After an eventful 2020 season which ended in February 2021, we will be having a comeback from one of the most competitive championships in the world on May 29 and we can’t just keep calm about it.
Here we will be looking at the teams of the north and center of Brazil as another exciting Brazilian Championship season is upon us once again. We’ll be taking a closer look at the sides in this region, while also analyszing their chances of winning the league and how we predict them to do this term. This is by no means definitive in any way but only speculative based on previous form, transfer activity and also recent form from other competitions.
Teams from Northeast Brazil
In the Northeast region, the Fortaleza teams, Fortaleza and Ceará will be gracing the Serie A championship.
However it would suffice to note that these two teams are not favorites when compared to the other two participating from this region.
Ceará and Fortaleza struggled throughout the 2020 season to find their rhythm and it only took a struggle for the former to finish 11th place while the latter finished 16th.
It is mind boggling particularly to see Fortaleza regress this low, especially seeing as in the 2019 season, they finished 9th. In an unusual twist of fate, Ceará clashed with Fortaleza in the final of the regional championship on May 23 and lost.
Still discussing those in the underbelly of the 2020 table, Sport finished 15th. Recently, the team sacked their coach Jair Ventura and not too long ago, lost their regional championship final to a Serie B team. Maintenance seems to be Sport’s major concern and it would be something they must address this season.
Bahia, who were champions in 1959 and 1988, is one team you can’t ignore when discussing popular team teams in Brazil.
Sport is based in Recife and the team has 1 Brazilian league title in 1987. Sport finished the 2020 season 15th and were playing in Serie B in 2019 after being relegated in 2018. In the 2020, it finished 14th and the last two seasons before that, the team finished 11th.
Looking from the financial angle, only Ceará executed paid transfers by bringing on board Stiven Mendoza and Lima de Grêmio. The other three teams made no serious buys and only settled for free loans.
Teams from central Brazil
This region houses two main teams that competing in this current Serie A season: Atlético Goianense and the just promoted Cuiabá.
Atlético Goianense also nicknamed Dragão had a very good season by finishing 13th place, especially considering they were only promoted.
One has to give credit to their formidable defense line that only conceded 45 goals regardless of the intensity of attack they were up against (40 goals scored). On Tuesday, Dragão were sent parking from their regional competition after losing in the semi-finals.
