Draws, draws and more damned draws.
No match against Grêmio in the first Group Stage of the State Championships for a change, though we were drawn with perennial champions Internacional. A poor start saw us take just one point from the first three games which included a frankly humiliating 4-1 thrashing by São José (they would also beat us 2-1 in the return match). Winning five of the remain seven fixtures saw us scrape through to the next stage, however there was no masking the fact that once again we had under-achieved in the early stage and only progressed due to a degree of luck.
The second Group Stage saw a mixed bag of results with a creditable 0-0 against Internacional and a good 3-1 victory over Grêmio being offset against poor results against Brasil de Pelotas. Ultimately we managed third place in the group (again) and our involvement was over for another season.
The Copa do Brasil presented us with a favourable First Round draw against J. Malucelli, however the first leg proved to be a struggle and only a dramatic late equaliser (95th minute) prevented us going into the home tie a goal behind. An early sending off in the second leg made the game something of a formality, especially as it was followed by a further three red cards and five goals. While the aggregate scoreline of 6-1 was close to what would have been expected before the matches kicked-off, it’s fair to say that on balance of play it was extremely harsh on J. Malucelli who played exceptionally well. It also highlighted the fact that for some reason we were stuttering in terms of creativity. The Second Round required a similar second leg escape after we were beaten 3-1 by Londrina in the first leg. Again the 4-0 victory against 10 men did little to mask the fact that 11 v 11 we were struggling to create and take chances. A relatively easy Third Round 4-1 aggregate victory over América (MG), who managed to keep 11 men on the pitch throughout both games, saw us progress to the Quarter Finals for the first time where we would meet Coritiba, the team responsible for last season’s Third Round exit. Our lack of attacking guile and defensive frailty were easily exposed by the better quality opponent and we lost 5-2 on aggregate.
Serié A started with a seven match unbeaten run, though worryingly only one of the matches ended in victory – the win being all the sweeter as it was against Grêmio. From that point onwards the season became a series of draws interspersed with the occasional win or loss. Regardless of team selection or tactics it always seemed that we lacked the creativity required to make enough chances to finish teams off, while we were never defensively sound enough to grind out a result. Constantly picking up points kept us just ahead of the relegation places all season but never allowed us to break into the mid-table pack and the season eventually fizzled out to a 15th place position, two points clear of relegation. Strangely we drew exactly 50% of our league games which was disappointing as turning a few of those into victories would have seen us climb the table. Oddly enough, the division as a whole saw a lot of teams with similarly high drawn match tallies.
Season Overview.
Finances.
Attendances were slightly down on last season and with net transfer spending seeing more money leave the club than come in, we were unable to clear the club’s debt. However, debt stands at a manageable level and could well be cleared before the end of 2012 if wages remain under budget.
Team Performances.
It was mentioned earlier but it’s worth bringing up again, the team lacks the ability to grab the killer goal or keep the opponent out and as a consequence we drew far too many Serié A games. The State Championships were a disappointment once more as the under achievement continued. The highlight of the campaign were undoubtedly the second leg comebacks in the Copa do Brasil, though whether they would have happened without the referees’ intervention is debatable, if not downright unlikely.
Transfers.
Only two players were brought into the club and both were defenders. Neither added the necessary steel to the back-line that was so obviously needed, though Alex could develop into a very good player.
The five players allowed to leave were all reserve team players fed up of waiting for a chance in the first team. None will be missed particularly, though it was disappointing that more money wasn’t raised from their departures.
