Welcome to life at the top of the EPL table.

Man U, Chelsea, and my Gunners are used to this grind.

This is why Spurs played above their heads last year.

This year Tottenham came crashing down to earth.

Spurs lost to Young Boys 3-2 in the Champions league playoff round.

Tottenham started out like crap. Before Spurs knew it, they fell behind 3-0 before rallying to make the final score a respectable 3-2.

Spurs picked those all-important two away goals.

The second leg will be played next Wednesday at White Hart Lane.

Spurs need to win this sucker. If not Tottenham will not make it to the group stage of the Champions League.

Goals by Sebastien Bassong and Roman Pavlyuchenko gave Spurs a fighting chance to advance to the next round.

Win baby win. This is what it is.

Welcome to the big leagues Harry.

In the Campeonato Flu is top dog with 32 points.

Corinthians is in second place with 28 points.

Timao lost to Avai 3-2.

This loss cost Corinthians big time.

Avai stayed put in third place with 22 points.

Flamengo moved up to seventh place by virtue of the 1-0 win over Ceara.

Botafogo is in fourth place with 21 points.

Sao Paulo is in deep do-do. Tricolor is buried in 13^th place with 17 points.

Sao Paulo pulled out a huge two all draw with Cruzeiro.

Vasco is in 9^th place with 20 points.

We’ll talk more EPL and Campeonato tomorrow.

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Timao defeated Atletico-MG 1-0.

Ceara lost to Internacional 2-1.

The loss dropped Vovo to third place.

Fluminense got by Santos 1-0.

The win vaulted Flu to second place in the table.

Corinthians has 21 bad boys.

Po-de-arroz has 19 points.

Ceara has 18 points.

Flamengo moved up one spot to fourth place with 15 points.

The race is on.

Sao Paulo has almost dropped outta sight.

Tricolor is buried in 13^th place.

Vasco is still in the danger zone.

Gigante de Colina is in 17^th place with nine points.

It is still very early in the season to ring up the white flag however; nine matches into the season there are some trends.

Timao started out very strong last year but by the end of the 2009 season Corinthians wound up in tenth place.

This year will be different for Timao.

Corinthians is strong this year.

Timao has more pieces in place and this will make them very dangerous.

All one has to do is look at the results.

Six wins, three draws, and zero losses.

Flamengo seems to have found a diamond in the rough with keeper Marcelo Lomba. Lomba has been playing lights since the murder Bruno was sent to prison.

The loss of Bruno, the drug addict Adriano, and Love may have motivated Petkovic and the rest to show us how good they can be.

Mengao has controlled the two last to matches.

Flamengo is now dictating the tempo and flow of the match thus forcing opponents to play our style of play.

This is upbeat and attacking.

Rubro-Negro needs another striker.

Other than Mengao is on the right path.

On Wednesday, Flamengo battles third place Avai.

This should be a battle royal.

Flamengo is at home Maracanã.

Home cooking has been bad for us.

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The star of game was Mengao keeper Bruno.

Bruno stopped three point blank shots on goal to preserve the bagel.

We need this sucker.

Rubro-Negro has two wins, one loss, and three ties.

This win many have saved our season.

We will see.

Bruno was on top of his game.

The Mengao defense sucked big time.

Flamengo played the famous Oh lay defense.

This almost cost us big time.

Bruno was the big eraser.

Both sides had their chances but Flamengo and Palmeiras fired blanks.

Globo Esporte reported that both sides made sloppy passes. True to a point but Mengao didn’t play “D.” Apesar da emoção no fim, a partida esteve longe de empolgar. Os dois times erraram muitos passes – nem Petkovic passou incólume -, e o Flamengo acabou vitorioso após suportar bem a pressão palmeirense no primeiro tempo e mostrar poder de reação no segundo.

Na primeira etapa, os dois times entraram com apenas um atacante e muitos jogadores no meio-campo. O número de 47 passes errados das duas equipes expressa bem os primeiros 45 minutos. Os jogadores que mais falharam no fundamento foram Danilo, pelo Palmeiras, com cinco, e, curiosamente, Petkovic, pelo Flamengo, novamente com a camisa 10, com quatro passes errados. Mas o Verdão, mais organizado, foi superior e merecia a vitória, por ter criado mais situações de gol.

You can cut this seventy-five ways to Sunday if Mengao continues to play “D” like this we will be in for a long season.

Love nailed a perfect winner (75^th minute) off a great centering pass but he was ruled off side.

This baby didn’t count.

Upon further review, Love was a hair offside.

Love founded the answer in the 88^th minute. The Love man weaved his way thru the entire Verdao “D”. He fired a deft ball that was squeezed just inside the left post.

Love’s shot had the Verdao keeper Marcos beat dead to rights.

Game, set and match to Flamengo.

This was a homecoming for Vagner Love.

Love played with Palmeiras last year.

Globo Esporte put it this way- Durante a partida, Marcos e Vagner Love mostraram que a velha amizade entre os dois continua, mesmo após a saída do atacante do Palmeiras. Agora no Flamengo, o atacante mostrou-se “amigo da onça” do goleiro. Vaiado pela torcida palmeirense, o camisa 9, em jogada individual, marcou aos 42 minutos do segundo tempo o gol da vitória por 1 a 0 num jogo de 76 passes errados – 45 do Verdão e 31 do Rubro-Negro -,  longe de empolgar os poucos torcedores presentes (8.457 pagantes) ao Pacaembu na fria noite desta quarta-feira. É o primeiro triunfo da equipe carioca após a volta de Zico, que assume como diretor de futebol do clube após a Copa do Mundo.

A win is a win and I will take it.

Rubro-Negro is now in fourth place with nine points.

Palmeiras is in tenth place with eight points.

Ceara is in first palce with 14 points.

Ceara blew out Avai 2-0.

Coritnhians is in second place with 12 points.

Timao plays on Thursday night against Internacional.

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Corinthians wound up in tenth place.

Corinthians took to Santos 4-2.

Ceara is in second place with 11 points.

Third place belongs to Fluminense. Po-de-arroz took it Atletico-MG 3-1.

The way Flu is playing.

This is a huge surprise to the pundits.

Muricy Ramalho is the headman. You might remember him. He was fired last year by Sao Paulo. He only led Tricolor to three straight Campeonato titles. After a horrible start, Ramalho was given the heave-hoe.

He now has Fluminense off to great start.

Let’s see what happens.

Mengao is buried in tenth place with six points.

Flamengo is playing like crap.

We can’t win at home or on the road.

Ties are the order of the day.

One win, one loss, and three ties won’t cut the mustard.

Amorim must go. She must take her clown of a coach Lourenço with her too.

Sao Paulo is struggling as well too.

Tricolor is in seventh place with eight points.

Sao Paulo is five points off the pace but remember Tricolor always gets off to a slow start due to their deep run in Copa Libertadores.

Sao Paulo has made it to the semi-finals.

Last year Tricolor was dumped in the quarterfinals and this resulted in Ramalho getting the axe.

Mengao has no excuse.

Amorim has lost two key players Adriano and Vagner Love. She let Andrade go too.

All Andrade did was led Rubro-Negro their sixth Campeonato.

No wonder we are in deep crap.

The season is young so we will see what happens.

I am not holding my breath.

Mengao is just like the Philadelphia Eagles. Both Birds break your hearts.

So, be it.

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The two I follow are Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Why you ask? My wife is Carioca and she a Sao Paulista. Go figure. I am a true blue Flamenguista.

There are two Sao Paulo titles. The first is Copa Sao Paulo and the second is the Campeonato Sao Paulo.

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Sao Paulo started off the Copa Sao Paulo with a 4-0 thrashing of CSA Alagoas. Tricolor’s Luke Gaucho led the hit parade with the daily double.

Sao Paulo sits atop Group H with three points.

The Copa Sao Paulo championship is similar the FA Cup except it is structured like the Champions League.

Teams from all classifications compete for the Copa Sao Paulo. 

The Campeonato Sao Paulo is restricted to teams from the Campeonato and Series B. The lesser known clubs are not permitted to play in this title hunt.

This means the little guys can knock off the big boys like Sao Paulo, Corinthians, Botafogo, Palmeiras, and the like in the Copa Sao Paulo.

Corinthians destroyed Araguaina 5-0.

Timao was lead by William’s daily double and Jadson had two assists and he scored one of those bad boys.

The big surprise was Gremio and Confiança drew at one all.  Gremio dominated the match but they had trouble pulling the trigger except for Fernando. He scored on a rocket in the 23^rd minute.

Confiança tied this baby up one a great strike by Valber.

Many of the big clubs play their lesser-known players to give them the opportunity to see how well they will perform in these high stakes Copa Sao Paulo matches. 

This can lead to lots of upset city baby.

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