Opinion – Juca Kfouri: There has never been a final as popular in Brazil as Corinthians vs Flamengo

Since 1894, when Charles Miller landed back in Brazil with a soccer ball, for the first time Corinthians and Flamengo, the so-called people’s teams, will decide the title of national tournament of the importance of the Copa do Brasil, both in search of the fourth championship and of the direct spot in the Copa Libertadores of America.

The final they played before, of the then rickety Supercopa do Brasil, played in 1991, in Morumbi, for just 2,706 fans, was not of the slightest importance to the point that Neto, the scorer of the only goal that gave Corinthians the title, did not remembered that.

Not now.

Maracanã and Itaquera will be packed for the big decision between the most popular teams in Brazil, on October 12th and 19th, with teams still to be drawn on Tuesday (20th), at CBF.

It will be difficult to hold off until then, as it is hard to wait for October 2nd, which arouses incomparably greater anxiety, because it will decide something that involves the entire country — the future of our democracy, at risk of becoming Hungary.

If Flamengo’s classification was right, Corinthians’, not so much, even at home, rocked by Fiel.

The 3-0, a misleading score due to the progress of the second game of the semifinal, also had the special flavor of the bizarre own goal of the violent bolsominion, with pardon for the redundancy, Felipe Melo, former player in activity.

Undeniable the alvinegro merit when finishing the 180 minutes of football with 5 to 2 on the aggregate score, the same difference imposed by Flamengo to São Paulo, by 4 to 1.

Noteworthy is to observe the 12 goals in four decisive matches, quite outside the curve for national standards accustomed to avaricious disputes when cups are in question.

There’s a long time to go before the skirmishes begin. Who knows how the damn calendar will affect the bones and muscles of the players, even if both squads go into save mode until the 12th.

What is known today is that, if the first game were tomorrow, Flamengo would be the favorite, on any stage.
In the last ten times that Alvinegro and Rubros-Negro faced each other, the Cariocas won eight and lost only one, by 1 to 0, with the reserves one and a goal against Rodinei, then in disgrace, today the darling of the Nation. Twice they scored, 5-1 and 4-1.

But Corinthians starts to be different since it dropped out of Libertadores, eliminated exactly by Flamengo, and started to have time to train and impose the style preached by Vítor Pereira.

We will have three weeks to savor the anticipation and speculate on how the two giants will behave.
It will be good for Corinthians fans if they are treated like underdogs, snipers, as if they had their mission accomplished by reaching the seventh final of the tournament.

It turns out that his shirt weighs as much as his rival’s.

Both are three-time champions of the Copa do Brasil. Flamengo has one more Libertadores (2) and one Brazilian (8), and Corinthians, one Mundial (2) more. The red-blacks are the biggest champions from Rio de Janeiro (37), and the alvinegros, the biggest champions from São Paulo (30).

In terms of fan size, Flamengo has more fans in Brazil, and Corinthians, more in São Paulo than their rivals in Rio de Janeiro, although Maracanã has a larger number of fans than in Itaquera.

Anyway, it will be big dog fights, those won only at the end of the fight.