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Palmeiras 2×1 Botafogo-SP; Playoffs Analysis

Palmeiras beat Botafogo-SP yesterday, and guaranteed the first position in the table:

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=HB4o_-a4cNc]

Palmeiras entered with the best team possible, not resting players to the game against Sport, in Wednesday. The only one preserved was Marcos, and Palmeiras felt his absence, since the reserve goalkeeper, Bruno, failed in the goal suffered in the end of first half.

After the half-time Luxemburgo put Ortigoza in the pitch and the Paraguayan scored the first goal, followed by Diego Souza’s goal two minutes later. That was enough to Palmeiras win the match and end up in first position.

Campeonato Paulista Playoff Analysis

This is going to be the playoffs of the Campeonato Paulista:

Palmeiras(1st) x Santos(4th)

São Paulo(2nd) x Corinthians(3rd)

Palmeiras and São Paulo have the advantage of playing the second game at home, and, in case of a draw in aggregated score, they will go to the final.

Palmeiras x Santos

Even beating Santos in the first stage by 4-1, Palmeiras will not have an easy way to the final. Santos has been developing very well thru the competition, and the new coach, Vagner Mancine, is doing a fine job.

Santos will be motivated by the way the team achieved the classification; the team was losing the last game until the 25th minute, when manage to score two goals, win the match and steal the 4th place from Portuguesa by the number of goals scored.

Santos may have the advantage of playing against Palmeiras during the Libertadores game: Palmeiras need, at least 4 points in next two games, and the four games (two Libertadores games and the semi-finals) will be played in two weeks. Palmeiras will probably use the reserves in the first game, and hope for a tie or at least a small defeat – which could be good enough to Santos.

São Paulo x Corinthians

São Paulo also has Libertadores’ games between the semi-finals, but is in better shape in the competition than Palmeiras. I think that São Paulo will not enter the two games with reserves.

In the first stage São Paulo played with reserves and tied with Corinthians 1-1, a result that would take São Paulo to the final. But Corinthians didn’t have Ronaldo at that time, and this two games will be the real test for him.

The title for Corinthians would mean a great start since the relegation in 2007 and the promotion last year. More than that, it could keep Ronaldo in the team at least until the end of the year, and maybe next year, when Corinthians will celebrate it’s centenary. In the other hand, it won’t be the first time that São Paulo give more importance to the Libertadores, not caring about the Campeonato Paulista. What really counts for São Paulo is that the team is in better form than Corinthians in the last games.

I really don’t think there’s a favorite this year, the first with the four biggest teams in São Paulo.

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