Early Vacations

Brazilian law requires that all workers receive one month of vacation each year, soccer players included. This presents a problem for Sport (and Náutico) this year, as the Série A ends December 7, and next year's Campeonato Pernambucano begins January 11. This would allow just four days of practice before the season's start. Nelsinho Batista's solution is to send some players on early vacations, before the penultimate game of the season (November 30, against Portuguesa in São Paulo). That's a good solution, since Sport's situation is already defined -- Sport has qualified for the Copa dos Libertadores through the Copa do Brasil, and can no longer be relegated. The problem is that not all areas of the team have adequate cover, so some key players won't be ready to start the next championship.

Sport has five central defenders on the books (a sixth is on loan with a Série C team). Gabriel's loan contract with Sport ends in December, so he will surely be playing in the last game of the year. That leaves Durval, César, Igor, and Elias (at 20, a product of the youth divisions who has barely played this year). Most likely Nelsinho will send Durval and Igor on early vacations, start Gabriel and César, and put Elias on the bench.

Sport has exactly four fullbacks on the team, so if Nelsinho sends Sidny and Dutra away, he is left with Márcio Goiano (unimpressive in three appearances) on the left and Cássio Lopes (anonymous in two) on the right, and not one fullback on the bench. Volantes (defensive midfielders) are not a problem in terms of numbers (seven, and Sport normally plays with two on the field), although the quality at this position is suspect.

Sport has five offensive midfielders -- Francisco Alex (mediocre in his few chances) is on loan from São Paulo and almost certainly will not be returning next year, so Nelsinho has no reason to worry about his vacation. Luciano Henrique is on loan from Santos, and may or may not return, but he has been injured for most of the last three months, so he may not be an option. Fumagalli is one of Sport's most important players, and will surely receive an early vacation. Kássio and Juninho are young, under long-term contracts, and exactly the type of playes who should see serious playing time in the state championship, so if they leave early, Sport is left with Francisco Alex and maybe Luciano Henrique. Juninho hasn't played as much as Kássio, so maybe the last two games will be his chance, as Kássio may be considered too important to miss the start of the Campeonato Pernambucano.

Sport has seven healthy forwards. Enílton and Roger (more about them in a couple of days) are on loan from Palmeiras and São Paulo, respectively, and barring disaster neither will return to Sport next year, so they are the obvious options up front. Carlinhos Bala has played in over 90% of Sport's games this year (at times deputizing as a midfielder or right fullback), and Nelsinho will almost certainly want him to be available at the start of the year. Ciro is young, has shown a talent for scoring goals, and doesn't yet have the body of a professional soccer player, so he will surely start his vacation as early as possible, returning at the end of December to continue his physical training. Joélson, Lúcio, and Wilson are the remaining forwards, none of whom has seen much playing time.

That doesn't seem too bad -- Sport has adequate players to field a full team, but who will be the reserves for Sport's last two games? Sport has one central defender, no fullbacks, and at most one offensive midfielder for the bench. The only good news for Nelsinho is that the last two games won't matter at all to Sport, so he could fill the bench with forwards and volantes and it wouldn't really make a difference.