Cruzeiro Esporte Clube

[PMLF]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by -Xenon-:

Thanks The Eagle Soars.

You really do need a squad with a lot of depth, I don't quite have two full teams but I tend to rest most of the "big guns" for the less important games. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Just like in real life.

In braail clubs usually priorize one competition over the other when there are two at the same time. So, they priorize Copa Libertadores and the World Club Cup over everything and they priorize the Brazilian League over the Copa Sudamericana.

[-Xenon-]

March 2005

Now that speculation of my departure to Portugal had ended, I could now focus properly on retaining the state championship and qualifying from what the local papers have already labelled "the group of death" in the Copa Libertadores. First up were newcomers Patrocinense and Democrata. Patrocinense put up a reasonable fight but were taken care of by half time with goals from Fred, Wagner and Daniel Carvalho. They managed to salvage some pride five minutes from time with Thiago scoring a well placed drive. Democrata was much the same story. Just a day after signing professional terms with the club, Kerlon headed the opener and was quickly followed by a Maldonado penalty. Maldonado had missed a spot-kick against Patrocinense but this time he thumped home the ball with real passion. Celsinho slotted home with five minutes of the first half remaining. Once again we were three goals to the good and had the match wrapped up.

Next was a tough trip to Peru to face Alianza Lima, a team that we must take six points off to stand any chance of safe progress. The game went smoothly enough and two Adriano goals were enough to send us top of the group after America (MEX) sneaked a win against Boca. A 6-0 win against URT back home secured our progress to the semi final's of the state championship, Daniel Carvalho scoring two but then tragically injuring himself in the process. After the game I called Bolinha our physio into my office. The news was not good, Carvalho had severely broken his leg and would miss the next five months. It was an absolute disaster made all the more gut-wrenching by the fact that he had just come into excellent form. America (MG) were lucky to grab a point from us in a closely contested local derby that ended 1-1. We would go on to be drawn against them in the semi finals whilst Villa Nova would entertain Atletico Mineiro.

Next it was back to the Copa Libertadores and a trip to Buenos Aires to play Boca Juniors. I new it would be a tough game but I had not prepared myself for a trademark strike from Fred after just 10 minutes. There was silence around the Alberto J. Armando as we looked to have settled into the game quite well. Our elation was short lived as Kelly deflected the ball past Fabio just before half time. Boca came out for the second half a noticeably different side, their passing and movement became superb and the goal that I had been dreading came just after the hour mark., Delgado with a cool finish. We had a mini revival but the final nail in the coffin was Giminez heading home with five minutes to go. It finished 3-1 and it tuned the group on its head. All three teams at the top were level on six points and after going into the game top of the group we now came out in third on goal difference.

Our next game was the crucial trip to Mexico to face America. If I’d have said that we had a crisis on our hands before the start of this game it would have been a dramatic understatement. Thanks to injuries, international call ups and ineligibilities we went to Mexico with just three first team regulars and nine first team squad members. Surprisingly we hung on to get a 0-0 draw but it was close. I sarcastically pointed out that as long as Brazil triumph against Bolivia whilst using my key players it’s fine! In reality the situation was a farce and I was just glad we got a point to leave the group looking like this:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

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Group B P W D L G.D Pts.

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Boca 4 3 0 1 +7 9

America 4 2 1 1 +2 7

---------------------------------------------

Cruzeiro 4 2 1 1 +1 7

Alianza Lima 4 0 0 4 -10 0

</pre>

Transfers

N/A

Results

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

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Patrocinense 3-1 H Minas Gerais Wagner, Daniel Carvalho, Fred

Democrata 3-0 A Minas Gerais Maldonado, Kerlon, Celsinho

Alianza Lima 2-0 A C.L Group B Adriano (2)

URT 6-0 H Minas Gerais Maldonado, Daniel Carvalho (2), Celsinho, Kelly (2)

America(MG) 1-1 A Minas Gerais Wagner

Boca 1-3 A C.L Group B Fred

America(MEX) 0-0 A C.L Group B

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</pre>

[-Xenon-]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">

www.bbc.co.uk/sport

27th March 2005

Scorza: "I can't settle in Belo Horizonte"

17 year old wonderkid Enzo Giovanni Scorza has revealed he is finding life hard in Brazil, playing for champions Cruzeiro. "It's not the football I don't enjoy because I love playing for a great club like Cruzeiro, Its off the pitch I find hard. There is a language barrier, the only other player that speaks Spanish is Maldonado, so it is hard to socialise for someone my age in a new place. Having said this I have developed a close friendship with Ederson, he is of similar age and speaks Italian as we are both half Italian. I wonder if a loan move back to Uruguay until I am much older would help." Despite the language problems, the rest of the squad have labelled Scorza as a likeable person and they are trying to help his intergration.

Sam Cox very much understands Enzo's situation: "When I first came here, I felt very isolated and didn't speak a word of the language but after a while it does come and you do settle down. Obviously he's a very young player and that makes it harder because he'll be homesick but I'm confident that we can persuade him to persevere but if not we will see what we can do about a loan move back to Uruguay because its only fair to the lad".

Enzo Giovanni Scorza has so far made five appearances for Raposa, he has yet to score but has made two assists.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[-Xenon-]

April 2005

After hearing Enzo's concerns I decided to give the team a well deserved albeit brief period of time off. This was going to be an even longer year when you take into account our involvement in the Copa Libertadores. Our first game of April was the first leg of the state semi final against América (MG). After failing to make the semi's last season, América went on to claim third place this year and were in buoyant mood as we travelled to Independência. They generally sat back in the first half and tried to hit us on the break. Our defence weathered most of their attacks until Ricardo finally found a breach in our defence and poked the ball home with less than ten minutes of the first half remaining. The crowd were almost like a twelth player for them and yet again I felt as though we would be on our way. Wágner managed to equalise with a well placed shot on 52 minutes only to see André Figueiredo put America back in front after two minutes. That was the way it stayed as América took the advantage going into the second leg.

I was already feeling the tension that I had only experienced towards the end of last season and we were only in April. We were on the verge of elimination from two competitions, one of them vital. Our next game was a must win, from the outset I had said the key to the group was getting six points from Alianza Lima and I had turned out to be right. Assuming Boca would beat America (MEX), a victory here would give us a huge advantage of the Mexicans and taking goal difference into account a win might not be needed against Boca. At least our two remaining group games were at home and we would not have to travel around for a while. Whilst we prepared for the visit of the Peruvians, the first division kicked off. Most notably Corinthians and Palmeiras kicked off their respective campaigns with victories, as did newly promoted Avai.

Around 15,000 turned up to see a resounding 4-1 victory that involved a brace for Fred. Elsewhere Boca qualified in style with a 4-0 victory against America to ensure that they had some goalscoring to do if they were to still qualify. In between that victory and the return leg of the state semi, Under 20 goalkeeper Gatti moved out on loan to Alegrense to gain some experience. I didn't field a nearly strong enough side for the return leg. I decided that I needed to sacrifice the tournament, even though it would mean one less game (a game that would take it out of the players, being against Atletico). We lost 1-0 and 3-1 on aggregate, the players were to eager to play Boca to care about the state championships. After all having won it 33 times, the 34th success can wait.

Paysandu made an offer for want away midfelder Kelly, 1.2 million would go nicely towards funding another striker or goalkeeper. We kicked off the league defence away to Botafogo. I employed a new tactical system that I thought benefited our new strengths. A 0-0 draw was all we came away with. We exacted our revenge on Boca with a 3-0 victory that sealed our qualification. We would now face Uruguayans Nacional in the second round. Kelly signed for Paysandu and America (MG) lifted the state championship, seeing Mineiro defeated brought a wry smile to my face. Unfortunately our form was dwindling aswell as we rounded off the month with another 0-0 draw with Guarani.

Transfers

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

****************************************************************************

Out

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Gatti Alegrense Loan

Kelly Paysandu £1,200,000

</pre>

Results

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

********************************************************************************************************************************************

America (MG) 1-2 Minas Gerais Semi Leg 1 Wagner

Alianza Lima 4-1 C.L. Group B Fred (2), Edu Dracena, Augusto Recife

America (MG) 0-1 (1-3 agg.) Minas Gerais Semi Leg 2

Botafogo 0-0 First Division

Boca 3-0 C.L. Group B Wagner (2), Augusto Recife

Guarani 0-0 First Division

********************************************************************************************************************************************

</pre>

[-Xenon-]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">

www.bbc.co.uk/sport

29th April 2005

Love in the air at Cruzeiro?

According to reports in the Brazilian press league champions Cruzeiro are looking to complete a double swoop for CSKA Moscow's Brazilian stars. Having already acquired Daniel Carvalho but then tragically losing him to a broken leg, Raposa are now looking to add 20 year old striker Vagner Love to their impressive squad. The former Palmeiras youngster has netted six from three games so far in 2005 and is sought after as a deadly strike partner for Fred. It is thought that a possible deal could cost Cruzeiro anywhere between 3 and 5 million pounds. But with the sale of Kelly to Paysandu, Cruzeiro are not strapped for cash by any means.

Manager Sam Cox had this to say:"Vagner Love is a player we've been monitoring for a while now, he's a hard worker and as he's already shown the ability to score goals. At just twent years old he is a great prospect but I won't lie to the fans, it will be hard work to get his signature."

The boyhood Flamengo fan has already attracted the interest of Freiburg in Germany. However he might be swayed by his former team-mate at CSKA, Daniel Carvalho who joined earlier this year.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[-Xenon-]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">

Copa Libertadores Second Round

Danubio vs. Santos

Nacional vs. CRUZEIRO

America de Cali vs. Palmeiras

Pumas vs. Corinthians

Peñarol vs. Sporting Cristal

Independiente vs. Atletico Mineiro

Boca vs. River

Once Caldas vs. San Lorenzo

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[PMLF]

Boca vs River

Pumas vs Corinthians

You got a relatively easy tie.

[-Xenon-]

Yeah, I'm just thankful I managed to avoid the likes of River.

I should have safe passage to the quarter finals but I'll go into the game withan appropriate degree of caution.

I want Mineiro in the next round so that I can exact my revenge!

[-Xenon-]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">

www.bbc.co.uk/sport

27th May 2005

Dracena leaves as Raposa bring in two new strikers

In a shock move central defender Edu Dracena has completed a £2,000,000 move to Palmeiras. The 24 year old defender had made it clear he wished to leave the team after the arrival of Edson and the impending transfer of Naldo in the new year. He joins an up an coming Palmeiras team that finished 4th last season and currently occupy 2nd this season. Dracena's agent released this statement: "Edu wishes to thank all the staff, fellow team-mates and of course the fans at Cruzeiro. He also states that he cannot wait to make his Palmeiras debut."

The first of Sam Cox's two new signings was the expected arrival of Vagner Love of CSKA Moscow for £5,000,000. He joins former CSKA team mate Daniel Carvalho at Raposa and has stated his ambition to add to his solitary national team cap. The other signing was somewhat of a surprise, talented Flamengo youngster Bruno Mezenga completed a move thought to be worth around £325,000. The 16 year old was delighted to seal a move to the champions:"They obviously see that I am talented and want to further my career, I cannot wait to play with the likes of Fred and Wagner". Manager Sam Cox had this to say about his new acquisitions: "With Vagner we have a more experienced player to team up with Fred and with Adriano soon to be recalled from loan we had to look for new strikers. Bruno is a very talented youngster and I feel that with him and Enzo we have two potentially deadly strikers for the future"

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>