se o PFP tivesse submetido os papeis dos jogadores o São Raimundo ia-ter eliminado a Estrela Solitária, por conta de gols marcados fora de casa.

Vemos aqui dois, talvez, três tipos de discriminação. O primeiro é a discriminação contra times do interior de Pará vendo de Belém. O PFP é controlado por dirigentes dos dois grandes times do capital, Remo e Paissandu. O Remo não está disputando nenhum campeonato nacional, enquanto o São Raimundo subiu a Brasilleirão Serie C. O Paissandu, há poucos anos, estava disputando a Brasileirão Serie A, mas caiu até o D. Historicamente o Remo e o Paissandu tenham sido os grandes representantes de futebol Amazônica em Brasil, porque Manaus (que receberá um estádio novo pelo Mundial 2014) não tem tradição futebolística nenhuma. O sucesso dos Santarémenses tanto na ultimo edição de Campeonato Paraense (vice-campeão), sua conquista de Brasileirão D e progresso inesperado na Copa do Brasil, deveria ter provocado um sabor amargo em Belém.

O segundo preguiço vem da CBF, que sempre programa as partidas de volta no estádio do time maior, onde só precisam de empate para passar. Essa situação favorece os grandes times de sul.

O terceiro tipo de discriminação é no futebol mesmo, onde o pito de juiz dirige tudo. Vemos na Copa de 2002 que Itália e Espanha foram eliminados de uma maneira exageradamente preguiçosa quando jogavam contra Coréia do Sul. Os Coreanos sobreviveram com pênaltis fracos, cartões vermelhos inventados, e foram deixados atuar numa maneira violenta em campo. O juiz em campo pode mandar tudo passar, ou não, como foi o caso de segundo gol de São Raimundo. Anular-o porque? Porque não dá por um time pequeno, de Serie C, do interior do interior, ganhar uma disputa contra o poderoso e histórico Botafogo, com seu estádio novo, com os seus dirigentes almoçando com os da CBF em Barra de Tijuca? O porque se o resultado tivesse sido 4-4, o juiz não queira trabalhar uma meia hora mais pelas cobranças dos pênaltis?

De qualquer jeito, esse comentarista tem um novo time de coração, apesar de que é impossível encontrar uma camisa oficial em Santarém.