Palmeiras begin to pick up speed

Palmeiras begin

to pick up speed

4 CASH-ADDED TAB SOCCER POOLS THIS WEEKEND

By Mark Gleeson

Palmeiras are beginning to move away from the pack in Brazil’s Serie A league and should continue their winning run away at newly promoted Avai on Sunday.

Second-placed Corinthians sit three points behind the South American champions, who have won the last two Copa Libertadores finals but finished third in Serie A last season and have not won the league since 2018.

Corinthians meet Santos tomorrow night, their second clash in four days. They hammered them 4-0 in the Copa do Brasil on Wednesday and are fancied to inflict further punishment on them this weekend and stay on the heels of Palmeiras.

But the rest of the chasing pack, including defending champions Atletico Mineiro, are under threat of slipping off the pace.

Mineiro, currently joint third in the table and seven points behind Palmeiras, have beaten Flamengo twice in the last four days - first in the league in last Sunday’s Brazilian “classic” and then again on Wednesday at home in the cup,

But how much has those two fine wins taken out of them? With their Copa Libertadores trip to Emelec in Ecuador coming up in midweek, there will be the temptation to rest key players against struggling visitors Fortaleza.

In theory Mineiro should win easily over the club who sit joint bottom of the standings in Brazil. But with their exertions of the last seven days this looks an upset waiting to happen. Both the Corinthians and Mineiro are included in the first Soccer 10 tomorrow.

Athletico Paranaense and Internacional are the other two teams in third place on 21 points from 13 games in Serie A. Athletico are at home to unpredictable RB Bragantino, while Internacional from Porto Alegre take on Coritiba who are looking to bounce back from the disappointment of their home loss to Botafogo last Sunday.

In Egypt, Percy Tau and his Al Ahly teammates continue their hectic catch-up programme but divert attention from the league battle to the Egyptian Cup.

Ahly’s arch-rivals Zamalek have already booked a berth in the 21 July final, whereas Tau’s team are at the quarter-final stage. They host Pyramids FC on Sunday with the winner then meeting Petrojet in the semi-finals.

The game is included in Soccer 4, 6 and 10 pools on Sunday and be wary of counting on Ahly to win. Matches are coming thick and fast for this tired-looking team, who have had a long season and could fade as fatigue takes hold. That could be one of the reasons that persuaded Pitso Mosimane to move on.

TAB soccer customers have an array of great chances to win big this weekend, especially in cash-added Soccer 4, 6 and 10 pools. The first added pool is tonight’s Soccer 10, which should total over R2 million and could pay huge. For just R2 you can have a chance of winning big bucks!