Brasileirão 2012

Abreu has just signed with Figueirense.

Yes Botafogo, who have had problems paying salaries on time in the past, have had to let some players go in order to sign Seedorf. I was somewhat surprised he'd go to the Fogao, considering their relative lack of success in recent years but they seemingly offered him the most.

Today Internacional announced that Diego Forlan is going to their club. He's only 33 and still has plenty to give so this is no retirement party for him. Plus he wants to be in good form for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Internacional are one of the best run clubs in Brazil and every year sell at least one player to help finance additional player acquisitions. I'd expect one or possibly both of Leandro Damiao and Oscar to now be sold. As both will be with Brazil's Olympic squad they will be in the shop window for European clubs.

I'm excited to see Forlan play in the Brasileirao. He should add a lot to Internacional although I do agree with autogol, one or both of Leandro Damiao and Oscar likely will be sold. But there still is plenty of other talent there to go along with Forlan. Unlike Seedorf, Forlan is going to a top club.

With their attention on the Libertadores, Santos have had a terrible start to the season and soon they'll lose Neymar, Ganso and Rafael for a month for the Olympics. To add to this Santos also just sold forward Borges, who has had a disappointing 2012, to Cruzeiro and lost their other forward Alan Kardec whose loan has ended and he returns to Benfica. They've also acquired two lesser known players, midfielder Joao Pedro who was last with Penarol in Uruguay and midfielder Bruno Peres from Serie B team Guarani. Neither are players who make me want to jump for joy! But in losing both Borges and Alan Kardec, Santos needs some forwards and they need to sign some soon.

Alejandro Martinuccio has left Villarreal and is going to Cruzeiro. Martinuccio an Argentine attacking midfielder, was a key player in the Penarol team which were runnerup to Santos in the 2011 Libertadores.

Sao Paulo have a new coach, Ney Franco, the coach of Brasil's U20 world cup winners in 2011. They also have a new centerback Rafael Toloi who arrives from Goias.

Flamengo have signed Paraguayan midfielder Victor Caceres from Libertad while German Herrera, who we reviously discussed was sold by Botafogo, is going to Emirates Club in the UAE.

Seedorf is a big signing because of his name and because he is a European but Internacional's signing of Forlan is I think even bigger news because he is not on his last legs like Seedorf. Forlan is the captain of Uruguay, the current Copa America holders. To me this is a huge signing for Inter specifically but also for Brazilian football in general.

In talking about trimming some players to make room for Forlan, my club Independiente are negotiating with Internacional over the Argentine defensive midfielder Mario Bolatti, who if he leaves would mean one less foreign player at Internacional, thereby opening up a spot for Forlan. With Forlan, Jesus Datolo and Andres D'Alessandro Internacional will have a great trio of foreign players.

So Forlan has played w/ Inter Milan & now for Internacional..Freakin' awesome or his just likes that name Remember he played for Independiente as well I know I know it means Independent, but still sounds alike

Neither Seedorf nor Forlan played for their clubs this past weekend but they were present in their respective stadiums as their clubs won. ironically both Leandro Damiao and Oscar, the players we discussed could be sold to make way for Forlan, each scored for Internacional in what should be their final game ebfore heading off to the Olympics.

Ronaldinho had a pretty solid game as Atletico Mineiro kept winning, today they defeated Portuguesa 2x0. Dida with a mistake in goal on one of Atletico Mineiro's goals as Galo (the roosters) stay in first place for another week.

Fluminense stay 2nd after they beat Flamengo 1x0 in another edition of the Fla-Flu derby. Thiago Neves nicely set up Fred for the lone goal but that was one of the rare highlights in an otherwise typical feisty derby.

Vasco remain 3rd despite their 1x1 tie with Figueirense, Diego Souza with the Vasco goal. Loco Abreu did not play for his new club Figueirense.

In 4th place is Sao Paulo who defeated Coritiba 3x1 as Coritiba's mind is on the Copa Brasil Final after they lost last week in the first leg of the Cup Final 1x0 to Palmeiras.

Santos finally won a match, beating Gremio 4x2, Felipe Anderson, one of the youngsters who will play a big role while Neymar and Ganso are away on Olympc duty, scored twice and Neymar, who had his best game of the Brasileirao season, also scored. Gremio got two late goals to make the score somewhat respectable. Following the match the clubs were involved in a trade as Santos sent away unhappy, and lately the unproductive, midfielder Elano to Gremio, with the forward Ezequiel Miralles going the other way. Well at least Santos has an experienced forward now. I have always liked Elano but the bottom line he is just not producing for Santos, hopefully a change of locale will help him.

Corinthians, still using subs even after their Libertadores win, could only draw this weekend 1x1 as Sport scored a late goal to tie the new South American champions who are 19th in the 20 team Brasilian league!

Elano was having an excellent World Cup until he was injured in one of Brasil's group games and missed the rest of the tourney, including their quarterfinal loss to the Netherlands, but he has not seemed the same player since. Any explanations for this?

There was some talk about a year ago that Elano was having a high profile affair with a woman who was not his wife and that these "personal problems" were effecting his play but now that he is no longer with either his now ex wife or the girlfriend his play has not changed for the better.

I am happy to see Sao Paulo doing well, especially after they fired the miserable Emerson Leao as coach!

Felipao, Luis Felipe Scolari, has his first title since winning the 2002 World Cup as Brasil's coach, last night his Palmeiras club became the champions of the Copa do Brasil after they drew 1x1 in Coritiba. Last week Palmeiras had won 2x0 at home. The 2nd year in a row where Coritiba lost the Copa do Brasil final playing the 2nd leg at home, last year they lost on away goals against Vasco.

Ayrton, with a nice free kick had put Coritiba in front but Betinho headed in a Marcos Assuncao free kick to tie the game and give palmeiras the title, the club's first major title since winning the 1999 Copa Libertadores. 13 years is a long time for a club of Palmeiras prestige to go without a title.

We discussed Seedorf and Forlan moving to Brasil in the European off season, looks like another big name player will be arriving soon too. Peru's forward Paolo Guerrero, currenty with Hamburg, is undergoing a medical at Corinthians. He'd be a big addition and give Timao what they have lacked, a consistent center forward.

I have always rated Felipao, Luis Felipe Scolari as an excellent coach & IMHO got a raw deal w/ CFC. True he wanted to shake things up there, but wasn't allowed to. One can see by the way he is working w/ Palmeiras if he is allowed control the results will come. BTW carioca, Felipão led Bunyodkor to become Champions in 2009.

Haha, thanks for that reminder, I guess I have not been keeping up with the Uzbek league!

I agree with you Felipao is still a good coach but his reputation had been damaged by his inability in recent years to get much out of his teams. But to their credit Palmeiras have stuck by him and now they have this Copa do Brasil title and a spot in next year's Libertadores. Now let us see what he can do with Palmeiras in the Brasileirao. Currently they are 18th in the league, just ahead of rivals Corinthians on goal difference, and are a full 14 points behind leaders Atletico Mineiro. Of course there still are 30 rounds of play remaining and Palmeiras, like Corinthians, were often using reserves, whil resting their starters for other competitions, the Libertadores for Corinthians, the Copa do Brasil for Palmeiras.

Flamengo are offering a big contract to Diego, the playmaker who Wolfsburgo loaned out last year to Atletico Madrid. The club see him as the big name signing they need to attract more sponsors and to help provide passes to Wagner Love. I think Diego, however, wants to remain in Europe.

Signing Paolo Guerrero would be huge news for Corinthians, Guerrero can play and is far from being over the hill, in fact he is in his prime. Apparently his fellow Peruvian, and reserve midfielder for Corinthians, Luis Ramirez played a big role in convincing him to sign with the club.

Damn, I don't like the idea of Paolo Guerrero at Corinthians. He will make them a better team. They also say they are keeping both Paulinho and Ralf, the heart of their midfield.

I am not optimistic about Flamengo acquiring Diego, Wolfsburg don't want to loan him, they want to sell him and Flamengo does not have the money to buy him and then pay him a big contract.

Paolo Guerrero and now Juan Manuel Martinez, a forward from Velez in Argentina, Corinthians are strengthening their team well.

Martinez has played some games for Argentina and would have played more except for the fact there are guys named Messi, Aguero, Higuain and Lavezzi also available for selection!

And the inevitable coaching changes continue, Paulo Roberto Falcao is out at Bahia replaced by Caio Junior, while Dorival Junior was replaced as Internacional's coach by Fernandao, until pretty recently a player at the club.

On the topic of Internacional, it looks like they are selling oscar to Chelsea in England. Of course Oscar is currently busy with Brasil's Olympic team, but a good player and the player internacional are sacrificing in order to accomodate the purchases of Forlan and Juan.