It’s close in Brazil’s Serie A

It’s close in Brazil’s Serie A

Palmeiras have moved to the top of Brazil’s Serie A table as the country’s top league begins to gather momentum and TAB soccer pools will feature many of the games including cash-boosted Soccer 10 pools this Friday and Saturday.

By Mark Gleeson

The field at the top of the Serie A table in Brazil is beginning to stretch out, but no team has yet given any clear indication of having the potential to become champions.

All the top sides have dropped points liberally and have stumbled, rather than sprinted, out of the starting blocks.

Palmeiras displacing Corinthians and went top on Sunday, but the gap between first and sixth is only five points. Defending champions Atletico Mineiro were held at home at the weekend and dropped to sixth.

But the biggest anomaly is the poor form of Flamengo, who won the title in 2019 and 2020 and were runners-up last year. They have parted ways with their Portuguese manager Paulo Sousa after less than six months. Recent defeats at the hands of Fortaleza and Red Bull Bragantino triggered his dismissal.

The Portuguese quit his role with the Polish national team to lead the Rio giants, but never quite got Flamengo to play the swashbuckling football their fans expect. The 2021 Copa Libertadores finalists sit in 15th position, only out of the relegation places on goal difference.

Dorival Júnior has succeeded Sousa at Brazil’s most supported club. To do so, he gave up his role at Ceara, which lasted just 18 games in 73 days, thus keeping up the whirlwind of managerial changes in the Brazilian game.

Matches in Brazil, Argentina and the USA will be commonplace in TAB soccer pools in coming days and you will find several in the R250,000-added Soccer 10 pools this Friday and Saturday.

Across the border in Argentina, the league has just kicked off with 28 teams competing - the 26 teams that took part in the previous Liga Profesional season and two promoted teams in Tigre and Barracas Central. Each club will play each other only once and it has taken only two rounds for all teams, except one, to drop points. Platense have made a 100% start, while defending champions River Plate have drawn both their games. It will likely take a while for some form to emerge.

Matches in Brazil, Argentina and the USA will be commonplace in TAB soccer pools in coming days and you will find several in the R250,000-added Soccer 10 pools this Friday and Saturday.

In Major League Soccer in the USA, change looks to be paying off. Charlotte FC are the newest team in the league but their first top-flight season has been a struggle as expected.

But they have now won a first game under new coach Christian Lattanzio, beating New York Red Bulls on Sunday. Lattanzio is interim coach after replacing Spaniard Miguel Angel Ramirez, who was fired at the start of the international break. The win catapulted Charlotte FC into sixth place in the Eastern Conference.