Canuck Oranje Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Once again, January marks the beginning of the Copa Sao Paulo de Juniores (Sao Paulo Youth Cup) also known as the Copinha. For the for the purist hardcore soccer fanatic, this is one for you. It would be soccer's equivalent to NCAA's March Madness in Basketball but even bigger. The Copa Sao Paulo this year will be contested by teams made up of players born in 1989,1990, 1991, and 1992. Teams come from every state in Brazil and virtually all of the biggest pro clubs in Brazil are represented. How big is the tournament? There are 88 teams with 25 player rosters (2,200 players total) divided into groups of four. That means 232 games in the first round (round robin) alone. After that, the tournament goes into a single elimination format with 32 teams going through to the second round. The tournament runs from January 5 - January 25. For young players in Brazil, this is the tournament that can make or break your future professional career. Players from remote states will strut their stuff in from of scouts from all the professional clubs in Brazil and some from outside. This is the tournament that first introduced Rai, Kaka, Alexandre Pato(2006), and last year, Breno (recently signed by Bayern Munich). Apparently AC Milan already has their eyes on a young centre back in this years tournament. This is also a tournament that brings young coaches into prominence. What really makes this tournament interesting to the fanatic is that all games are played in small stadiums within a three hours drive from the city of Sao Paulo and all the games are free. The final game is usually played at Pacaembu stadium (Corinthians play there). Because of the importance of this tournament to young players, there is very little gamesmanship, just pure soccer skill on display. The favourites in this year's tournament would have to include Corinthians, Cruzeiro, Sao Paulo FC, Pao de Acucar EC (this team is so strong they have loaned players to both Sao Paulo FC and Gremio for this tournament), Flamengo, Barueri, Coritiba, and Internacional. Still, upsets happen frequently in this tournament so favourites are only slight. In portuguese but you may be able to struggle through it. http://www.futebolpaulista.com.br/competicao.php?page=5&cat=45&cam=75&ano=2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 There are odds posted and wagers available to be made on atleast 4 matches so far at www.Bet365.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Oranje Posted January 5, 2008 Author Share Posted January 5, 2008 If I was a betting man(I'm not), I would be watching the odds on the following teams: EC XV Piracicaba - I am not 100% sure but I think this club has a relationship with a group of investors headed by Pele. It is the same group that bought into Sport Lausanne in Switzerland last January. Secondly, this club was a finalist in the Sao Paulo U-20 league in 2007 and the younger players would qualify for this tournament. Paulista FC - I know this club has a relationship with the Pele group. The youth teams generally do well. Sao Bernardo FC - was a semi-finalist in last year's tournament. EC Sao Bento - was a semi-finalist in the Sao Paulo U-20 league losing to Piracicaba and has a partnership with Desportivo Brasil academy. Pao de Acucar EC - I have them listed as a favourite but the casual fan even in Brazil may not know this club. For the past two years, it competed in the Copa Sao Paulo wearing the shirt of CA Juventus. In 2006, it reached the semi-finals. Last year, they were beaten by a very good goalkeeper from Fluminense in the Third Stage. More importantantly, their U-17 team was a finalist in the Sao Paulo state championship losing to Corinthians in the final. They also had a team in the U-15 final. This is the first year that they have entered a team under their own name, Pao de Acucar EC. Actually, I'm surprised that Gol TV has not grabbed NA rights to this tournament. The cost of rights to this tournament must be minimal. The quality of play is very high. The potential for upsets are high. And the intrigue around "the next one" to be discovered would make for interesting TV. As far as I know, rights are still open but ESPN Brasil carries a number of games so maybe ESPN already holds them for North America. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Oranje Posted January 6, 2008 Author Share Posted January 6, 2008 Of my betting favourites only Paulista lost. Most of the first games have been played but a few more a few more tomorrow. So far some big scores. I think Gremio will be placed on the favourites list after today with their 12-1 win over Ypiranga (PE). However, we have to be careful with these scores in the first game of the first round as their will be some mismatches. An interesting note on the Gremio game, striker, Rafael Martins, scored 7 of the 12 goals. That in itself is impressive. The most interesting thing is that Rafael Martins is a player loaned from Pao de Acucar due to return at the end of the month. In fact, 8 of the 12 goals were score by Pao de Acucar players loaned to Gremio. Again, Pao de Acucar won as well with their strikers scored 4 goals in their victory. We'll have a better idea one week from now as to who are most likely to have a shot at winning. Not many upsets but Vasco and Coritiba look the most vulnerable at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Oranje Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 The number of teams in this tournament have been cut down to 16 teams as of today. While many of the early favourites continue in the tournament, some have already fallen and some as early as the first round group stage. Some surprises have also gone through to the final 16. The list of teams are as follows: 1. Santos 2. Internacional 3. Sao Paulo FC 4. Corinthians 5. Figueirense 6. Flamengo 7. Flumenense 8. Gremio 9. Cruzeiro 10. Uniao Sao Joao 11. Pao de Acucar EC 12. Fortaleza 13. Rio Branco 14. Taboa da Serra 15. Ponte Preta 16. Sao Carlos The big games in the next round would have to be: Pao de Acucar EC vs. Santos Internacional vs Flamengo Flumenense vs Sao Paulo Some of the biggest surprises would be Taboa da Serra and along with Rio Branco Uniao Sao Joao, and Sao Carlos. Taboa da Serra is a densely populated and relatively lower income city on the western edge of Sao Paulo. Uniao Sao Joao, Rio Branco, and Sao Carlos are clubs in smaller cities (100,000 pop or so) clubs in the Interior of the state. On a personal but different note, we have good friends in Ribeirao Preto (city of 600,000 about 3 hours from Sao Paulo). They, like many in the Sao Paulo interior, are Corinthians fans. Corinthians is the second most popular club in Brazil after Flamengo. About two weeks ago, it was announced by Sertaozinho (club in city of same name) that it planned to move their home game in the Sao Paulo State championships against Corinthians to the Santa Cruz stadium in Ribeirao Preto. That stadium is literally just one block away from their home. Talk about bringing your favourite team to play in your neighbourhood park!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Oranje Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 Down to the Semi-finals. Two favourites left. Sao Paulo FC and Internacional. One mid-range club, Figueirense and one surprise, Rio Branco. The semi-final pairings are as follows: Internacional vs. Rio Branco Sao Paulo vs. Figueirense Games will be played on Jan 22 & 23 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Looks like Pao might have been better served if they hadn't loaned some of their players out to Sao Paolo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Oranje Posted January 22, 2008 Author Share Posted January 22, 2008 I guess hindsight is 20/20. This tournament is a bit of a war of attrition. You need a good roster of 25 because you never know how deep you will need to go. At the same time, it is a development tournament so you do want to get your players playing. In the case of Pao de Acucar, they had four strikers who could start with any of the teams in this tournament, plus a group of defenders. Strangely, Figueirense finished second in the same group with Pao de Acucar finishing first so I guess that's just the way the cookie crumbles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Oranje Posted January 23, 2008 Author Share Posted January 23, 2008 Rio Branco wins in a shoot-out against Internacional. Rio Branco seems to be this year's underdog. Their senior team plays in the Paulista A2 and haven't qualified for the National Leagues. Sao Paulo vs Figueirense goes tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Then might Pao expect some of these kids to be asked out on loan with the Sao Paolo first team or some other top Brasilian squad? Or elevate them to their own senior squad i suppose... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Oranje Posted January 24, 2008 Author Share Posted January 24, 2008 Figueirense wins against Sao Paulo. This sets up a final between two teams who have never won this Tournament. Figueirense does currently play in Serie A but ranks 46th on the all-time Brazilian League rankings. About Pao de Acucar, they entered a Senior team for the first time last year in the Sao Paulo State B Division (lowest professional league in Sao Paulo State). Using mostly youth players, they did ok but did not promote. I suspect promotion is on their agenda this year. Many of their young players will play their but I suspect they will loan up some. This is a similar process that Barueri followed beginning in 2001 after winning the Copa Sao Paulo that year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Oranje Posted January 26, 2008 Author Share Posted January 26, 2008 The final was yesterday. Figueirense win the Copa Sao Paulo with a 2-0 win over Rio Branco. For those who feel that a good development system needs to be linked to the biggest and most successful professional clubs, consider this. Figueirense is ranked 46th on the all-time Brazilian League table and 39th on the CBF Ranking. I introduce the CBF ranking because Rio Branco has little experience in the Brazilian Leagues. It is ranked 118th on the CBF ranking. Another point of trivia, Pao de Acucar (mentioned throughout this thread) is the only club to beat Figueirense in this tournament and finished above Figueirense in the initial round-robin. Their senior club is not currently ranked by the CBF (389 clubs are ranked by the CBF). However, to be fair, every knowledgeable fan in Brazil would probably agree that Pao de Acucar won't be unranked for long. To put it into a hockey context, imagine if Balsillie of RIM were able to establish a Midget team, invest heavily in finding the best quality players, invest in the some of the best development coaches, and have a system that would allow it to be able to promote through all the levels to the NHL. That's Pao de Acucar. The orginal Midget team in this case just turns 20 this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 Canuck Oranje, there was a thread started about 5 ottawa kids training with Nacional of Sao Paolo. What competition will Nacional play in this year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Oranje Posted January 29, 2008 Author Share Posted January 29, 2008 Do you have some names? I could follow up more if I had names. As I mentioned in another thread, the CBF mentions on a web page that there are two Canadians with active contracts but doesn't give names there. I have been systematically checking some clubs but that is way to time consuming. Nacional AC is a small club but has had some success in this tournament. In fact, they won it twice. The last time was in the late '80s. Given the way futebol works here, some of them may be still around but at a different club. They may be at Nacional yet but do not have a contract if they are. Nacional's training centre is next door to Palmeiras' Palestra Italia. quote:Originally posted by jpg75 Canuck Oranje, there was a thread started about 5 ottawa kids training with Nacional of Sao Paolo. What competition will Nacional play in this year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Oranje Posted January 29, 2008 Author Share Posted January 29, 2008 By the way, Nacional's senior team currently is playing in the A3 League of the Sao Paulo State Leagues. Given that A1 is mostly teams that play at the various Brazilian League levels, A3 would be more or less the second tier regional league underneath the 3 national leagues. Nacional is ranked 278th on the CBF ranking system, which would suggest that it has not made it to the national league level more than one season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Here's the link to the article. The boys will be trialing with Nacional U18's this spring. http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/sports/story.html?id=4565a5fb-8175-429d-baa5-2b00f08aaec6 Zachary Drake, Kevin Johnson, Damiem Merette, Robert Murphy and Eric Van Roosmalen. Also, the poster mentioned of two Canadian women who are playing with the Santos women. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Oranje Posted February 2, 2008 Author Share Posted February 2, 2008 The two women were in Santos up until January 25. Unless the contracts were extended. They are JOSEE BUSILACCHI and MELISSA MARIE SYLVIE LMOUSSAVOU NZAMBA. Both were on amateur contracts. Incidentally, Santos won the Sao Paulo women's league in 2007. I am not sure if Busilacchi played much if at all but Nzamba contributed to the cause with 4 goals over the campaign. The Sao Paulo League is probably one of the better women's leagues in the world so the question should arise about where these girls sit in terms of the National team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Oranje Posted February 2, 2008 Author Share Posted February 2, 2008 As for the boys, while I suspect they are home again but if they are under 18, they may not appear under contract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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