Football Season Guide

Two times champion in the last two seasons. Last season wasn't as classy and dominant as the previous one. A true achievement to get two titles in a row, nonetheless. Already collected silverware this season as they just defeated rivals Fluminense in Carioca State Championship's final. Fla signed only with centre-half Bruno Viana, coming from a long spell in Europe. A few players left, but none was considered a starter. Still, the team seems to have less options for the demanding long season than what they had last season. The biggest weakness of the team for upcoming season will be the aforementioned shortage of reserves in particular positions. With Thiago Maia still injured, for instance, there's only Willian Arão and Hugo Moura for the role of holding midfielder. The biggest weapon is the unmatched quality that the starting XI + 3/4 immediate reserves possess. There's really no match in any other team for the quality of Caio, Gerson, Arrascaeta, Éverton, Bruno Henrique, Gabigol or Pedro. Rogério Ceni will be having his biggest test, now that he had an entire pre-season and state competition to prepare the team to play according to his own beliefs and ideas. The 4-4-2 is highly expected to continue.