(R) Copa do Brasil final & end of Brazilian season
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rec.sport.soccer on Wed Dec 15 22:00:46 2021
On Dec 12th, from Mineir|uo, Belo Horizonte:
Atl|-tico Mineiro 4-0 Athletico Paranaense
On Dec 15th, from Arena da Baixada, Curitiba:
Athletico Paranaense 1-2 Atl|-tico Mineiro
Thus the Brazilian season comes to a close, with Atl|-tico Mineiro winning Copa do Brasil for a second time.
They have won the league and their local state championship too, so that
makes for a national treble. The first since 2003, which incidentally was
won by their rivals Cruzeiro. Indeed, the season could have been a complete sweep, but after eliminating both Boca and River, Galo fell to Palmeiras in
the Libertadores semifinals after two draws, on the away goals rule, which
has now been abolished by Conmebol. Nonetheless, a dream season for them.
Best team in Brasil at the moment and deserved winners of all the silverware they've piled up.
Brazilian clubs were rather dominant on the international front, with both Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana finals being closed all-Brazilian affairs. Palmeiras beat Flamengo for their third Copa Libertadores trophy, while Athletico Paranaense defeated RB Bragantino in Copa Sudamericana, their second title of the competition, both games held at Estadio Centenario in Montevideo. Palmeiras lost Recopa Sudamericana to Defensa y Justicia, though. In this season, Atl|-tico Mineiro, Flamengo and Palmeiras set themselves a class apart from the rest. One only needs to look at the goal differences to figure that out, and all that while making deep runs in Copa Libertadores.
In the last three seasons, any one of these teams took home two of the three big trophies available: the league and Copa Libertadores (Flamengo 2019),
the cup and Copa Libertadores (Palmeiras 2020) and now the league and the
cup (Atl|-tico 2021). No doubt they are the teams to beat in Brasil nowadays. We'll have a few Brazilian debutants in Copa Libertadores 2022. Even though they somehow finished with a negative goal difference, Fortaleza always hovered near the top spots of the table and clinched a spot for the competition for the first time ever. Heads up for Argentinian manager Juan Pablo Vojvoda
in his first job in Brasil. Another step up for Bragantino too on their third season powered by Red Bull; on the first they were promoted to Serie A, on
the second they got a top half finish and qualified to Copa Sudamericana,
and now they make it to Copa Libertadores, pipping out Fluminense from the group stage in the last round. And Am|-rica Mineiro, whose first division expeditions used to be brief and painful, qualified to the preliminary round. Corinthians, Athletico Paranaense and Fluminense complete this very large
set of qualifiers to the continent's main cup.
In the bottom half of the table, Cuiab|i not only survived, but clinched
the last Copa Sudamericana spot (Conmebol's generosity towards Brasil and Argentina weaves its magic again). Chapecoense, who came up in 2020 as
Serie B champions, had an absolutely disastrous season and were relegated
with record advance notice, with the worst ever Serie A campaign since it became a double round robin, in 2003. And Juventude saved their skins on
the last round, thus pipping down to Serie B both Gr|-mio and Bahia.
Gr|-mio's relegation was the biggest surprise, as they had a very expensive squad which was expected to do battle at the other end of the table. And,
with hindsight, the mother of all ironies: had they won the derby in Round 30, then all else held equal, they'd have saved themselves and Inter would have gone down instead... I'd hazard a guess that colorados deeply appreciate
that fact.
Serie A Final Table
[games, wins, draws, losses, goals scored-goals conceded, points]
1 Atl|-tico Mineiro 38 26 6 6 67-34 33+ 84 Champions, Cup winners, Copa Libertadores group stage
2 Flamengo 38 21 8 9 69-36 33+ 71 Copa Libertadores group stage
3 Palmeiras 38 20 6 12 58-43 15+ 66 Copa Libertadores group stage (Copa Libertadores'21 winners)
4 Fortaleza 38 17 7 14 44-45 1- 58 Copa Libertadores group stage
5 Corinthians 38 15 12 11 40-36 4+ 57 Copa Libertadores group stage
6 RB Bragantino 38 14 14 10 55-46 9+ 56 Copa Libertadores group stage --------------------------------------------
7 Fluminense 38 15 9 14 38-38 0 54 Copa Libertadores preliminary round
8 Am|-rica Mineiro 38 13 14 11 41-37 4+ 53 Copa Libertadores preliminary round
--------------------------------------------
9 Atl. Goianiense 38 13 14 11 33-36 3- 53 Copa Sudamericana
10 Santos 38 12 14 12 35-40 5- 50 Copa Sudamericana
11 Cear|i 38 11 17 10 39-38 1+ 50 Copa Sudamericana
12 Internacional 38 12 12 14 44-42 2+ 48 Copa Sudamericana
13 S|uo Paulo 38 11 15 12 31-39 8- 48 Copa Sudamericana --------------------------------------------
14 Ath. Paranaense 38 13 8 17 41-45 4- 47 Copa Libertadores group stage (Copa Sudamericana'21 winners)
--------------------------------------------
15 Cuiab|i 38 10 17 11 34-37 3- 47 Copa Sudamericana --------------------------------------------
16 Juventude 38 11 13 14 36-44 8- 46 --------------------------------------------
17 Gr|-mio 38 12 7 19 44-51 7- 43 Relegated to Serie B
18 Bahia 38 11 10 17 42-51 9- 43 Relegated to Serie B
19 Sport 38 9 11 18 24-37 13- 38 Relegated to Serie B
20 Chapecoense 38 1 12 25 27-67 40- 15 Relegated to Serie B
Given the set of relegated teams, much ink has began to be spilt about how "heavyweight" Serie B 2022 will be. By my count, it's one Intercontinental
Cup, six Copas Libertadores, one Champions Cup, one Copa Sudamericana, 14 league titles and 14 Copas do Brasil between Gr|-mio, Bahia, Sport, Chapecoense,
Guarani, Vasco da Gama, Cruzeiro and Crici||ma.
For what it's worth, you could do a similar calculation for the 2021 season too, yet Botafogo was the only heavyweight to earn promotion. Vasco never
once set foot in the promotion zone, while Cruzeiro barely even showed up
in the upper half of the table. In the end, three of the four teams that came down in 2020 bounced right back up.
I don't think any of this actually means anything in terms of quality of play. It should be a competitive league, because there is a lot less disparity in TV rights distribution, but not necessarily a good one.
Serie B Final Table
[games, wins, draws, losses, goals scored-goals conceded, points]
1 Botafogo 38 20 10 8 56-31 25+ 70 Promoted to Serie A
2 Goi|is 38 17 14 7 48-31 17+ 65 Promoted to Serie A
3 Coritiba 38 18 10 10 49-35 14+ 64 Promoted to Serie A
4 Ava|! 38 18 10 10 44-35 9+ 64 Promoted to Serie A --------------------------------------------
5 CSA 38 18 8 12 48-33 15+ 62
6 Guarani 38 16 12 10 54-41 13+ 60
7 CRB 38 16 12 10 47-39 8+ 60
8 N|iutico 38 14 11 13 50-50 0 53
9 Vila Nova 38 12 15 11 35-36 1- 51
10 Vasco da Gama 38 13 10 15 43-52 9- 49
11 Ponte Preta 38 12 13 13 39-40 1- 49
12 Oper|irio 38 13 9 16 35-46 11- 48
13 Brusque 38 13 9 16 44-56 12- 48
14 Cruzeiro 38 10 18 10 42-44 2- 48
15 Sampaio Corr|-a 38 12 11 15 41-42 1- 47
16 Londrina 38 11 11 16 31-41 10- 44 --------------------------------------------
17 Remo 38 11 10 17 31-42 11- 43 Relegated to Serie C
18 Vit||ria 38 8 16 14 31-32 1- 40 Relegated to Serie C
19 Confian|oa 38 9 10 19 35-48 13- 37 Relegated to Serie C
20 GE Brasil 38 4 11 23 23-52 29- 23 Relegated to Serie C
In the lower divisions, former cup winners Crici||ma are back to Serie B. Ituano are back too, after a long while away (they were relegated from
it in 2007). Novorizontino (a successor club of a former one with the
same name) and Tombense will make their debuts. At the lower end of the
table, Paran|i and Oeste, who were relegated from Serie B last season,
take the express train towards the basement division. And Santa Cruz,
ten years after escaping it, will now have to face again the same fate. Divisional movements:
A to B: Gr|-mio, Bahia, Sport, Chapecoense
B to A: Botafogo, Goi|is, Coritiba, Ava|!
B to C: Remo, Vit||ria, Confian|oa, Brasil de Pelotas
C to B: Ituano, Tombense, Novorizontino, Crici||ma
C to D: Jacuipense, Santa Cruz, Paran|i, Oeste
D to C: Aparecidense, Campinense, ABC, Atl|-tico Cearense
Geographical spread:
In the 2022 season, the four divisions will have a total of 124 clubs
playing in them, 20 in each of Series A, B and C and 64 in Serie D (62 of which are already known). These 122 teams come from 88 different cities,
which add up to an estimated population of 61 million people from every
state in Brasil.
Serie A will be played by teams from 12 cities (estimated total population
of 31.6 M) from 9 states. Serie B teams come from 17 different cities,
which add up to about 22 M people, from 11 states. Serie C clubs hail
from 17 cities (estimated population of 16.2 M) from 13 different states.
Serie D, the "access" division (non-league clubs join it by doing well
enough in their respective state leagues or cups), has 62 of its 64 participants already known. These come from 60 cities, towns and villages
all over the country and their total estimated population is about 29.2 M.
16 of the 88 cities have teams in more than one division, so adding up
the divisional "populations" won't equal the actual total population represented. The cities with most teams represented, with 5 clubs each,
are Rio de Janeiro (3 in Serie A, 1 in Serie B and 1 in Serie D) and
Fortaleza (2 in Serie A and 3 in Serie C).
Palmar|-s:
Adjusting the numbers to count Atl|-tico's league and cup titles, here is
what the distribution of national titles now looks like, adopting CBF's criteria:
"leagues" = Campeonato Brasileiro (1971-2020) + Ta|oa Brasil (1959-1968) + Torneio RGP (1967-1970)
"cups" = Copa do Brasil (1989-2020)
1 Palmeiras 14 (10 leagues, 4 cups)
2 Corinthians 10 (7 leagues, 3 cups)
Flamengo 10 (7 leagues, 3 cups)
Cruzeiro 10 (4 leagues, 6 cups)
5 Santos 9 (8 leagues, 1 cup)
6 Gr|-mio 7 (2 leagues, 5 cups)
7 S|uo Paulo 6 (6 leagues)
8 Fluminense 5 (4 leagues, 1 cup)
Vasco da Gama 5 (4 leagues, 1 cup)
10 Internacional 4 (3 leagues, 1 cup)
Atl|-tico Mineiro 4 (2 leagues, 2 cups)
12 Bahia 2 (2 leagues)
Botafogo 2 (2 leagues)
Sport Recife 2 (1 league, 1 cup)
Ath. Paranaense 2 (1 league, 1 cup)
16 Coritiba 1 (1 league)
Guarani 1 (1 league)
Crici||ma 1 (1 cup)
Juventude 1 (1 cup)
Paulista 1 (1 cup)
Santo Andr|- 1 (1 cup)
Distribution by city:
1 S|uo Paulo 30 (3 clubs, 23 leagues, 7 cups)
2 Rio de Janeiro 22 (4 clubs, 17 leagues, 5 cups)
3 Belo Horizonte 14 (2 clubs, 6 leagues, 8 cups)
4 Porto Alegre 11 (2 clubs, 5 leagues, 6 cups)
5 Santos 9 (1 club, 8 leagues, 1 cup)
6 Curitiba 3 (2 clubs, 2 leagues, 1 cup)
7 Salvador 2 (1 club, 2 leagues)
7 Recife 2 (1 club, 1 league, 1 cup)
9 Campinas 1 (1 club, 1 league)
9 Santo Andr|- 1 (1 club, 1 cup)
9 Jundia|! 1 (1 club, 1 cup)
9 Caxias do Sul 1 (1 club, 1 cup)
9 Crici||ma 1 (1 club, 1 cup)
Distribution by state:
1 S|uo Paulo 42 (7 clubs, 32 leagues, 10 cups)
2 Rio de Janeiro 22 (4 clubs, 17 leagues, 5 cups)
3 Minas Gerais 14 (2 clubs, 6 leagues, 8 cups)
3 Rio Grande do Sul 12 (3 clubs, 5 leagues, 7 cups)
5 Paran|i 3 (2 clubs, 2 leagues, 1 cup)
6 Bahia 2 (1 club, 2 leagues)
6 Pernambuco 2 (1 club, 1 league, 1 cup)
8 Santa Catarina 1 (1 club, 1 cup)
So, there you have it. Supercopa do Brasil will be played on February 20th, between Atl|-tico Mineiro and Flamengo. CBF ruled that regardless of Galo's double the game should happen anyway, and that the league runner-up, not the cup one, should contest it. I wonder how they do it elsewhere, but this isn't too important anyway. Venue is to be determined yet.
--
Ll|-o
--- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
* Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)