Money changes everything

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - For a few weeks at the start of this year's Brazilian league, the top of the table took on the look of yesteryear. Botafogo were top, Santos were second and Fluminense and Palmeiras were up there challenging for the top spot.

It was just like in the 1960s and 1970s when teams from Rio and Sao Paulo dominated football and the names Botafogo and Santos were synonymous with Garrincha and Pele and a style of play that wowed the world.

It never lasted of course. Santos sold Robinho to Real Madrid and fell from contention and Botafogo went into freefall when they lost their goalkeeper, their midfield dynamo and their promising young manager PC Gusmao.

Only Fluminense, buoyed by the mid-season signing of Serbian playmaker Dejan Petkovic, and Palmeiras, with former Middlesborough star Juninho commanding in midfield, were able to maintain their early run.

But in the end, it was another team with a great past that recaptured the form of their glory days. Corinthians, the biggest team in Sao Paulo, took the title on the final day of the season, beating Internacional of Porto Alegre into second place. It was their first title win since 1999.

In many ways a Corinthians triumph was no surprise. The club was bought over in December last year by British-based investment firm Media Sports Investment, who immediately splashed out £12m for sought after Argentinean forward Carlos Tevez. They then spent almost £20m more on Brazilian and Argentine talent and a not inconsiderable sum in luring former Argentina coach Daniel Passarella as manager.

The quality was not in doubt, but their resolve was. Brazilian fans are notoriously fickle and if Corinthians did not start well the fans were liable to hound the players, the manager and even the directors.

And when they took one point from their first three games that is exactly what happened.

Dischord was rife, with Tevez swapping punches with two team-mates, Gil accusing the directors of giving him special privileges and the squad splitting into Brazilian and Argentine cliques.

When arch rivals Sao Paulo hammered them 5-1 it was simply too much to take. Fans invaded the pitch, tried to attack Passarella and his reign was soon brought to an unceremonious end.

New coach Marcio Bittencourt was manager for only half the campaign but he turned Corinthians' season around. Under his guidance, the team won their first five matches and began looking like contenders, rising from 20th to 2nd place under his command. The former Corinthians midfielder instilled some discipline into the side and turned the troupe of expensive individuals into a team.

'Marcio was the man who stepped up to take the heat when the team were doing badly,' full back Coelho told the club's website on Sunday. 'We are dedicating our win to him too.'

But if fans are looking for the deciding factor in their first league win since 1999, they can point to the country's referees. Corinthians were the main beneficiaries of the corruption scandal that tainted this year's championship.

	“	'The difference between the teams came in the courts. On the field we won more points.' ”
		— Internacional's Tinga

FIFA referee Edilson Pereira de Carvalho admitted he talked with members of a betting ring about altering the results of 11 matches. Although he claimed to help manipulate the scores in only a few of them, Brazilian judicial officials ruled that all 11 games must be replayed.

Corinthians were fortunate in being forced to replay two tainted matches. They lost both the first time around but given a second chance they won one and drew another to send them clear of Internacional at the top.

As if that were not enough, more dodgy refereeing helped them in what was perhaps the most crucial game of the league run in, against Internacional in Sao Paulo two week ago. Inter needed to win to close the gap on their opponents and might well have done so had the referee given them a clear penalty after Corinthians goalkeeper Fabio Costa pulled down Tinga in the box.

Instead, he waved play on, sent off Tinga and the game ended 1-1. To add insult to injury, he later admitted he was wrong and apologised for his error.

'The difference between the teams came in the courts,' Tinga said at the end of season Player of the Year awards in a comment many other players shared. 'On the field we won more points.'

If Corinthians' triumph came with outside help then Fluminense have no one to blame but themselves for their late collapse. The Rio club spent almost the whole season in one of the top four qualifying positions for the Copa Libertadores but they lost their last five matches and threw away the lead twice in their final game against Palmeiras to hand over the final Libertadores place to the Sao Paulo club.

The win means that a Palmeiras will join Corinthians, Internacional, Goias and Paulista - the latter as Brazilian Cup winners - as one of Brazil's five entries into the continent's premier club tournament.

Fluminense now enter the draw for the Copa Sul-Americana, a competition comparable to the UEFA Cup, where they will be joined by a list of clubs still to be decided by the CBF but possibly Atletico Paranaense, Parana, Cruzeiro, Botafogo and Santos.

At the other end of the table Rio's other two clubs, Vasco da Gama and Flamengo, once again had to fight to avoid the ignominy of relegation. The two best supported clubs in the city, and the most chaotically run, both staged late rallies that enabled them to climb into 12th and 15th places respectively.

Both fight backs were prompted by managerial changes, with only two of the 22 Serie A clubs having kept the same manager all season. Renato Gaucho sparked a moribund Vasco into life and veteran Joel Santana proved the saviour at Flamengo. Under Santana, the club went unbeaten in their last seven matches and ended the season in what was their second-best placing since 1999.

Vasco's Romario struck two penalties on the final day of the season to finish top goalscorer with 21 goals. Romario, 39, stole the title from Robson, who had hoped to ameliorate the poor performance of his club, Paysandu, with the Golden Boot.

One goal ahead of his more famous rival on the final day of the season, Robson had promised to pay bonuses to team-mates who passed for him to score but he could not find the net and Paysandu lost 4-1 at home to Flamengo and were relegated to the Serie B. Brasiliense, Atletico-MG and Coritiba will join them.

They will be replaced in the top league by Gremio and Santa Cruz.

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