What a season Brasileirao 2008 is. Six rounds to go, after 32 games, two clubs are tied topping the league with 59 points (Gremio and back-to-back title holder Sao Paulo). Two other clubs, Cruzeiro and Palmeiras (both with Italian background) are in the Libertadores qualifying zone with 58. And we still have Flamengo, most popular club in the country, with 56 chasing the leaders.

Sao Paulo is in its way up. They were not between the top four a couple of rounds ago but it is notorious their power near the end of the season since Brasileirao is not played with Playoffs finals, but only regular season (they won two out of five and qualified for every Libertadores since then).

But if I had to put some money, I would say Cruzeiro is strong enough to beat Sao Paulo this time. They have a very good and well coached team, everybody knows exactly what they have to do on the field. In the field, they have everything Sao Paulo has and a plus. Three in fact. They have three very  good players. Players that are probably doing their farewell season in Brazil.

Wagner is the brain. A spectacular midfielder that reads the game and always find the best option. Ramires is the lung. He runs like Usain Bolt and is everywhere. He is a defensive midfielder but got the talent and the skill to run with the ball and pass it. Finally, they have Guilherme. Fast and furious Aguero-Romario style. Kind of player born to score and do the difference in small areas.

I don`t believe Palmeiras, Gremio and Flamengo got a chance to win. But they are three of the most winners in the whole history of Brazil and South-America. Together they have two Fifa World Championship, four Libertadores ands more than ten Brasileirao titles.

I have a clue. But I would never guess.

This is the best gossip I got from inside the olympic Village (actually the second best, but the first one I will have to take to my grave). It is not new at all that players like Rafa Nadal, Ronaldinho, Kobe Bryant, and many others are like idols for the others misters and misses nobody from the Olympics.

"I was sorry for Nadal. He can't have lunch, he needs to take pictures with athletes every two minutes", told me a table tennis guy. "I saw Yao Ming being rude to a guy that asked for a pic", told me another.

These two guys and two others confirmed to me that Messi can walk alone the whole day that nobody wants to take a picture with him. "Nobody knows him", told me a girl from Brazilian volleyball.

Anyway, if nobody wants to talk to Lionel, Kobe Bryant himsel said he was dying to get to know the Argentinean. Kobe was at Brazil x Argentina game and also at the football final.

BEIJING (CHINA) - Ambruse Vanzekin probably crossed Isinbayeva at the Olympic Village in his way to the Bird's Nest to play against Argentina the final.

This is the only reasonable excuse for the Nigerian keeper to go out of his small area to try to stop Argentina. This move was really unfortunate. Di Maria had no chance to score if the keeper stayed 'at home'.

Anyway, maybe this is hust my Brazilian part trying to believe Nigeria could win. But Argentina was the best and now they got this second gold medal and we don't have any (in football, in the overall standings at the Olympics Brazil comes first, of course).

My chat with the girl in the picture next to the Bird’s Nest was something like this...

- Hi, do you like Brazil?
- I love Beijing. I live here.
- Bra zil! BA GI (Brazil in Chinese). Brazil, not Beijing!
- Not so much
- What?
- Not so much. No.
- Really?
- Yes.
- Why are you wearing this t shirt anyway?
- I like the color

It is like Confucius always said: “Be honest and people will post about you at their blogs”

BEIJING (CHINA) - Communication is by far the biggest enigma from Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. It doesn’t matter if you know the name of your destination in Chinese. When you speak, they just don’t understand. The accent is so different that I already gave up.

For the worst moments, a telephone number with a friend who speaks the local language is the only option.

But, even the telephone can fail. So here is my sad history:

My accreditation is not valid for tennis. I am a huge fan of Roger Federer and I made a lot of effort to get a pass for one of his games. But, I had to do table tennis before as part of my work here. I had enough time. One hour left between the end of my article in the table tennis venue and the Olympic Green, where the tennis courts are.

So I asked a volunteer to help me to find a cab and tell him where he should go. They spoke 3 minutes in Chinese, looked at me and gave me lots of OK OK OK OK. After 50 minutes in the cab (wow) I was at the venue. 10 minutes to the game. Nice! I passed through security and finally I was there... in the BADMINTON VENUE!

I lost the game. Federer lost the game to James Blake. I definitely have to improve my Chinese beyond Ni Hao.  

BEIJING (CHINA) - Forget about Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps and 'ping pong'. Get ready for some real action here in the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. Bring on your masks, cause the smog pollution we are obliged to breathe here every day will be heavier on Tuesday 19 when Brazil and Argentina comes to town and enter the field for the first time ever in an Olympic football competition. OleOle is here and we will be there!

This game should be the gold medal one on Saturday at the amazing Olympic Stadium, the Bird's Nest (pic from the field), but becomes even more tragic as one of the two lifetime rivals won’t have the opportunity to run for gold. Argentina is the defending champion. They qualified January 2007 in a dramatic match against Uruguay, decided in extra time.

For Brazil, gold medal is an obsession. Every player wants to give the first gold medal to the country. This title, the only major one Brazil never won it, would transform the 18 players and the permanent under pressure coach into heroes.

Romario (silver in 1988), Ronaldo (bronze in 1996) and Ronaldinho (quaterfinals 2000) are often called chokers cause they lost the Games in their times. Even Dunga, the Brazilian National Coach, got ‘just’ a silver medal in 1984 as a player.

Because this is huge in Brazil, every player wants to play. Ronaldinho and Kaká said no to Copa America last year in Venezuela, but they fought hard to be in Beijing. Kaká lost his personal battle with AC Milan but Ronaldinho had a master play by negotiating his absence from the same Italian team before he signed his new contract. Robinho, the best player in Copa America, was stopped from Real Madrid to join BNT in China. “He is very upset, he dreamt of being in the Olympics”, told me here Diego, his closest friend since they played together.

Diego himself, old enough to play for the under 23 team yet, had to escape from Werder Bremen to be part of the team, the same that Rafinha, from Schalke 04, had to do. “Win this medal is like a World Cup for us and besides, this place is so cool. If I have some time I want to watch the Dream Team playing basketball”, he completed.

Ronaldinho is the single star from Brazilian team. Argentina, one more time, seems stronger with Messi, Riquelme and Aguero. But let’s remember Brazil have won mostly of the most important games with a not so Joga Bonito team, including last Copa America.

CARDÍACOS! O Dr. Costantino Costantini arrumou o coração do Washington, que vive uma vida normal com seus stents. Pois o cardiologista bem que poderia estar de plantão no Maracanã nesta noite. Não pelo jogador, mas pelos outros tantos mil presentes. Tá louco... que jogo foi esse?

JUSTIÇA SEJA FEITA - A LDU jogou os primeiros 10 minutos. Fez o primeiro, quase fez o segundo. Depois, só atacou de novo depois do terceiro gol. Mas, quando jogou, jogou bem. Tanto lá quando cá. Não teve uma trajetória tão brilhante pelo caminho como teve o Fluminense, mas certamente é um grande campeão.

JUSTIÇA SEJA FEITA 2 - O Fluminense foi bravo. Virou um jogo depois de um golpe duro no começo. O título foi perdido naqueles 10 minutos de bobeira no primeiro tempo do primeiro jogo. Depois, o Flu foi melhor.

ESSA ZAGA... Durante o jogo, a zaga do Fluminense quase matou todo mundo do coração também. Erraram passes ridículos, atravessaram bolas muito perigosas na frente da área.

RENATO PERCEBEU e, ao meu ver, sabiamente só escalou os craques, os meias habilidosos e os atacantes para bater pênalti.

DEU NO QUE DEU e Conca, Thiago Neves e Washington perderam. Esse tal de futebol...

THIAGO NEVES viveu o céu e o inferno como faz tempo não se via no futebol. Estava iluminado. Fez três gols e perdeu duas chances de fazer o quarto. Em ambas (cabeçada que bateu na zaga e chute de canhota que goleiro pegou), fez a coisa certa. Coisas da vida.

CEVALLOS é o herói mais chato da história do futebol. Em pelo três ocasiões que eu contei, ele ficou mais de 6 segundos com a bola na mão. Em todos os tiros de meta ele fez cera. Nas cobranças de pênalti foi genial. Lembrando grandes goleiros catimbeiros da história do futebol. O que ele fez no pênalti do Thiago Neves eu não conheço precedentes na história do futebol. Nem o Henao foi tão chato!

FALTOU GÁS? Os dois times cansaram. Mas nitidamente o Flu cansou mais. Até porque o time correu demais durante os primeiros 60 minutos mais ou menos.

GUERRON - Eu achei que o Guerron tava morto. Aquele pique no lance da expulsão do Luis Alberto foi algo de extraordinário.

JUIZÃO foi mal. Mas para os dois lados. Se não deu um pênalti e permitiu que o goleirão mandasse nos pênaltis, anulou um gol legítimo dos caras no final da prorrogação.

LANTERNA - Não vai ser mole acordar nesta quinta-feira para o torcedor tricolor. De Tóquio a Segundona em questão de minutos de uma disputa de pênaltis.

LDU WHO? Uma possível final de Mundial entre LDU e Manchester United. Nem a loira nem a morena jamais poderiam imaginar uma coisa dessa, né não?

ESPERA QUE DEPOIS VAI TER MAIS NESTE POST...

What a show Riquelme performed last night here in Brazil. Gremio had to win by 3 goals to take the game to Penalty kicks in the second leg of the great final of Copa Libertadores between Gremio and Boca Jrs.

In the first half, Gremio had probably their only chance when a Diego Souza hit the bar. After that, Boca Jrs and Riquelme dominated all the actions and the final result was Boca 2 x 0 Gremio. It could have been three, but Palermo, as usual, missed a penalty kick.

The penalty, by the way, was suffered by Riquelme, the man of the night, who had scored both goals for Boca, including an amazing shoot to open the score.

Riquelme now is expected to join Argentina for the Copa America (final list from Basile will be issued today) and also go back to Europe, althought there is already a big comotion in Buenos Aires to try to keep the player one more season or at least until the Fifa Club World Champions in December in Japan where the team could meet AC Milan in the great final.

- O Kleber matou duas vezes no peito antes de colocar magistralmente a bola no ângulo contrário do chute. Gol clássico.

- A estrela de Dagoberto, que em 45 minutos, não consegui jogar tudo o que pode, mas levantou a toricda com uma pedalada, fez um golaço corretamente anulado por milímetros de impedimento e, melhor, foi decisivo com a assistência do gol da vitória.

- Kaká colocando Cristiano Ronaldo no bolso, correndo 10 km em campo molhado, fazendo golaço de canhota e, finalmente, não vendo ninguém a sua frente na briga pelo título de melhor jogador do mundo da temporada.

- Mas acho que nada supera Sessa, o tosco goleiro do Velez, que protagonizou um lance que nem Fabio Costa no auge poderia reproduzir. Quem não viu, é só procurar por aí.

Interrompida a boa fase do Colorado dos últimos anos. A equipe foi irreconhecível na partida contra o Velez, em que levou de 3 x 0. Os argentinos pisaram na camisa do Campeão Mundial, que mal chutou em gol.

Fosse o grupo baba como o do Santos ou do Flamengo, tranquilo. Mas o Inter corre sério risco de ficar de fora da segunda fase da Libertadores. Precisa torcer para o Emelec.

Tenho minhas dúvidas se a tática de colocar o time reserva tanto tempo no Gauchão tenha sido a melhor. O time parece estar fazendo pré-temporada na hora de jogar sério. Mas agora é fácil falar.

Uma pena. O Inter, no papel, é melhor que o São Paulo e o Santos e muito na frente de Grêmio, Flamengo e Paraná.

Em campo, tem sido pior que todos.

detalhe da foto.. Hernan Pellerano, que jogou pelo Velez, e é separado no nascimento do astro Ginobili, da NBA