The Day I Played with Ronaldo

This year's Brazilian National Championship was restructured. Firstly, the name became "Brazilian Football League", and secondly, the disarmament was carried out. Last season, 4 teams were relegated but only 2 teams were promoted. The teams were reduced to 24 teams.

The schedule has also changed. Last season, 26 teams played singles. In the final playoffs, the top 8 teams played home and away games to determine the champion. This season, 24 teams will play doubles. The cycle is no longer divided into regular season and playoffs, and the team with the most points will win the championship.

If such a restructuring had been implemented last year, Sao Paulo would have had one more national championship trophy.

The game time of the Brazilian League has also changed. Due to the large number of participating teams, 24 teams play double rounds, which means that it takes 46 rounds to play all games.

Therefore, the time for the first round of the Brazilian League has been brought forward to April.

Between January and April, it is the time for the state championships, and the Copa Libertadores competitions will all end between January and June.

The format of the Sao Paulo State Championship this season is that 21 teams are divided into three groups, with 7 teams in each group playing a single round robin.

Three teams each qualify for the playoffs in the first and second groups, and two teams in the third group.

Sao Paulo was assigned to the second group. The opponents in the group are not strong. As long as they make no mistakes, they will definitely have no problem entering the playoffs.

On January 20th, Sao Paulo went to the Sao Paulo State Championship. In the opening game, it defeated Ituano, who was in the second level of Brazil, 5:0. Ricardo staged a hat-trick in the first game of the new season. Kaka and France Bianno also scored a goal.

"São Paulo re-launched with the expected victory."

"Ricciardo's state is horrible, and he staged the fourth hat-trick of his career."

"Licardo was excited to be selected for the national team, and he was in good shape and easily put on the cap."

"Sao Paulo's new coach Roberto Rojas led the team to win the first official game."

For Sao Paulo, the focus of the first half of the year is of course the Copa Libertadores, the highest level competition in South America, which is equivalent to the European Champions League. No club will give up.

But state league results matter, too.

Fortunately, in the group stage, Sao Paulo's opponents were not strong. Roberto Rojas was able to rotate the lineup to a certain extent to ensure the physical fitness of the players.

Three days later in the second round of the state championship, Rojas hid the trident and Baptista in the frontcourt. Sao Paulo, who had most of the main rotation, defeated the underdog Santista 3:2 in the away game. The final crucial goal was scored by Ricardo as a substitute in the 89th minute.

In the third round, Sao Paulo, who played again as the main player, defeated Limera International 6:0. Ricardo scored twice and assisted Fabiano to score a goal.

In the fourth round, Sao Paulo, who had rotated more than half of the main players, beat Paulista 2-0. When leading 1:0, Ricardo came off the bench, took a free kick and assisted Lugano to score to seal the victory.

Sao Paulo, which has won four consecutive victories, has already secured a playoff qualification. Of course, for Sao Paulo, the playoff qualification is nothing. They want to qualify as the top of the group and finally defeat all opponents to win the championship. of.

"6 goals in 4 games! Ricardo's full firepower!"

"To Pereira: Did you see what Ricardo did?"

"Being selected for the Brazilian national team made Ricardo more mature."

"Playing triumphant songs all the way, Sao Paulo is irresistible!"

"Four consecutive victories! Robert Rojas has made the best start to Sao Paulo in recent years."

The media praised the performance of Ricardo and Sao Paulo.

Ricardo was modest in the interview. "The reason why I scored so many goals is because Kaka and Fabiano selflessly assisted me."

"Top star? No,

I am not, Kaka has a more important position in Sao Paulo, and so does Fabiano. "

"Thanks to Pereira for calling me up, I will do my best to fight for Brazil."

"Whether I can play depends on Pereira. I will try to impress him with practical actions in games and training."

"We're in good form this year, we want both the state and national titles. The Copa Libertadores? That's every player's dream, but you have to play game by game."

Sao Paulo has one more tough game to play before heading to the Americas, away to Santos in the state championship.

Santos, who were beaten by Sao Paulo in the national championship last year, only finished 8th and did not qualify for the Copa Libertadores. The state championship is their first goal this season, so they will go all out.

In order to reserve strength for the game against Cali America, Sao Paulo once again hid most of the main players. Ricardo and Kaka stayed on the bench.

When the game progressed to the 80th minute, Sao Paulo was still 1:2 behind, and Santos could take revenge.

Only then did Rojas let Ricardo and Kaka play to find their status.

The two played together presented a series of wonderful cooperation for the fans, and in the 86th minute, they used an alley-oop to break into Santos' penalty area, and Kaka volleyed from a small angle.

With a score of 2:2, Rojas accepted it with satisfaction.

Undefeated Sao Paulo still lead the standings in the second group of the Sao Paulo State Championship.

On February 4, Sao Paulo chartered a flight to Colombia.

Cali America is Colombia's team that has won the second most championships in the First Division, and it is a well-deserved giant.

They have reached the final of the South American Copa Libertadores 6 times, but without exception, they all fell before the championship trophy, which is considered a very hard-working team.

Especially from 1985 to 1987, they made it to the finals three times and came in second place three times. Those who heard about it were sad, and it really made people shed tears of sympathy.

Sao Paulo is a little better, but since they won the Copa Libertadores for two consecutive years in 1992 and 1993, they have been away from the championship of this event for 9 years.

They urgently need a champion to prove that they are still Brazil's top giants!

At the press conference, Roberto Rojas, who was coaching a top team for the first time, appeared with a humble attitude: "Calli America is a century-old club. Last year they just won their twelfth national championship trophy. A difficult opponent. In the game, we will focus on defense. Their Ferreira and Castillo are very threatening players, and we will pay attention to it in the game."

The head coach of Cali America, Lozada, also expressed his respect for Sao Paulo, but he still didn't take Sao Paulo seriously in his words: "Sao Paulo is a strong team, but I don't know them well. In our At home, we will follow our usual style of play and will not make special adjustments. Ricardo? I have heard of him. He has been selected for the new Brazilian national team. He is still very young and has a bright future .But Gonzalez will do his job."