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.

Season is getting started in most of the National Leagues but in Brazil we are already in a very important moment.  As I told befor here at OleOle, Brasileirao is the most difficult national league to win in the world.

Pick any of the top leagues in the world and you know the winner will be one of four teams max. In Spain, everybody knows the winner will be Barcelona or Real Madrid. They should have a playoff NBA like between them.  Seven games.

Premier League is a little bit better as we used to have four, but everybody knows Arsenal can’t make it never so there are three possible winners, like in Italy. I am not even mentioning France, where only one team can win.

In Brazil, we never know. Twelve clubs start the season as favorites.  All of them have their own crowd, stadium and history.

Of course our best players are in Europe.

Certainly our managers suck.

Definitely our fans are not really well treated.

But nowhere else in the world a championship is so difficult to win.

I am not talking surprising results. I am talking about major and favorite teams.

It is not by accident that in 38 years in the so called Brasileirão, 17 teams were already Champions.
The greatest winners, Flamengo and São Paulo, have only 5 titles, the same number Real Madrid can have in a single decade in the Spanish League.

Brasileirão is always unpredictable. No Boca/River domination! 

Anyway, it is starting to become predictable now.  Fourteen rounds to be played, Grêmio is 6 points ahead Palmeiras and Cruzeiro, tied in second place. Grêmio is 10 points ahead the 6th  place, São Paulo.

Game of the week

Cruzeiro x Palmeiras

Tied with 43 points at the second position in the table, this is a key game for the Championship. They are both 5 points down the leader, Gremio. One loss can make one team eight points back in the table.

To watch

São Paulo x Flamengo

Here is another game ‘of six points’. I think the winner is definitely going to next year Copa Libertadores (top four teams qualify). São Paulo is the defending back-to-back champion. Morumbi stadium in Sao Paulo will probably be full as Sao Paulo needs to win to reach Libertadores level, as the fans are very mad if the team, three times Libertadores and Fifa Club World Cup Champions, don’t make the continental competition.

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) - Boys from Brazilian National Team: Here is a lesson. Watch the videotape from Gold Medal game between Brazil x United States in women’s football in Summer Olympics. Brazilians girls showed everything you didn’t show. Balls, to start with.

I confess I am not really into women’s football. Exception for a few players (like Marta, Hamm, Prings and that amazing German goalkeeper that I forgot the name) I don’t think they know how to play. Most of the plays seem to me a game of 4 year-old kids that go wherever the ball is and kick no matter which direction. It looks like football, but it is not. They should have a different name like Baseball and Softball.

But this small detail doesn’t stop me to know what a gold medal means (the game was the most important feature in the Chinese newspaper China Daily yesterday - pic). Especially to Brazil, just one gold so far in the competition (in Athens, we had 5). I couldn’t watch the game live cause I were covering Track ‘n Field. I watched later a good part of the game.

Brazilian girls, unlike our sleep men, fought the whole time. It is not easy to play against the United States. We had in mind we could repeat the semifinal result at the World Cup last year, but what we saw actually was a real good and consistent game from the North-Americans, especially at defense.

The silver for our girls is not exactly what we all expected. But I am sure Brazil is proud of their girls, just the opposite of our feeling about the boys.

And congrats to the Americans players. In case of woman, these girls have the right to say: ‘football is coming home’.

BEIJING (CHINA) - It was the night of the nights in Beijing. A full Worker’s Stadium watched a master class from Argentina against useless Ronaldinho’s Brazil. Kun Aguero (2) and Riquelme penalty kick put the defending gold medal champions into the Beijing Summer Olympics final.

A personal nightmare for me since I bet with this Argentinean journalist that each goal would of the final would turn into a scorpion-in-a-stick. Thanks a lot Ronaldinho! I had three and my stomach woke up very happy this morning.

Anyway, about the crowed and the experience: very nice. Chinese people were really (I mean reaaaally) divided into the two teams.

They probably wanted to see a good game only and maybe some Ronaldinho-Riquelme-Messi action. It is funny to see them watching the game. A throw in is already something to be cheered.

There were a few Brazilians and Argentineans among the 50 thousand fans in the game. You don’t’ need more than a hundred of them to make a lot of noise. During the first half the Chinese decided they had to watch the fans and not the game.

They were absolutely right as the game was zero entertainment. In the crowd, however, every PUTA or CARALHO or BOLUDO were celebrated by them. The Chinese definitely like Spanish and Portuguese dirty words. That was all new for them, like a movie or a joke. 

They also were introduced to people that doesn’t know how to loose. Brazilian’s anger with their own team is probably new for them team. Chinese have been so supportive with all their athletes, even the losers that they will never forget this moment. “How come your are offending Ronaldinho?” It takes a Brazilian to answer this question!

But, since I got here, let’s say, this is the first time I see a HOLA (Mexican wave) done without the big screen asking for it. Like a NBA show, here in Beijing, at Basketball, track n’ field, table tennis, beach volleyball, tennis and all others events I watched, the crowed had to be asked to do something. Nothing is spontaneous. Not very football, right? A football fan doesn’t need a D-FENCE sign to know when it is time to shout or not. But this time was different. The HOLA was started alone and the Chinese just forgot the game after that for at least round 10 laps.

In the second half, the game finally began. I mean Argentinean’s game, of course. Aguero twice (one out of play) and two shots by Brazil at the bar (Brazilian’s single two shots) made the boring game transform into real action. Brazil tried to do something but Ronaldinho and his young friends couldn’t show some offensive game.

The third goal, penalty kick from Riquelme, came out and Brazil completely lost its nerves. Lucas and Thiago Neves got red cards for violent plays and Brazil is now going for bronze against Belgium while Argentina and Nigeria will repeat 1996 Atlanta final when the African’s with inspired Kanu got the gold medal. Party that I had to watch the players doing at the bus.

After the game, I went to the press conference and mixed zone. Carlos Dunga, Brazilian Coach, said he will keep working with the team, but serious rumors put him out of his position after the bronze medal game or maybe against Chile, in Santiago, for the 2010 World Cup Qualifying.

I asked Lucas from Liverpool why he lost it after 3-0 and he was quite upset about it. He looked into my eyes and said it was completely unfair his red card (!!??). I don’t know what kind of football he had been playing in Liverpool but it seemed to me a red card call indeed.

Anderson from Man United said the score could not mirror what the game had been so far. Pato was sad cause he thought he had to play more minutes (Dunga put him on the bench after two terrible first games in the competition). 

Lots of excuses, but where Ronaldinho was? He didn’t show up. He was at the doping room, pissing, while Brazil’s 180 million people are quite pissed about him!

BEIJING (CHINA) - Brazil vs Argentina in a World Cup would be Premium football tickets. In Beijing, the semifinal in the Summer Olympics Games football competition is not so hard to get a ticket as they could be.

Popular, but not so much in China, football is also not a really winning medal sport to the hosts, which keep beating hard the Americans in the overall gold medal standings.

I have my own media pass to the game but I decided, in the name of this blog, walk around and talk to some of the guys selling tickets on major venues. Suprisingly, I could find many people selling them. No so cheap, of course, but I saw at least 30 tickets in less than 15 minutes.

The guys selling, with one or two exceptions, are Chinese guys and they definately don't look like professional resellers. They probably bought those tickets long time ago to make some money. I say that cause you could see one ticket only from each kind in thier hands, mostly of athletics and table tennis and badminton, very popular sports in China.

The football ticket official price category C costs 200 yuan. This is about U$ 33. The first guy that I met with a ticket told me he would sell it for 3,000 yuan. 1400% overprice (about U$ 500). I tried to negotiate but he said no.

I moved on and a couple of blocks away I found a pair of tickets. This time the guy said he would make 5,000 yuan for both. A better offer indeed. This guy could speak English a little so I tried, not to negotiate, but ask why those tickets were so ‘expensive’.

He probably knew about football as much as I know about badminton. Anyway, he was smart enough to buy those too a month ago e even smarter to study about the game he was seelling. He told me: “This game is better than the final.”

As we can see, the Chinese don’t necessarily need to know anything about what they are selling to make good business.       

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.