I will report about South American Football in this section, showing a perspective of the continent mainly focused on Brazil, which is my country.
I will deal with Brazilian football in this article, commenting on the current situation and linking it to the past.
There are two places in Brazil where every Brazilian player dreams of playing: the cities of Río de Janeiro and São Paulo. Many worldwide-known players started their careers there, like Adriano The Emperor, who played in Flamengo and who is one of the incoming stars next World Championship.
Apart from this, there are other clubs with less tradition as Grêmio and Cruzeiro, which exported the best players of Brazil, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo. However, the situation in Brazil has changed lately. Clubs from Rio de Janeiro are not managing their finances well and this is provoking the impossibility of bringing up
youngsters as well as in the past. São Paulo or Corinthians have their own model which lets them escape
Another fact that must be mentioned here is the scandal of the referee who accepted bribery to fake results of the national league last year. The Brazilian Federation took the plunge and decided to renew the staff with young referees to clean up their reputation.
This season has just started, and Brazilian clubs are signing their players for the Brazilian Championship.
There are minor competitions in Brazil due to the extension of the country; the National Championship starts in May.
The most important competition in America already started, and this year the possibility for a Brazilian team to win it is quite real, because Boca Juniors from Argentina won't participate, and they have always been the toughest team for Brazilian squads.
The current World Champion after beating Liverpool is facing to a hard beginning of season because they lost many champions like Cicinho, who went to Real Madrid, or Amoroso, who signed for Milan. They are signing players with few experience to fight for the fourth Libertadores and Intercontinental. There are some players who are expected to be key for these purposes, like the experienced goalkeeper Rogério Ceni, or the superb Uruguayan defender Lugano, whose environment points to Real Madrid.
They are the last Brazilian champions, and yearns for winning Libertadores, competition which they never won. They are creating an impressive squad thanks to MSI investors
(Media Sports Investiments) and they may be considered as the best team in Brazil. Players contracted by Corinthians are Carlitos Tévez, who is wanted by Chelsea, or the wing Mascherano, who may be considered as the best one playing his role in the World; and many others like Ricardinho, who played a short time in Middlesbrough and who was World Champion in 2002.
Palmeiras also want specially to win the league, because the last time that they won an important competition was many years ago. The strategy thought up by the board was signing many experienced players like the goalkeeper Marcos (here), first member of the squad who won the World Championship in 2002 and the best goalkeeper of the tournament in my opinion, and the main star of Palmeiras. But the most valuable member of this team is, as many people think, their coach, who might be the best Brazilian one; he already lifted the team from the 16th position to the 4th last season, qualifying for Libertadores.
Internacional have not played Libertadores for many years, but they have been improving last seasons and in fact they finished second and competed seriously for the National Championship last year.
The sunteam has a star called Rafael Sobis, who was the surprise of last Championship and who has already been tempted by teams like Internazionale, Milan o Juventus.
Apart from these there are other teams like Goiás or Paulista, a step below those, but who may put obstacles in the way of the favourite squads.
The team which does not classify for Libertadores has the chance to play the Brazilian Cup, which guarantees a ticket for Libertadores of the next year.
They are one of the favourites to win this competition, above all because they are coached by Vanderlei Luxemburgo -Real Madrid got rid of him- and he is bringing famous Brazilian players so they are also becoming favourites for the national competition.
They are the only ones who can really face to Santos in this competition. They also invested in Brazilian players abroad, like the forward Jardel.
Cruzeiro is also one of the candidates to win the national competition.
Fluminense could have their opportunity, because the rest are technically below them. Flamengo, Vasco, Botafogo or Atlético Mineiro have tradition but it doesn't seem that they can compete seriously for anything.
Well folks, this is a first contact and if you are there next months, I will be reporting you about championships, promising youngsters and South American futebol.
See you nect time, Rafael Pochetto.