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Palmeiras were once again put to the test last Saturday, this time against an opponent carrying some weight – Figueirense, from Florianópolis – and on hostile ground. Would Valdivia confirm his ascending curve? Would Alan Kardec make his debut? Would the Verdão bag another three points? Yes, yes and yes.
Rising to the top of the tables, Palmeiras showed power of reaction: after Leandro having missed a penalty, Palmeiras went into halftime behind on the score sheet. Returning considerably more alight and with Kardec as the reference point up front, chances materialised: a shot from Vinícius was cleverly deflected by Vilson, finding the net. Shortly after, André Luiz bagged his first brace in the Palmeiras jersey, taking advantage of Figueirense’s weak aerial coverage, multiplied by the fact that the team had just become one man short. Palmeiras suffered the equalizer before Kardec, five minutes from stoppage time, put his forehead to a cross from Ronny, saw the ball hit the post and proceed in the direction of Valdivia, who securely placed it where it belonged. Don’t miss the highlights.
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Palmeiras have a week of training before next Saturday’s clash with current 12th positioned Guaratinguetá. With more quality players available than ever before – Kardec, Eguren, Menezes – coach Kleina have interesting options to explore.
— ooo —
The extinction of the Palmeiras B team, swapping Barcos for four Grêmio players and the signings during the Confederations Cup brought total number of players in the Palmeiras squad to well over forty. That is now being corrected, mostly by placing players in other teams to gain experience: young Chico is playing for Santo André, João Denoni and Emerson for Oeste. Patrik is at Sport, while midfielder Tiago Real is heading for Náutico to join Maikon Leite and Leandro Amaro. Weldinho seems to be heading for Sporting/POR. The only player who has left “for good” is Maurício Ramos, now at Sharja FC. Well, there’s also the striker Kleber, who recently returned to Porto/POR after a not very impressive season over here.
Still no news on a master sponsor…
But apparently there’s a launch of an upgraded version of the supporter programme “Avanti” due within the week. Stay tuned!
ANYTHING PALMEIRAS 