COB RELEASES OFFICIAL IMAGES OF UNIFORMS FOR THE PARIS OLYMPICS WITH FLAMENGO ATHLETES AS MODELS

Closing the second round of the group stage of the Copa América 2024, Paraguay and Brazil face off this Friday, June 28, at 10pm (Brasília time) at the Allegiant Stadium, in Las Vegas, in Group D of the tournament . The two teams did not win in their debut in the competition and enter the field hungry for three points.

Brazil arrives under pressure from a goalless draw against Costa Rica in their debut. The Brazilian team needs to win to be in a more comfortable position in the competition. Paraguay, in turn, is coming off a 2-1 defeat against Colombia, which left coach Daniel Garnero's men in last place in Group D of the Copa América.

RETROSPECT BETWEEN THE TEAMS

Paraguay and Brazil have faced each other 82 times. Brazil has 49 victories, against just 11 Paraguayans, in addition to 22 draws. The last three games for the Copa América were in the quarterfinals, and all three ended in a draw, with the Paraguayans taking the place on penalties twice.

Paraguay: Rodrigo Morínigo; Gustavo Velázquez, Fabián Balbuena, Omar Alderete and Matías Espinoza; Andrés Cubas, Mathias Villasanti and Hernesto Caballero (Damián Bodadilla); Julio Enciso, Miguel Almirón and Alex Arce (Adam Bareiro). Coach: Daniel Garnero.

Brazil: Alisson; Danilo, Éder Militão, Marquinhos and Arana (Wendell); João Gomes, Bruno Guimarães and Lucas Paquetá; Rodrygo, Vinícius Júnior and Raphinha (Endrick). Coach: Dorival Júnior.

Almost 15 years after the disagreements he had with Marcos Braz, Flamengo manager, Dejan Petkovic clarified what really happened. The former player participated in the Tá Benito podcast, by journalist Isabele Benito, and told how the fights with the red-and-black top hat started.

“At the time, Marcos Braz maybe didn't know me well, particularly. In 2009, Flamengo was not doing well financially. When I came back, [the team] had to release pledged money to pay the players”, he recalled.

And he continued: “There were late payments [payments for victories] and the players were dissatisfied. One fine day he arrives at training and says he got the money. Everyone was happy. After finishing training, he was there, full of himself. I, with my innocence, said ‘are you going to pay for everything?’. [He said] ‘everything, I’ll pay for everything’, and he said the number 60 thousand”, he pointed out.

Then, Petkovic revealed that he had questioned the amount: “But like 60? I asked the question in my head. It wasn't that number. When he says everything, in my calculations it was different. Then, he was unfortunate enough to hit my chest with his hand and say ‘boy, you’re good with the ball and I’m good with numbers’. And from that moment on, discussions with everyone lasted at least 2 or 3 hours to understand this number. I wanted to understand. How 'dumb' I am and didn't understand numbers”, he mocked.

In the year following the confusion, the former Flamengo athlete recalled that Marcos Braz even tried to suspend him from the games with an invalid justification . “In 2010, it all started again, he didn’t want to renew my contract. [After a match] when I arrived at training, I heard about a statement from him that he was going to suspend me because I left the locker room and could have fallen into the anti-doping department and I wasn't there, I left. And that this would harm the team. It wasn't true”, he assured.

Following the conversation with the journalist, Petkovic reported that if he were suspended he would stop playing and, consequently, it would be harming Flamengo. Then they changed the subject.