Joy from Nova Iguaçu to Novo Horizonte – 03/18/2024 – Sandro Macedo

In degrees Celsius, Nova Iguaçu and Vasco almost entered the Guinness list (not to be confused with Guinness, which is somewhat lacking here even on St. Patrick’s Day). The game at Maracanã must have registered a thermal sensation of around 117ºC. It was the second hottest clash in real or fictional history, behind only the famous duel between Obi-wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker on Mustafar, at the end of “Star Wars 3”.

And the team from Baixada Fluminense seemed to fit in even with the Sun — this scribe lived there during his childhood and can say that there are places in hell that must be cooler than Baixada.

It’s not that Vasco was inferior in Sunday’s match, Vasco was inferior throughout the semifinal. And in the classification phase there was also a 2-0 against Nova Iguaçu. Uhu, Nova Iguaçu, the former BBB would say.

It’s good to remember that Nova Iguaçu is in Series D. However, they will have to put together another team for the national competition. This group that eliminated Cruz-Maltino will probably be spread across Series A and B, in fairness.

And what does the result say for Vasco? Well, what did last year’s Carioquinha say to Botafogo, who missed out on the semi-finals and had the best first round in the history of the Brazilian Championship?

But the game revealed a few things: first, it’s now official, Ramón Díaz is not a prophet, he’s just a coach, and you can’t win the game by prediction.

Vasco’s defense needs reinforcements for yesterday. Defender/full-back Léo, formerly Léo Pelé, had a tournament below expectations. I also can’t understand how Medel is always praised by colleagues.

As a midfielder, Medel doesn’t have the speed he used to have, when he was a natural destroyer, the biting type — his nickname is Pitbull. He became a defender, but he lacks the body type (in addition to the aforementioned speed). Medel is only quick to cross the pitch and run after the referee to complain about absolutely anything. There will be no confusion in a Vasco game without Medel in the photo. Some call this leadership. I do not know.

The big goal for Tite’s Flamengo must now be to win the trophy without conceding goals. The team has more talent, more money, more benches, more fans, more tites, more everything. It will be the upset of the century if they lose the title in two games. I can’t wait to see those reports comparing reserve Lil Gabi’s salary with Nova Iguaçu’s entire payroll.

From Nova Iguaçu to Novo Horizonte it is about 770 km. But the joy is practically the same.

Novorizontino proved that Morumbis also has semi-sweet chocolate (better to write this down so you don’t feel like it later). Ferreirinha, who scored the equalizer in São Paulo, showed his biggest problem in his career, many injuries.

But what if the supreme skill James Rodríguez had taken the penalty? This will be São Paulo’s biggest “if” of the week.

“Other athletes have spoken out before about hitting [o pênalti]”, alleged professor Thiago Carpini. What exactly does this mean? That James didn’t speak up? Or that he was the seventh to speak up and that’s why he had to wait for the six little friends to knock first?

This humble scribe had a revolutionary proposal for taking penalties in knockout stages in Brazil. He can only beat anyone whose salary is paid by the club on time. This way, the fans only charge those who receive it. As soon as the referee whistled the end of the game, the accounting guy would come running in with a list of who would be eligible.

Olympic casualty

The men’s handball team lost to Spain in the men’s Pre-Olympic and is out of the Games. Just like in football, men have fallen and we will be represented by women in Paris. The Olympics seem more and more like them.

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