It’s a very rare situation that can be witnessed in the Brasilian Serie B’s last stage: a 4 teams groups with the 2 best qualified for Serie A which is still completely open after 5 games. No team is yet qualified, and no team is yet eliminated. Everything will unfold next saturday in Recife, where both games will take place: Santa Cruz – Portuguesa and Nautico – Gremio.
Gremio had done their part to party on this saturday by defeating the leader Santa Cruz, but they also needed Portuguesa to prevent Nautico from winning on the road at their “Canindé”, which they failed. That means that if Nautico defeats Gremio next saturday they will finish ahead of them.
Gremio’s young playmaker Anderson was left on the bench most of the game, after being rather unconvincing on the previous game. He was nevertheless “allowed” by his coach to finish the game and end up on a positive note in the Stadio Olimpico, as he is due to join FC Porto during the winter break.
Schedule
22/10
Portuguesa 4 x 1 Santa Cruz
Grêmio 1 x 0 Náutico
29/10
Santa Cruz 1 x 1 Grêmio
Náutico 4 x 1 Portuguesa
05/11
Náutico 0 x 2 Santa Cruz
Portuguesa 1 x 1] Grêmio
12/11
Grêmio 2 x 2 Portuguesa
13/11
Santa Cruz 1 x 0 Náutico
19/11
Portuguesa 0 x 2 Náutico
Grêmio 2 x 0 Santa Cruz
26/11
Náutico x Grêmio
Santa Cruz x Portuguesa
Ranking
1º Grêmio 9pts, 2v, +3
2º Sant Cruz 7pts, 2v, -2
3º Náutico 6pt, 2v, +1
4º Portuguesa 5pts, 1v, -2
(criteria: points, victories, goal diff, goals scored, particular goal diff)
