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Spring cleaning

May 3, 2012 by Kristian Bengtson

Without much noise and rather efficiently, Palmeiras are promoting a (European) spring cleaning (it’s actually autumn over here). Players have been leaving in a steady stream: Gerley and Chico are now defending first division teams Bahia and Coritiba respectively, while Tinga (Ceará), Fernandão (Atlético Paranaense) and recently also Pedro Carmona (São Caetano) will have to adapt to the second echelon of Brazilian football. Ricardo Bueno is flying back to Atlético Mineiro as soon as his contract expires this coming Monday. And Leandro Amaro is possibly leaving for Portuguesa (although he firmly denies it himself and expresses his wish to remain at the Verdão).
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None of these players will be particularly missed, although I’ve personally never held anything against Chico and Fernandão. Nevertheless, one cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that these player are going to second-, even third-rated teams; an indication of (lack of) quality if any. And as Daniel Grandesso of the Maluco pelo Palmeiras blog correctly points out: five out of seven players mentioned above came with Scolari’s approval. One – Carmona – was even offered an interesting salary raise at the beginning of the year as part of the (successful) attempt to NOT see him leave for Japan. Money well spent?

Cleaning out leaves room for new faces. Felipe, an attacking midfielder on loan to Mogi Mirim, is returning home in a few days. The other week I wrote about the arrivals of Left-winger Fernandinho and offensive midfielder Mazinho (the latter made his debut against Paraná). And Scolari has provided Sampaio and the directors with a wish list that certainly contains both defensive midfielders and attackers. Two questions: does Scolari still have the eye? Do Palmeiras have deep enough pockets to bring in some quality?

Hopefully, some of the more promising kids from the youth academy well get their shot at stardom. Today it was announced that Bruno Dybal has signed a new, three-year contract with Palmeiras; excellent news, as the 17-year-old midfielder has been arousing the interest of other clubs.

And there it is. Let’s wait and see. As usual, there’s not much else one can do. Which is actually good; I’d hate to see another MOP campaign.

AVANTI PALESTRA!

— ooo —

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the Mídia Palestrina app for android (iOS version expected soon) was downloaded and installed on more than 1.500 smartphones and tablets within 36 hours of launching. And not only that: the app was today featured on Google Play’s Brazilian homepage – isn’t that spectacular?!

Posted in Administration, Players | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Don’t go without it

May 1, 2012 by Kristian Bengtson

Have you ever wondered how it would be to get the most updated and in-the-loop information on Palmeiras compiled and made available in one, sexy package? Well, you need to wonder no more: if you run android on your smartphone or tablet, hurry get Mídia Palestrina, free of charge and without advertisement.

The Mídia Palestrina app – launched earlier this week and developed by yours truly in partnership with professional programmer and palmeirense Rafael Barrelo – gives you access to the best blogs, websites and radios made by palmeirenses. It also provides updated tables, results and information on forthcoming games. There’s even live broadcasting during Palmeiras’ games courtesy of Web Radio Verdão and Antena Verde!

Of course most of the content is in Portuguese, but Anything Palmeiras hopefully will cater for most of you non-Portuguese speaking people’s needs.

Download the app directly from Google Play and have it install automatically. It’s as simple as that!

iPhone/iPad user: a version for your gadget is in the pipeline. Stay tuned!

Posted in This blog/blogger | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments »

Finding my way home

April 29, 2012 by Kristian Bengtson

The latest printed edition of Café – Sweden’s largest lifestyle magazine – features an article on football in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, aimed at Swedes looking for some football-related fun in Brazil. The article is written by freelancer Henrik Jönsson and the information contained in the section dealing with Palmeiras has at large been provided by yours truly. Enjoy this rare opportunity to brush up on your Swedish!
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Posted in Advertisement, This blog/blogger | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Paraná 1-2 Palmeiras

April 27, 2012 by Kristian Bengtson

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Palmeiras finally give signs of recovering from the dramatic dip in performance and confidence ever since that defeat against Corinthians in early April. Already knocked out of the São Paulo Championship, Wednesday’s away game against Paraná was crucial. The result – a win by the score of two goals to one – leaves Palmeiras in good conditions to secure a spot in the quarter-finals of the Brazil Cup. The second leg will be played on 9 or 10 April.

Scolari provoked some changes to the squad, swapping heavily criticised Deola for second keeper Bruno, promoting recently arrived Mazinho on Luan (suspended) and Valdivia pairing with Barcos. Both Bruno and Mazinho left good to great impressions, partly comforting the supporter fearing a more acute lack of options on the bench. Especially Deola might have to get used to playing second violin. For how long, only time will tell.

The pitch of the Durival de Britto stadium in Coritiba endured perfectly well the hours of heavy rain and permitted a good game of football. The wetness even proved an ally for the lethal professional named Marcos Assunção. With uncanny precision he opened up the scorecard with a textbook free kick: over the wall, centimetres from the post, dropping to hit the slippery grass only a meter or so in front of the diving keeper. Unfortunately, minutes later he left the pitch due to pains in a leg and a few ribs – injuries contracted during the game against Guarani.

Overall, Palmeiras dominated the action but suffered the equalizer before halftime in one of Paranás few opportunities. Luckily, this time nerves stayed in place and our players methodically continued creating opportunities, not least through Mazinho’s investments on the left flank. It was however the opportunist Patrik who recovered a ball deep in enemy territory and rapidly advanced into the penalty zone before being summarily mowed down by a Paraná defender. While Valdivia discussed with the referee, calling for a yellow card, centre-back Henrique stepped up and placed the ball on the chalk. He slammed the penalty high and hard in the middle, closing the scorecard. A good result, actually great considering the circumstances. Highlights below.
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With two weeks to rest and practice, the squad has plenty of time to get prepared for the return game. Felipão should have Daniel Carvalho and Assunção once again at his disposal. It takes just one victory to make palmeirenses smile again.

AVANTI PALESTRA!

Posted in Brazil Cup | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments »

facebook friends x 1.000

April 24, 2012 by Kristian Bengtson

Just seconds ago, Charles Gonçalves became the 1.000th person to join Anything Palmeiras’ ever growing circle of facebook friends! Join the family you to by scrolling down this page and clicking on the “like” button to your right; it’s the clever thing to do, as facebook feeds are a terrific way of getting updates on what matters most to you: your friends and Palmeiras!

Thank you Charlie and everybody else for supporting Anything Palmeiras! I’ll see you here and there!

Kristian

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Sonar pings #42

April 23, 2012 by Kristian Bengtson

Life’s a bitch and keeps the pace. This coming Wednesday will prove more important than Sunday ever was, as Palmeiras take on Paraná at the Durival Britto stadium in Curitiba. Paraná is a second division team – both nationally and in their state league – and have not done very well this year. The return game is scheduled for 9 May. If Palmeiras fail to qualify for the next round in the Brazil Cup, heads will roll. And I’ll personally be looking for a decent axe.

A lot has happened off the pitch in the last week or so. What follows is the briefest of summaries:

Midfielder Bruno Dybal is one of few stars in Palmeiras’ youth academy and rumours are Corinthians have been wanting to snatch the 17-year-old as he would be free to sign a pre-contract with any team by the end of 2012. A new agreement negotiated with Palmeiras acts as an extension of the current agreement by two more years, in addition to reducing Palmeiras’ share in the player from 70% to 50%. Signing should occur any day now.

Left-winger Fernandinho and offensive midfielder Mazinho – both from Oeste de Itápolis – have joined the squad after having caught Scolari’s attention. With contracts running until the end of the year, Palmeiras hold pole position in case any of the two prove worth the investment of an extended contract. Fernandinho is 26 years old and has already played for Vasco, São Caetano, Sport and Avaí. Left-footed Mazinho is 24 years old and has played for Marília, Noroeste, São Caetano and América-RN. They are both unwritten pages as far as I’m concerned. Their official presentation was supposed to take place today, but due to yesterday’s negative result, it was postponed until tomorrow Tuesday. Yeah, like we’re all going to be so much more excited tomorrow… Anyway, Welcome both of you – if you can make it here you’ll make it anywhere.

Meanwhile, our dear president Tirone has (again) managed to make a fool out of himself. In the beginning of last week a meeting was held at the São Paulo Football Federation HQ to vote on quarter-final arrangements in the São Paulo Championship. Mr Tirone left no doubt in anyone’s mind that he is clueless in regard to the most basic rules and regulations of the championship. Painfully embarrassing.   

Saturday 21 April marked the 95th anniversary of Palmeiras’ first game at Parque Antarctica/Palestra Itália. Neat. Although I must admit I’m more than tired of remembering glorious moments of the past.

And to finish things off, a piece of good news: the political movement for change within Palmeiras named “Fanfulla” have announced they will launch their own and hopefully unifying political platform for the 2013 elections – the aim of course being to get as many progressive counsellors as possible elected. In time, new blood and new ideas will rock the old boat sufficiently for the rats to abandon ship.

AVANTI PALESTRA!

Posted in Administration, Brazil Cup, Players | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Recipe – crap cake

April 22, 2012 by Kristian Bengtson

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The outcome of today’s quarter-final against Guarani in the São Paulo Championship was sort of outlined if considering Palmeiras’ inability to defeat Comercial in the last round before the knockout phase. Against Comercial – already relegated to the second division, with an interim coach, players on strike due to unpaid wages and with two players sent off already within minutes of the second half – Palmeiras managed a draw, and this after twice having to fight back defeat. The team can at best be described as unorganised, nervous and even – at times – lacking commitment. Add Deola’s bizarre performance against Guarani to the mix… Palmeiras distribute slap after slap in the face of all palmeirenses and especially those few thousand brave souls that show up at the stadium come rain come sunshine.

Final score: Guarani 3-2 Palmeiras. Thankfully, also Corinthians were eliminated after suffering defeat against Ponte Preta and by the same score. The other semi-final will be composed by Santos vs. São Paulo.

In case you are inclined to torture feel free to check out the highlights of Palmeiras’ two most recent games – against Comercial then Guarani.

The question is: how can a team with a streak of 22 undefeated games crash so completely? Some serious academic work needs to be carried out; possibly neuroscientist and palmeirense Miguel Nicolelis could take the lead?

Well, maybe the answer is beyond science, lurking somewhere in the occult and unknown. Scary thought…

Perhaps we needn’t look further than to the same old mix of ingredients we’ve learnt to distinguish in the crap cake served year after year: 1 cup of decent players; 3 spoons of mercenaries; 1 cup of weak players; 2 pinches of quality players; 3 cups of really lousy club management; 4 cups of archaic club structure; 3 cups of ignorant and selfish counsellors, 3 cups of supporter pressure; 2 cups of biased press; 1 cup of partial referees; 1 cup of injuries; 1 cup of plain old bad luck. Stir well, serve hot.

AVANTI PALESTRA? Difficult this way.

Posted in Administration, Opinion, S. Paulo Championship | Leave a Comment »

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