Brazil’s Flamengo Scores 2-0 Soccer Win

Usually, when the Rio de Janeiro soccer club Flamengo plays a game, the stands in the huge Maracana stadium are filled with up to 200,000 fans, samba bands beat out fierce rhythms, and Flamengo wins more often than not.

Tuesday night at the Coliseum, though, there were only 7,952 in attendance, only three or four of them with bells and tambourines. But Flamengo still managed to win, defeating Chivas of Guadalajara, Mexico, 2-0.

Flamengo, which has established itself as Rio de Janeiro’s premier athletic organization in terms of fan support and which has been known for providing the nucleus of many successful Brazilian national teams in the past, had few problems beating the Mexican club, even though it was without the services of Artur Antunes Coimbra, known more commonly to soccer fans as Zico.

Zico recently returned to Brazil and Flamengo this summer from the Italian club Udinese in a transaction involving a $7 million transfer fee. Arguably one of the world’s best players, the midfielder has been expected to provide leadership and scoring for a Brazilian national team that is one of the favorites to win next year’s World Cup in Mexico.

But the Flamengo star watched his teammates from the bench Tuesday night, not yet having recovered from a knee injury sustained more than a month ago.

Even without its best player, though, Flamengo was able to prevail in a physical contest that brought yellow card warnings from referee Heinz Wolmerath and which, on more than one occasion, almost saw the players come to blows.

Although Flamengo pushed forward, causing problems for the Chivas defense almost from the beginning, it took 21 minutes for Flamengo to score its first goal. Even then, it came off a set play.

Following a foul outside the Chivas penalty area, midfielder Gilmar, wearing Zico’s customary No. 10 jersey, bent a left-footed free kick past the Chivas defensive wall and goalkeeper Gregorio Sanchez before the Guadalajara players had time to react.

During the second half, Flamengo continued to have its way. Although Chivas came close to tying the score in the 65th minute, the Mexican team was frustrated.