Opinion – Tostão: Increasingly, performance is valued, not just the result

I notice that, more and more, the sports chronicle and the people who like, follow and who want to understand football value performance, not just results, which is very good, although we analyze performance a lot based on the result.

Palmeiras, leader of the Brasileirão, unites performance and results, in similar proportions, inside and outside the home. Hence the regularity and efficiency. Even continuing with the main characteristic, the speed to reach the opponent’s goal, Palmeiras is today a team with several facets, according to the moment.

Until recently, Palmeiras stood out much more for the offensive moves on the right, with Marcos Rocha, Dudu, Raphael Veiga and Rony. Opponents began to be more careful in this sector, and the team also started to play on the left, with Dudu, with the advance of the full-back on that side and with Scarpa passing to the right, from where he leads the ball to the center, to finish, pass and cross with great precision.

While Corinthians, in second place, is heavily criticized for having much better results than its performance, São Paulo, in tenth place, nine points behind Corinthians, is usually better evaluated, with the justification that the team has been forced to use many reserves, which also happens with Corinthians.

Corinthians are not well placed because they are a lucky team. They have a great defensive system, an essential quality, which is not the case with São Paulo. Corinthians, with the return of several important players, has good chances of growing in the second round.

Just below Corinthians is Fluminense, very good in terms of performance and results. Because of the good team play, I discovered that Fluminense has great players in practically every position. The efficient defender Manoel makes correct passes, which surprised me. Cano is the top scorer of the season, the Copa do Brasil and the Brasileirão, followed by another Argentine, Calleri, from São Paulo. Not so they ask Argentina to call them up to the national team, as they know it’s easier to score goals in South America.

Fluminense, with the approach game and short exchange of passes to the goal, and Palmeiras, with the fast game and longer passes, are the two teams that play at the best level in Brazil.

Despite the defeat, Atlético, fourth in the Brasileirão, already under the influence of the signing of Cuca, improved a little against Corinthians. Mestre Cuca will probably climb and use the same strategy as in the previous period, which is practically the same used by Turco Mohamed. But the team must improve, because football is much more than synchronized movements. Atletico’s players and fans are overjoyed and like the quirks, superstitions, oddities and talent of the new coach.

The second round of the Brasileirão will not be identical to the first. Some clubs, like São Paulo and, mainly, Flamengo, must evolve, in terms of performance and results. I also hope to see, in the second round, good games and goals, especially those that unite the collective and the individual.

Seeing a beautiful goal is as pleasurable as watching, as I did a few days ago, after two and a half years, because of the pandemic, the Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the great conductor Fábio Mechetti. At the piano, the extraordinary Arnaldo Cohen, playing the Russian Sergei Rachmaninov. Good thing it wasn’t cancelled.