Sport Does the Expected, Sidny Does, Too

Sport defeated Petrolina 3-1 (the "1" in that scoreline is embarrassing) this afternoon, and Sidny was easily the worst player in the stadium. Weldon entered at halftime, taking Guto's place, and scored twice. Durval scored a third time before uncharacteristically lackadaisical defending allowed Petrolina to score a consolation goal (and I hope it keeps them warm tonight).

The first half was somewhat interesting, with Petrolina defending and Sport passing the ball well but without much effect. Sidny completed, at most, 10% of his passes, defended poorly, and saw the referee receive applause when he received a yellow card. Once again, Nelsinho took him out at halftime. Igor moved over to right back and the team switched from a 3-5-2 to a 4-4-2 as Fumagalli entered. Igor was, again, vastly superior to Sidny. When César got hurt, Jonas came on and underscored Igor's quality, as Igor moved back to central defense and played as well as ever.

Sport put a lot more pressure on Petrolina in the second half, Fumagalli and Paulo Baier played well together in midfield, and Weldon showed that he really wants a big money move. The result was never in question, so the scoreless first half wasn't frustrating and the goals in the second half weren't cause for elation. Sport did put some nice moves together in the second half, but they didn't result in any goals. It is possible to see Paulo Baier fitting in with his teammates, and if the team had a professional football player to play right full-back then Sport would really be something. Right now, thanks to Sidny and Jonas, Sport isn't quite something (which doesn't mean Sport is nothing, which goes to show the limitations of these binary terms). Even without being something, Sport has all but won the first stage of the state championship, and any result but a Santa Cruz victory in tomorrow's Lovers' Classic will clear the path for Sport. So sleep easy tonight, Sport fans, the Constitutionalist Revolution of 1817 Trophy will almost surely remain in Sport's hands.