Checkmate São Paulo.

By: Mauro | May 15th, 2008

Again, São Paulo won on the very good, shit, I’d even venture to say, spectacular work by Adriano. Last night, the guy that Inter Milan picked up from Parma and the same guy that drew Brazil level in the final of the Copa America in 2005 against Argentina, in the waning minutes of the match, decided to show up.

He dominated play in the final third of his end of the pitch. And I mean it when I say HIS end of the pitch. It was exactly how he treated it. He trashed Flu’s central defenders. He was able to create space, when they decided to play him close he was able to beat them, he beat them on crosses, he was able to take long shots from outside the area and he made some spectacular passes to his team mates.

It’s hard to decide if he was really that good or if the Fluminense defenders were really that crap. I think it was a little of both. Adriano is not an easy dude to mark, he’s got a big body, is good with the ball at his feet, is damn fast and last night he showed that he can make a deadly good assist.

After 19 minutes of pressure, Adriano was able to hit pay dirt off a rebound from a shot by Dagoberto. Turns out Adrian found Dagoberto out on the left flank all by his lonesome just prior to his shot.

Flu tried to react but because they lined up a line of three midfielders and coach Renato Gaúcho decided to have midfield playmaker Dario Conca on the bench, they lacked a certain depth and dominant style of play that charaterized them in this competition so far. Without Conca on the pitch, Flu’s strikers, Washington and Dodo almost never touched the ball or created any kind of danger for São Paulo keeper Rogerio Ceni.

In the 60th minute, Gaúcho subbed on Conca for Thiago Neves who was not playing near his capabilities. With Conca on the pitch, Flu had more possession and were able to dominate play for a little while and showed that São Paulo’s back line was also quite unstable.

But once São Paulo realized they had the match under control, they played more defensively but even then, with the few opportunities he was given, Adriano still made the Flu defenders poop themselves a little bit.

With this result, São Paulo can afford to draw or even lose by one goal provided they score a goal. There is time yet for one more Maracanázo.

I had this match ending 1-1. I figured it would be a low scoring affair but at least I figured Aloisio or Adriano would score one last night. I was also sure of the fact that Conca was going to make things tough for Fluminense.

Check the CONMEBOL website for results, stats and upcoming matches.