The last lap of the race for the title of the American football between Flamengo and Internacional ended Thursday night, amid an almost excruciating drama, which dealt a heavy blow to the arguments of those who lack the old knockout format and maintain that the league system is boring.
The penultimate day of the extended 2020 season, played on Sunday, faced the first of the table with the second and saw them change positions after defending champions Flamengo de Rio de Janeiro beat Internacional de Porto Alegre 2-1. Flamengo took a two-point lead at the top of the table, which meant they could secure the title if they beat their visit to Sao Paulo on the final date. Any other other result would open the door to the possibility of Internacional lifting its first championship since 1979, if it could triumph over Corinthians at home. Both games were played simultaneously on Thursday.
Flamengo had a sad night: after pushing for most of the first half, they ended up scoring a goal, scoring just before half-time. They never managed to exert the same dominance after the resumption of the match, and although they managed to level the score quickly, they won the 2-1 defeat. Now everything depended on the events in Porto Alegre.
International insisted relentlessly. The VAR denied them a penalty kick and a goal, which were convicted out of place. However, both decisions turned out to be correct. In the second half, Porto Alegre’s club hit the bar as he was disallowed for another goal, and Corinthians goalkeeper Cassio had to make several saves. Just after the final whistle of the match from Flamengo, they broke the arc again and the goal was canceled by a very small margin due to offside. More than eight minutes of extra time had been played, but there was still time for more drama. In the final game of the championship, with the entire team waiting for a corner kick (including the goalkeeper), central Lucas Ribeiro had a good chance … and sent the ball over the goal.
After 38 games, with a margin of just one unit, Flamengo was crowned champion. It might seem, and not just because of the drama on the due date, that they were champions by default. At one point, the battle for the title seemed like a race between six. But they started to fall behind, one by one. Gremio and especially Palmeiras were trapped, victims of the accumulation of games: both teams have yet to see each other in the first and second leg of the cup final, which starts next Sunday. Sao Paulo led the league and collapsed under the pressure of his efforts to win the first title in many years. Atletico Mineiro, led by former Argentinian coach Jorge Sampaoli, experienced sporadic moments of brilliance, but failed to maintain the necessary regularity. And Internacional let the lead slip just at the last minute.
However, it would be extremely cruel to conclude that Flamengo won the title by default. It is easy to explain the inconsistency of your competitors. Normally, the competition takes place between the beginning of May and the end of December. On this occasion, due to the shutdown forced by the coronavirus pandemic, the tournament could not start until the beginning of August and lasted all summer. This put an overly demanding schedule on the players, especially given that some games started at 4pm local time. Maintaining a steady level in such tough conditions was too much to ask, even for champions.
With the exception of the drama of a heart attack, the winners of the 2020 edition title will not be remembered with the same affection as for the team of bandits that won the 2019 championship, led by Portuguese coach Jorge Jesús. His successors were never able to replace Spanish central Pablo Mari, who was sold to Arsenal. Flamengo showed such poor defense throughout the campaign that it was surprising to note that the new champion had the worst defensive record among the top half of the table occupants, with 48 goals conceded. In the 20-team division, only the four relegated clubs and another quartet of ten tolerated more goals against.
Neither Domenec Torrent, former assistant to Pep Guardiola who took over the technical lead to replace Jorge Jesús; Even Rogerio Ceni, who joined the team after Torrent’s gruesome dismissal, failed to strike an effective balance between offense and defense. However, the abundance of resources deployed in the attack was more than enough. The 2019 Fantastic Four, consisting of shooters Gabriel and Bruno Henrique, along with attacking midfielders Everton Ribeiro and Giorgian De Arrascaeta, took turns to reach a good level. They were constantly supported by Gerson in midfield and this season the team was reinforced with striker Pedro, who contributed some crucial goals.
The attacking volume was sufficient and remained. And although they did not reach such an excellent level as in 2019, Flamengo gave Brazilian fans a conclusion they can never forget.