retired_manpk1

Thanks PMLF - we'll see how they perform though. As for the Libertadores, River won it in 2004, Flumninese in 2005 (although we haven't quite reached there in the story just yet) :eek:


January 2005
The season started with a trip to Caldas, but things didn’t quite go to plan as Matos put the home side ahead midway through the first half. We huffed and puffed our way through the match, and twelve minutes from time equalised through Cristiano. But it was veteran striker Carlos Magno who finally scored the second, although we did leave it until injury time.
We found ourselves behind again at Anapolina when André Pinto scored, but debutante Flávio Guilherme equalised on 18. Leandro Diniz put us ahead four minutes later, and it was 3-1 on 25 when Cristiano netted. But things got a bit more uncomfortable as André Pinto headed in a second seven minutes before the break, and a horrible goalkeeping error allowed Gaúcho in to equalise before the break. We were helped when André Pinto was sent off just before the hour, and ten minutes later we scored two in three minutes through Cristiano and Leandro Diniz as we scraped through to a 5-3 victory.
Our first home game of the season was against Goiatuba, but we weren’t overly impressive early on. Flávio Guilherme put us ahead midway through the first half, and Cristiano and a William penalty made it 3-0 before the break. Cristiano added another midway through the second half, and within ten minutes both Chicão and Liminha had added their own efforts. Cristiano completed his hatrick in injury time to claim a 7-0 victory.
The last match of the month was a sell-out affair with Atlético Goianiense, and four minutes in Flávio Guilherme had put us ahead. We probably should have scored more, especially as the visitors were reduced to nine men by the end as both Thiago Costa and Rafael were sent off. But 1-0 it was, and we were top of the league.

A somewhat stuttering start has largely gone unnoticed by our results, and it’s good to see Flávio Guilherme and Cristiano combining well up front.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts1st Goiânia 4 4 0 0 15 4 +11 122nd Vila Nova (GO) 4 4 0 0 12 2 +10 123rd Anápolis 4 3 1 0 13 1 +12 104th Goiás 4 3 1 0 12 2 +10 105th Real (GO) 4 3 1 0 9 3 +6 106th Goianésia 4 1 0 3 5 12 -7 37th Grêmio Inhumense 4 1 0 3 3 13 -10 38th Goiatuba 4 1 0 3 3 13 -10 3-------------------------------------------------------9th Inhumas 4 0 2 2 4 8 -4 2-------------------------------------------------------10th Anapolina 4 0 1 3 9 13 -4 111th Caldas 4 0 1 3 3 10 -7 112th Atlético Goianiense 4 0 1 3 1 8 -7 1</pre>

retired_manpk1

February 2005
We lost assistant manager GÃ*lson Villas-Boás to São Matues as their new manager, and the only person I could agree to take his place is a young Nepali, going by the name of Narendra Tisdale.
We took our time to get going away at Grêmio Inhumense, but Cristiano put us ahead eight minutes before half time and Flávio Guilherme added a second before the break. Cristiano scored again six minutes into the second half, and five minutes later Leandro Diniz scored a fourth. We did manage a fifth, four minutes from time, courtesy of LuÃ*s Fernando.
Our biggest ever crowd came out to watch our tie with Goiás, and despite dominating much of the first half, we fell behind to an Araújo strike just before the break. We continued to prod during the second half, and a minute from time we were awarded a penalty that William put away.
We had more problems at home to Real, and it took us until the hour to take the lead through LuÃ*s Fernando. But we paid for our slackness in front of goal; Hélio Maia equalising two minutes before the break.
We got back on track at home to Goianésia, and Cley marked his return from injury with two goals before half time. The visitors pulled a goal back on the hour through Cardoso, but Cristiano scored a third on 72 as we qualified for the quarterfinals.
Cristiano gave us a fantastic start at Anápolis, scoring within the first 30 seconds. We had to defend quite a bit afterwards, but we survived and Cristiano struck a second on 73. Marcos Roberto added a third ten minutes from time as we got our season back on track.

Things aren’t going quite as well as they did last season, but then that might have been a bit too much to expect. Still, we’ve qualified for the quarterfinal and can now look forward to trying to defend our title.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts1st Q Vila Nova (GO) 9 8 1 0 21 3 +18 252nd Q Goiânia 9 7 2 0 28 7 +21 233rd Q Goiás 9 6 3 0 24 4 +20 214th Q Anápolis 9 6 1 2 22 5 +17 195th Q Real (GO) 9 5 2 2 14 8 +6 176th Q Atlético Goianiense 9 4 1 4 17 14 +3 137th Grêmio Inhumense 9 3 0 6 7 25 -18 98th Caldas 9 1 3 5 9 19 -10 6---------------------------------------------------------9th Goianésia 9 1 2 6 8 21 -13 5---------------------------------------------------------10th Goiatuba 9 1 2 6 7 25 -18 511th Inhumas 9 1 2 6 7 25 -18 512th Anapolina 9 1 1 7 17 25 -8 4</pre>

retired_jdupont

How much Cristiano is worth?

retired_manpk1

Not much - only about £35-40k. But I'm not selling :p


March 2005
Cristiano scored early on as we could only muster up a 1-0 victory away at Inhumas.
Things didn’t start so well at home to Vila Nova in the last group game as Lau put the visitors ahead, but Cristiano equalised soon after. The game petered out after that, and even when Higo was sent off for the visitors, the draw was all anyone expected.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts1st Q Goiás 11 8 3 0 30 5 +25 272nd Q Goiânia 11 8 3 0 30 8 +22 273rd Q Vila Nova (GO) 11 8 2 1 22 5 +17 264th Q Anápolis 11 8 1 2 27 5 +22 255th Q Real (GO) 11 6 3 2 18 11 +7 216th Q Atlético Goianiense 11 5 2 4 21 14 +7 177th Q Grêmio Inhumense 11 4 0 7 9 30 -21 128th Q Inhumas 11 2 2 7 9 27 -18 8---------------------------------------------------------9th Caldas 11 1 3 7 11 25 -14 6---------------------------------------------------------10th R Goianésia 11 1 3 7 9 23 -14 611th R Anapolina 11 1 2 8 20 29 -9 512th R Goiatuba 11 1 2 8 7 31 -24 5</pre>
For the second consecutive season we were up against Grêmio Inhumense in the quarterfinals, but this time the tie was away from home. Goals in the first eight minutes from Cley and Flávio Guilherme gave us a comfortable 2-0 victory and a meeting with Goiás.
First though, we had a fourth round cup-tie away at top-flight side Figueirense. We got off to a fantastic start thanks to a goal on six minutes from Flávio Guilherme and despite intense pressure on our goal; we added a second midway through the half, again thanks to Flávio Guilherme. Figuierense just found Flávio Mendes in excellent form in goal once they had got past our excellent defence, and on the hour we broke again for Flávio Guilherme to complete his hatrick. Flávio Guilherme added a fourth on 76 to set up a two-legged tie with third division side ASA next month.
We first had to negotiate the tricky task of Goiás in the State semi-final. We were away in the first leg, and a fantastic individual effort from Leandro Diniz gave us the lead just before half time. We had two excellent opportunities to double the lead early in the second half, but we failed to do so, and were caught when Araújo broke forward and equalised. Within six minutes though Cley had restored our lead, and we had a narrow 2-1 lead to take into the second leg early next month.

retired_manpk1

April 2005
Another excellent goal from Leandro Diniz gave us an early lead at home to Goiás, but the visitors soon started to come back at us. We held out though, and on the hour we added two more through LuÃ*s Fernando and Cley. Ten minutes from time Clóvis cracked home his first goal for the club as we progressed through to the final 6-1 on aggregate.
The first player to be leave the club this season was Fred. The defender was sold to Corinthians (AL) for £10,000. The State Final was a repeat of last year, against Vila Nova. Chicão cracked home a free kick after ten minutes in the first leg at their place, but two lapses at the back allowed Guilherme to score twice before half time. Things didn’t get much better in the second half, especially when Carlos Alexandre was sent off sixteen minutes from time.
We immediately began to claw back the deficit at home in the second leg as LuÃ*s Fernando put us ahead after just 3 minutes. André Duarte was then sent off for the visitors, but it took until the second half for us to move ahead on aggregate. Four minutes after the restart LuÃ*s Fernando scored, and three minutes later Chicão struck again. But five minutes later Marco Aurélio pulled a goal back, although it didn’t seem to matter when NaÃ*lton was given his marching orders to leave the visitors with nine men on the field. But a horrible error at the back allowed Lau to level up the aggregate scores and take the game into extra time. We dominated the 30 extra minutes, but couldn’t find a way through and we lost the penalty shootout 3-1.
Three days later we found ourselves back in action, hosting ASA in the first leg of the Brazilian Cup Fifth Round. We struggled to break them down though, but were aided midway through the second half when Gustavo was sent off for a professional foul and William fired home from the penalty spot. Cristiano added a second two minutes from time to set us up nicely for the second leg.
The away leg at ASA came quickly, but in truth the game was poor. As soon as ASA had Régis sent off on 25, they just sat back and defended. We couldn’t be bothered to attack, and eased through to the Sixth Round and a tie against the mighty São Paulo.
We gave São Paulo a game in the home leg, but couldn’t convert our chances, and got caught on the break on the half hour through Leonardo. We didn’t know how to get past their defence, and Leonardo added a second early in the second half, as we ended the month on a bit of a downer.

It was a shame that we lost the State Championship in such disappointing style, especially as we had a two-goal lead on aggregate during the second half of the game. But it’s nice to be going on a bit of a cup run, and we are also starting to prepare for the Second Division campaign that begins in early May.

retired_manpk1

May 2005
We fell behind at São Paulo in only the 11th minute to another Leonardo goal, and when Carlos Alexandre was sent off on the half hour things were not looking good. Kléber added a second on the stroke of half time, and then another in injury time as we crashed out of the competition 5-0 on aggregate.
Our league campaign started with a trip to Remo, and we fell behind after just nine minutes to a Sérgio Alves goal. We never really got a grip on the match, and Sérgio Alves and Dário had the home side 3-0 up after 48 minutes. We then had William sent off, but that was levelled up when Henrique was given his marching orders. The game petered out after that, and a long season is in the offing.
Our first home match was against Náutico, and despite dominating early on, we fell behind when Cláudio broke quickly and scored. But we kept plugging away, and Carlos Magno earned us a draw midway through the second half.
We again found the going tough at home to Anapolina, but just after the break we took the lead thanks to Liminha. More frustration followed until Michel marked his first appearance of the season with a goal, as we ended up 2-0 victors.
The trip to União São João didn’t go very well. Marcos Roberto was sent off for a professional foul on 25, and Tiano scored twice before half time for the home side to win 2-0.
Our last game of the month was in Fortaleza, and although we found ourselves defending most of the game, we took the lead on the stroke of half time through LuÃ*s Fernando. Things seemed to get better when the home side had Carlinhos sent off in the first minute of the second half, but within moments VinÃ*cius equalised. The game didn’t produce much after that, and we gained a creditable draw.

The fact that we’ve had our top four strikers out for most of this month has not helped our cause, but we’ve made a decent enough start to the league campaign. This season is all about consolidation, so 22nd or above will suit us just fine.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts1st Remo 6 4 1 1 9 2 +7 132nd Criciúma 5 4 0 1 14 4 +10 123rd Brasiliense 5 3 2 0 8 4 +4 114th Palmeiras 4 3 1 0 10 2 +8 105th Gama 4 3 1 0 10 5 +5 106th Vila Nova (GO) 5 3 1 1 7 8 -1 107th Sport Recife 5 3 0 2 8 5 +3 98th Botafogo 6 2 2 2 12 8 +4 8-----------------------------------------------------9th Náutico 5 2 2 1 8 5 +3 810th Fortaleza 4 2 1 1 4 3 +1 711th CRB 4 2 1 1 6 6 0 712th América (MG) 3 2 0 1 3 3 0 613th São Raimundo (AM) 5 2 0 3 6 7 -1 614th América (RN) 5 1 3 1 4 5 -1 615th Goiânia 5 1 2 2 4 7 -3 516th Joinville 5 1 2 2 3 6 -3 517th Paulista 5 1 2 2 2 6 -4 518th União São João 5 1 1 3 4 5 -1 419th AvaÃ* 5 1 1 3 4 6 -2 420th Ceará 3 1 0 2 7 6 +1 321st Caxias 5 0 2 3 3 7 -4 222nd União Bandeirante 3 0 2 1 0 4 -4 2-----------------------------------------------------23rd MarÃ*lia 5 0 1 4 4 12 -8 124th Anapolina 5 0 0 5 1 15 -14 0</pre>

retired_jdupont

Bad start in the Second Division, but were already expecting that. You'll meet Vila Nova again in the league and you'll be able to avenge the Campeonato Goiano defeat to Vila Nova early in the season. :thup:

retired_manpk1

I wasn't expecting miracles :p


June 2005
We started the month with a home tie against AvaÃ*, and after overcoming some early pressure; we took the lead through Claudecir. Seven minutes later Claudecir added a second and we seemed to be in command. But five minutes before the break Abedi pulled a goal back, and five minutes after the restart Abedi struck again and it finished 2-2.
Three days later we were at CRB, and after a decent first half performance we fell behind just before half time when Léo struck. We were given a lifeline when William fired in a penalty early in the second half, but Samuel restored the lead just seven minutes later. Samuel and Wágner Diniz added further goals as we collapsed to lose 4-1.
We started poorly at home to Sport Recife, conceding to Gomes in only the 7th minute. We somehow managed to keep it to 1-0 for a while, and on the hour Flávio Guilherme marked his return from injury with an equaliser. But seven minutes later César Santin struck and we lost again.
The final game of the month was at home to América (RN), and after a poor first half Chicão put us ahead eight minutes after the break. Michel added a second twenty minutes from time as we continued to fight for our survival.

We now have a three-week break before our next match, and hopefully we can get all of our players fit again and raring to go to help our survival campaign.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts1st Palmeiras 9 6 2 1 18 9 +9 202nd Ceará 9 6 1 2 21 12 +9 193rd Remo 9 6 1 2 13 6 +7 194th CRB 9 5 3 1 18 10 +8 185th Fortaleza 9 5 3 1 12 6 +6 186th Sport Recife 9 5 2 2 17 10 +7 177th Brasiliense 9 5 2 2 13 9 +4 178th União São João 9 5 1 3 15 9 +6 16-----------------------------------------------------9th América (MG) 9 5 0 4 11 9 +2 1510th Náutico 9 4 3 2 12 8 +4 1511th Criciúma 9 4 2 3 17 9 +8 1412th AvaÃ* 9 4 2 3 11 8 +3 1413th Gama 9 4 1 4 18 17 +1 1314th Vila Nova (GO) 9 4 1 4 10 14 -4 1315th Paulista 9 3 3 3 10 11 -1 1216th União Bandeirante 9 2 4 3 11 16 -5 1017th Goiânia 9 2 3 4 10 15 -5 918th Botafogo 9 2 2 5 14 18 -4 819th Joinville 9 2 2 5 5 11 -6 820th São Raimundo (AM) 9 2 1 6 6 11 -5 721st Anapolina 9 2 0 7 6 20 -14 622nd América (RN) 9 1 3 5 4 12 -8 6-----------------------------------------------------23rd MarÃ*lia 9 1 1 7 8 19 -11 424th Caxias 9 0 3 6 7 18 -11 3</pre>
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">State Winner State WinnerAcre Independêcia Alagoas CRBAmapá Mazagão Amazonas Rio Negro (AM)Bahia Vitória Ceará Ferroviário (CE)Brasiliense Bandeirante (DF) EspÃ*rito Santo DesportivaGaúcho Grêmio Maranhão Sampaio CorrêaMato Grosso União Rondonópolis MG do Sul Comercial (MS)Minas Atlétio Mineiro Pará PaysanduParaÃ*ba Treze Paraná ParanáPernambuco Sport Recife PiauÃ* Flamengo (PI)Potiguar Potiguar Rio VascoRondônia CFA Roraima RoraimaSanta Catarina Figueirense São Paulo SantosSergipe Confiança (SE) Tocantins Palmas</pre>

retired_manpk1

July 2005
The month started with the hosting of Criciúma. They competed in the top flight last season, and we were poor in conceding to Leandrão seven minutes before the break. Things got worse three minutes after the restart when William was sent off, but we regrouped, and midway through the half equalised through Cristiano. Ten minutes later Leandro Diniz broke through to put us into the lead, and sensationally, Cristiano added a third on 85.
Our next tie was away at São Raimundo, and despite having the upper hand throughout the game; we fell to a last-minute effort from Reginaldo.
We were away at bottom-of-the-table Caxias next, and more pummelling led to more frustration early on. The breakthrough came just before the hour mark when Cley struck, and five minutes later Flávio Guilherme gave us our first away victory of the season.
Joinville were next to visit OlÃ*mpico, and we took the lead midway through the first half thanks to Flávio Guilherme. We added a second through Cley ten minutes into the second half, and although Carlos Alexandre was sent off twenty minutes from time, we held on for victory.
Our first visit to the Maracanã was a bit of a let down; less than 4000 spectators turned up to watch our game at Botafogo. We fell behind after just five minutes when Rodrigo struck and we never really recovered. Even when Athos was sent off on the hour mark, Gláucho scored a second three minutes from time to condemn us to defeat.

We’ve played really well this month, and we were definitely helped by the return from injury of all of our strikers. We’ve got a comfortable 12 point gap from the relegation zone, and with nine games to go, our objective for the season looks like being met.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts1st Palmeiras 14 9 2 3 27 14 +13 292nd Fortaleza 14 8 4 2 20 12 +8 283rd CRB 14 7 5 2 28 17 +11 264th União São João 14 7 4 3 22 12 +10 255th Ceará 14 7 3 4 30 21 +9 246th Sport Recife 14 7 3 4 24 16 +8 247th América (MG) 14 7 2 5 15 12 +3 238th União Bandeirante 14 6 5 3 27 23 +4 23-----------------------------------------------------9th Náutico 14 6 5 3 18 14 +4 2310th AvaÃ* 14 6 4 4 19 13 +6 2211th Gama 14 6 2 6 24 25 -1 2012th Brasiliense 14 6 2 6 21 22 -1 2013th Remo 14 6 2 6 17 18 -1 2014th Paulista 14 5 5 4 16 15 +1 2015th Criciúma 14 5 4 5 22 16 +6 1916th Vila Nova (GO) 14 5 4 5 14 19 -5 1917th Botafogo 14 5 3 6 21 21 0 1818th Goiânia 14 5 3 6 17 19 -2 1819th Joinville 14 4 4 6 11 17 -6 1620th São Raimundo (AM) 14 4 2 8 11 16 -5 1421st MarÃ*lia 14 3 2 9 19 28 -9 1122nd América (RN) 14 2 5 7 10 20 -10 11-----------------------------------------------------23rd Anapolina 14 2 0 12 6 31 -25 624th Caxias 14 1 3 10 9 27 -18 6</pre>

retired_manpk1

August 2005
Our first game of the season was a home tie with América (MG) and we found the game quite difficult to contend with. They played well, but we held strong at the back, and eighth minutes from time Cley struck to give us a lucky 1-0 victory.
We travelled to Ceará, and surprisingly took the lead on the half hour through Cristiano. Ceará equalised soon enough through Kesley, but Cristiano restored our lead in the first minute of the second half. Having Daniel Rossi sent off twenty minutes from time didn’t help our cause, but we held on and Cristiano completed his hatrick four minutes from time.
Cristiano was again on target early on at home to struggling MarÃ*lia, and he scored a second early in the second half as we won 2-0.
Vila Nova came to town and frustrated us for 90 minutes in a drab 0-0 draw, although we were disappointed not to have scored.
The game at União Bandeirante was fantastic for the neutral. The home side had Rafel Cruz sent off after just 16 minutes, but we failed to take advantage and fell behind to a Daniel strike seven minutes before the break. Cássio scored a second on 43, but Cristiano pulled a goal back in injury time. Our comeback effort wasn’t helped when we had Claudecir sent off in the first minute of the second half, but we kept plugging away and pulled level on 66 through Cristiano. The home side got their act together and Marcos Silva restored their lead fourteen minutes from time, only for Michel to come off the bench and rescue us a point two minutes from the end.

It’s been a pretty good month, and at one stage we were even in the top eight. We’re just outside that zone now, and we’re unlikely to get there as we have to play three sides above us in our last four games. Mathematically we can’t be relegated, and so our season will be judged a success come what may over the next four matches.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts1st Palmeiras 19 13 2 4 35 19 +16 412nd Fortaleza 19 11 5 3 26 14 +12 383rd Brasiliense 19 10 2 7 31 28 +3 324th Sport Recife 19 9 5 5 34 20 +14 325th Ceará 19 9 5 5 38 28 +10 326th CRB 19 8 8 3 35 21 +14 327th Gama 19 9 3 7 33 29 +4 308th União São João 19 8 6 5 26 19 +7 30-----------------------------------------------------9th América (MG) 19 9 2 8 24 17 +7 2910th Goiânia 19 8 5 6 26 23 +3 2911th União Bandeirante 19 7 8 4 37 35 +2 2912th AvaÃ* 19 8 4 7 25 22 +3 2813th Náutico 19 6 8 5 21 21 0 2614th Botafogo 19 7 4 8 29 28 +1 2515th Remo 19 7 4 8 21 24 -3 2516th Criciúma 19 6 7 6 29 23 +6 2517th Paulista 19 6 7 6 18 18 0 2518th Vila Nova (GO) 19 6 6 7 17 25 -8 2419th Joinville 19 6 5 8 18 24 -6 2320th São Raimundo (AM) 19 6 4 9 15 20 -5 2221st América (RN) 19 4 5 10 15 30 -15 1722nd MarÃ*lia 19 3 5 11 20 33 -13 14-----------------------------------------------------23rd Caxias 19 3 4 12 18 37 -19 1324th Anapolina 19 2 0 17 9 42 -33 6</pre>