Football Season Guide

A solid run, last season, but perhaps short from the expectations put on the team in the beginning of the campaign. Surely a lower standing the over-ambitious chairman Petraglia was aiming for. A final in Recopa lost to River Plate and a title winning in FIFA’s Suruga’s competition were certainly no short achievements, though. The highly competent and promising Tiago Nunes left to join big team Corinthians. Nunes’ successor is the outdated and very questionable Dorival Júnior, whose last job was an unsuccessful spell at Flamengo… in 2018. Team is expected to drop from their modern, competent and bold style from the last two years, and the typical Série A pragmatism is expected to be the norm. Centre-half Aguilar, midfielders Richard, Canesin and Marquinhos Gabriel and forwards Geuvânio and Carlos Eduardo are unquestionably talented, but most of them arrived on loan and almost none is coming from a good season, in 2019. The most problematic aspect for 2020 is that absolute star Bruno Guimarães left, which was expected, but no really comparable replacement was brought in. Also, the prolific striker Ruben was back to his home country, leaving a big empty spot for the position. Rony and Cirino, two very important forwards last season, are also gone. Goalkeeper Santos (now with a very important deputy in Jandrei), defenders Adriano and Aguilar, midfielder Marquinhos and attackers Carlos Eduardo, Nikão and Geuvânio are solid talents, but the team will be highly dependent on the uprising of several young talents if they expect to hold a top-7 position in the end.