TITE INDICATES TACTICS FOR FLAMENGO'S SEQUEL IN THE BRASILEIRÃO AFTER THE RETURN OF COPA AMERICA HOLDERS

Flamengo is the clear leader of the Brazilian Championship. On Thursday night (4), in Caxias do Sul, Palmeiras visited Grêmio and drew 2-2. With the result, Abel Ferreira's team reached 27 points in the league table, but was overtaken by Botafogo, which is now in second, with the same 27. The Rio rival wins by the number of victories.

Now, Flamengo is comfortably in the lead, as it has 30 points on the leaderboard. In the next round, Mengão will host Cuiabá, at 8pm, on Saturday (6). Vice-leader Botafogo plays on Sunday (7), at 8:30 pm, against Atlético-MG, at the Nilton Santos stadium. Finally, Palmeiras also plays on Sunday, but at 6:30 pm, hosting Bahia de Everton Ribeiro at Allianz Parque.

The team from Salvador beat Juventude in this round by 2-0 and reached fourth place in the table, with the same 27 points as Botafogo and Palmeiras. In other words, a direct confrontation in the next round between the Alviverde team and the 'Esquadrão de Aço'.

Even playing away from home, Palmeiras controlled the actions and had 60% of the ball possession compared to just 40% from Grêmio. However, this did not prevent the Grêmio players from finishing: there were 14 shots. On the other hand, the São Paulo team took risks 21 times. Grêmio opened the scoring with Pavón in the second minute and with a penalty, Cristaldo increased in the 70th minute.

However, in the 74th and 77th minutes, Palmeiras sought a draw with Flaco López and Estevão, respectively. After that, the match slowed down and ended in a 2-2 draw. Palmeiras' defeat would be better for Flamengo, but the draw already guarantees a smile on the red-black fans' faces.

It's become routine! When Flamengo plays away from home it is: a full stadium and a sold-out visitor section. So, the scenario was no different this Wednesday (03), when Mengão scored 4-2 against Atlético-MG, at Arena MRV. At the match, almost 40,000 people helped the stadium have the biggest audience of the Brasileirão 2024.

More precisely, 39,993 fans witnessed the Minas Gerais team's stumble to its Rio rival. It is worth mentioning that the biggest audience at Arena MRV for Brasileirão 2024, until then, occurred in a match between Atlético-MG and Atlético-GO. At the time, 39,767 people watched the teams draw 1-1.

It is worth noting that in at least four other games of the Brasileirão 2024, Flamengo guaranteed record income and/or attendance for the hosts of the games. In the first round, Mengão visited Atlético-GO at the Serra Dourada stadium, where the club from Goiás raised R$ 4.4 million, which determined 702% more than the collection in the average game.

Afterwards, Vasco moved the game with Flamengo to a larger stadium, and, instead of playing in São Januário, for 21 thousand people, they made an agreement to play at Maracanã, where they achieved record attendance at the Brasileirão. On that occasion, Mengão beat their rivals to a historic 6-1, under the eyes of 62,200 people.

Athletico-PR x Flamengo brought 38,641 people to the Ligga Arena, surpassing the audience for the Paranaense Championship final. Finally, the audience present at the Alfredo Jaconi Stadium for Juventude's game against Mengão was 12,675. Previously, the “record” of the Rio Grande do Sul team in Brasileirão 2024 had been against Corinthians, when 7,478 fans went to the venue.

The qualifying phase of the Copa América revealed several technical and tactical shortcomings of the Brazilian team. The lack of chemistry contributed to second place in Group D after the draw with Colombia, last Tuesday (02). Furthermore, performance below expectations can also be justified by absences since the call-up. These questions raise doubts about coach Dorival Júnior's choices.

For journalist Vitor Biner, from ESPN, Dorival Júnior is faced with a complex situation that causes him regret . Biner believes that the coach would rethink not calling up Pedro, from Flamengo, if he predicted the team's recent performance. The communicator highlights that Dorival was betting on a quick construction, but that it did not materialize as expected, which makes Pedro's absence even more questionable.

"The more I look at Brazil's games and I realize that Dorival was betting on an unresolved construction, but faster than what has been happening. If he knew that the Seleção would play like this, at some point, for example, having the ball in midfield. Today, he opens his hand, he bets on the counterattack. If he knew it would take so long, I'm sure he would change one thing... he would take Pedro to have a player to support the ball, to play in the area, to not depend on Endrick, who became the hope of hope", said Biner.

The absence of Flamengo's top scorer on Dorival's list has divided opinions since the call-up, in May. Many fans consider Pedro to be the best center forward in the country today, while others value the number 9's unique characteristics as a complement to what the Seleção has at its disposal. This division of opinions shows the complexity of the decision made by the coach.

Pedro's last call-up took place in June 2023, in the friendlies against Guinea and Senegal. In 2022, Flamengo's number 9 was part of the team that competed in the World Cup in Qatar, under the command of Tite, Flamengo's current coach. Pedro's numbers in the current season reinforce calls for his call-up: there are 32 direct goal contributions in 34 games, an average that surpasses previous phases and highlights his importance in the attack.