Former columnist for this section, the writer, screenwriter and multipurpose José Roberto Torero already said that the regulations, calendars and tables of Brazilian football were managed by Tico and Teco. Tico took care of the regulations; Teco, from the tables… Or vice versa.
Apparently, the positions were for life, because the feeling is that they are still there. And they are responsible for emptying the state, at least, in the main squares, which include teams concerned with the Brazilian Series A. Or the B.
Take the state of São Paulo, for example. Paulistinha repeats the same rules as in recent years, dividing the teams into four groups and leaving a big one in each, with the right to two spots for the quarterfinals per key.
That is, Corinthians, Palmeiras, Santos and São Paulo (alphabetical order) are already classified. There’s no way. What if they play badly? And if they sell the ace? What if the technician falls? What if the former president of Cruzeiro takes over? What if Bolsonaro supports it? It’s no use, you can paint the worst scenario, the four will qualify.
That is, you can book the date in your calendar to start following the championship only on March 23, when the quarterfinals begin — or you can also watch the classics, sometimes they are fun.
It wasn’t always like that. Until the 1980s, state ones were worth as much or more than national ones. It was the decade that immortalized Corinthian democracy; had the first champion from the interior, Inter de Limeira, to the trauma of the people of Palmeiras; crowned the São Paulo menudos; celebrated the bad boys of Vila —that 1984 team didn’t have so many “boys”—accompanied by the killer Serginho Chulapa.
In the 1990s, the trauma of Palmeiras ended with the title against Corinthians. Shortly after, Corinthians gave the change. Perhaps there, in the mid-1990s, was the beginning of the end of the tournament’s importance.
And now, in the middle of 2022, year 3 of the pandemic, what is it for?
It serves, for example, to fill the capital’s stadiums with more than 80% of beds occupied by people infected with Covid, uhu.
Among clubs, it can cause more crisis than joy.
For Santos, if they reach the semifinals and are eliminated without humiliation, with Ricardo Goulart doing a good job, everything will be fine. What comes more will be profit. Focus on South America.
For Palmeiras —which is practically classified after two games—, it’s worth… nothing. If you don’t try hard, you should go to the final. If you try hard, you might even win. But the focus is the fight with Flamengo and Atlético Mineiro for the main titles of the continent.
For Corinthians, it’s good for the fans to pick on Professor Sylvinho every other week, too. The focus should only be on the preparation for the Libertadores. The team is, on paper, the one that most threatens the Clube dos 3 in Brazilian football. But the crowd, in addition to being faithful, is passionate. A defeat in a semifinal can shake the commission.
For São Paulo, the current champion, it serves to avoid repeating the blunder of last year. He did everything for the title, celebrated for a week. And spent the rest of the year eating the bread the devil spat out.
São Paulo starts at a similar level to Santos: a dignified elimination in a semifinal would not cause great damage. And it also has a striker as the main signing of the year: “Nikão is the 10th of Trikas”, posted the club, to the irritation of the irritated. Probably the post had more repercussion than a title would have.
And, although the interior is increasingly weak, one team can face the others, the glorious Red Bull Bragantino, runner-up of the Sudamericana.
At the end of March, I’ll talk about Paulistinha again.
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