League Focus: Rotation the Name of the Game as Season Starts in Brazil

Before the football season, there is a break during which players rest, clubs dip into the transfer market and managers perfect tactics for the campaign ahead. It is something that European fans take for granted – a central tenet of the entire footballing calendar.

But there is no such off-season in Brazil. Many of the overblown, overlong state championships – which most right-minded players and supporters would love to see pruned back – end only a week before the national championship starts, meaning the majority of sides have only a few days to dust themselves off, say a few Hail Marys and go to work again.

As well as undermining preparations, this lack of a pause means anticipation levels never really hit the heights: without months of longing, fans tend to greet the opening rounds of Série A with a shrug. In Europe, absence makes the heart grow fonder; in Brazil, the big kick-off has all the romance of a fumble in a nightclub car park.

So it was this weekend, when the 2015 season shuffled into view. There was plenty of bluster and shiny PR stunts (11am kick-off times on Sundays! A game at the World Cup stadium in Cuiabá! Players wearing their mums’ names on their shirts to mark Mother’s Day!), but the proof of the pudding came in the stands: the ten games drew an average of 12,138 paying spectators.

Some of those who did go were treated to crackers: Grêmio played out a harem-scarem 3-3 draw with Ponte Preta, Sport thumped Figueirense and Palmeiras and Atlético Mineiro shared four goals at a buzzing Allianz Parque.

Elsewhere, though, the story was less positive. Perhaps the defining story of the opening rodada was the ruthless rotation of the top sides, who had an eye on crucial midweek games in the Copa Libertadores (another foible of that calendar).

São Paulo made six changes to the side that beat Cruzeiro on Wednesday night and almost paid the price against Flamengo. With Húdson and Gabriel Boschilia unable to exert much influence in midfield (2 key passes, 1 dribble and 0 shots on target between them), the Tricolor needed to call the cavalry off the bench: Paulo Henrique Ganso and Alexandre Pato combined for a tidy winner.

Title hopefuls Internacional did not get off so lightly: Diego Aguirre played the reserves at Atlético-PR and saw his side slump to a 3-0 defeat. The Porto Alegre side enjoyed 60.6% of possession but were hopelessly obliging in defence, managing just 13 tackles at the Baixada.
 
Among the players to disappoint were Vitinho (66.7% pass competition, 0 key passes, 0 shots on target) and former Man United man Anderson, whose listless display (0 interceptions, 0 clearances, 0 fouls, 1 dribble, 2 tackles) went some way to explaining why he already finds himself so far down the pecking order at Inter. “You would have been forgiven for not realising he was out there,” said Globo, forgetting that a tubby bloke huffing and puffing around the centre circle is always fairly memorable.

But elsewhere there were those who grasped rare opportunities in the spotlight.

One of those was Jô – another of Manchester’s favourite Brazilian sons – who led the line with some aplomb for Atlético Mineiro’s reserves. It wasn’t so long ago that the striker was a key component in the Galo’s Libertadores-winning side, but he has more recently fallen on hard times: his goal in the second leg of the Campeonato Mineiro final at the start of the month was his first for over a year.

Against Palmeiras, though, there was some of the old swagger: Jô laid on 2 key passes, earned 4 free-kicks and won 3 aeriel duels before netting his side’s second goal with a cool finish. If he keeps up this form, Levir Culpi may have to find a way to accommodate him more often, perhaps alongside the bullish Lucas Pratto.

For Corinthians, too, there was an unlikely hero in the shape of Ángel Romero. The Paraguayan forward has hardly been used this year and is rumoured to be feeling isolated following the sale of Nicolás Lodeiro, his closest friend in the Timão dressing room, to Boca Juniors. But with Tite resting key players, Romero got a run-out off the bench against Cruzeiro and made it count, deflecting Edílson’s cross-shot past Fábio for his first goal since July.

It was his only shot of the game and – with interest from other South American clubs expected – is unlikely to prolong his stay at the Parque São Jorge too much. But he will be thankful to have been given the chance to impress on the opening weekend of the season. At least someone gets a silver lining from all that rotation.

Who impressed you the most on the opening weekend of the Brazilian Serie A season? Let us know in the comments below