Sao Paulo have won the Brazilian championship for the last three years but their style of play is far removed from their country’s fine footballing traditions.

Defensive, physical, brutally efficient in attack and often destructive, Muricy Ramalho’s team have made few friends outside their own fan base.

Their 3-0 win over Cruzeiro on Sunday caused an outcry after they committed 14 fouls — against the same player. 

The victim was striker Kleber, who said: “The fouls were not violent, they didn’t injure me. But how can anyone play football if they receive 14 fouls in a game.”

His club added in a statement: “Nobody has witnessed so much cowardice in a football match in the recent history of Brazilian football. We demand that the authorities take action to stop this persecution…”

Sao Paulo, who committed a total of 30 fouls on Sunday, are not the only culprits in this depressing scenario. Many other teams use similar tactics.

Brazilian domestic football bears almost no resemblance to the version played by the national side or by the big-name players in Europe.  Sixty-foul games are common and the tactic of taking it in turns to foul the opposition’s best player is widely used.

This is what veteran Brazilian columnist, Fernando Calazans of O Globo, had to say on the matter.

“So this is where Brazilian football is heading? Not even Pele nor Garrincha could have played if they suffered 14 fouls. It’s the so-called rotation of fouls, prohibited under the rules but permitted by weak referees.

“It’s put into practice by the majority of Brazilian coaches, among them the widely-admired and widely-praised Professor Doctor Muricy Ramalho.

“If Sao Paulo can commit 30 fouls in a game and their opponents also commit 30 fouls, that makes 60 fouls. And what sort of spectacle do you get when a game is paralysed 60 times by fouls?

“The violence against those who want and know how to play football, and against those who go onto the pitch to do this, is increasing every year.

“The football pitch, today, is the land of the bullyboys.”

Dagoberto (R) of Brazil’s Sao Paulo battles for the ball with Royer Canas (C) of Colombia’s Independiente Medellin during their Copa Libertadores soccer match in Medellin April 15, 2009. REUTERS/Fredy Amariles

There will be a heavy Brazilian influence in Wednesday’s UEFA Cup final between Shakhtar Donetsk and Werder Bremen in Istanbul — despite the absence of Werder’s influential playmaker Diego through suspension.

Brazilian players have made a major impact in recent finals and with Ukraine’s Shakhtar boasting five in their ranks, and Naldo lining up for their German rivals, expect the boys from South America to take centre stage.

A quick look back at previous finals this decade shows the influence Brazilians have made.

In 2003, Porto became the first team to win the trophy on the now-defunct ’silver goal’ rule thanks to Brazilian Derlei’s strike in extra time against Celtic.

Two years later Brazilian playmaker Daniel Carvalho played a starring role for CSKA Moscow, setting up all three of the Russian side’s goals, including one for compatriot Vagner Love, in the 3-1 victory over Sporting in the Lisbon final.

In 2006, Sevilla cantered to their first UEFA Cup triumph as a goal from Brazilian Luis Fabiano set the Spaniards on their way to a one-sided 4-0 demolition of Middlesbrough in Eindhoven.

Sevilla did it again the following year in Glasgow, Adriano scoring their opening goal before fellow Brazilian Jonatas got Espanyol’s equaliser in extra time in the 2-2 draw.

Shakhtar’s policy of signing promising Brazilians in recent years has also paid off with the Ukraine team, owned by Russian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, one game away from their first European silverware.

Ilsinho scored a superb late winner in the semi-final second leg against Dynamo Kiev after compatriot Jadson had netted Shakhtar’s first. Fernandinho scored Shakhtar’s equaliser in the 1-1 draw in the first leg while Willian and Luiz Adriano have also played their part.

PHOTO: Shakhtar Donetsk’s Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho controls the ball during a practice session at Sukru Saracoglu stadium in Istanbul, May 19, 2009. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

Ronaldo was not surprisingly delighted to lay hands on a winner’s medal so soon after returning from last year’s knee injury but even he probably knows deep down that it is not that much to get excited about.

Ronaldo’s performances for Corinthians have already started talk of a Brazil recall — he has not played for his country since the 2006 World Cup — and national team coach Dunga was in the crowd when Corinthians held Santos 1-1 to win the Paulista championship on Sunday.

But what exactly is the Paulista championship? The format of the Brazilian season often baffles outsiders and maybe this is a chance to put it into context.

For the last few years, the country has run a conventional league — usually known simply enough as the Brasileirao (literally the Big Brazilian) featuring 20 teams who play each other home and away in the conventional style.

It is preceded, however, by the regional championships, one for each of Brazils 27 states. These tournaments are based on politics rather than any footballing logic.

They have been around since early 1900s when a national championship was inviable but have survived the advent of air travel and all attempts to remove them.

Each state has its own federation who in turn choose the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). Therefore, abolishing these tournaments would be electoral suicide for Ricardo Teixeiro, who has held the post since 1989.

Taking the Paulista as an example, only six of the 20 teams — Corinthians, Santos, Palmeiras, Sao Paulo, Santo Andre and Barueri — play in the Brazilian first division. The rest are from the second and third divisions and some are barely professional.

This means that for four months, most of Corinthians’ matches have been against lower division sides.

Given that Palmeiras and Sao Paulo have been more interested in the Libertadores Cup — South America’s equivalent of the Champions League — and that Santo Andre and Barueri are themselves small teams, Santos were probably their only real rivals for the title.

For Ronaldo, the real test starts next week with the Brazilian championship.

PHOTO: Corinthians’ Ronaldo receives a pass during their Paulista (Sao Paulo State) Championship final  match against Santos FC in Pacaembu stadium in Sao Paulo, May 3, 2009. REUTERS/Junior Lago

Adriano looks to have played his last match for Inter Milan after failing to return to the Serie A leaders from international duty with Brazil this month and announcing he was taking a break from football.

President Massimo Moratti said last week that Inter were considering extinguishing the player’s contract, which runs until the end of next season.

They have grounds to do so as the failure to turn up to work of the 27-year-old, who has suffered alcohol and personal problems, comes after a string of run-ins with coaches and incidents of indiscipline.

In fairness, Inter have tried hard to restore the fine fettle Adriano displayed between 2004 and 2006, when he was one of Serie A’s most feared forwards and helped Brazil win the 2004 Copa America as the competition’s top scorer.

They allowed him to have a loan stint at Sao Paulo in the first half of 2008, when he scored 16 goals, but he was soon out of sorts again when back in Italy even though his old foe Roberto Mancini had been replaced by coach Jose Mourinho.

Indeed, this time the club appear to have few alternatives to offloading the player after he said he is unhappy in Italy and wants to “live in peace here in Brazil”.

If life in Serie A is really what is getting Adriano down, he will probably not be tempted by future offers from Inter’s domestic rivals, something his agent suggested on Friday.

The burly striker’s comments seem to rule out a move elsewhere in Europe too and his fragile reputation would probably scare off the top clubs at the moment anyway.

But with his blend of speed, power and agility he remains potentially formidable and if gets back into the groove in his homeland, he may soon find the Brazilian top flight limited.

A return to form would help foreign managers forget his troubled past, at which point a transfer to the English Premier League, where the off-field pressure is less intense than in Serie A, would not be out of the question.

You never know. Adriano could come back to haunt Inter in the Champions League yet.

PHOTO: Inter Milan’s Brazilian soccer striker Adriano smiles during a news conference in Rio de Janeiro, April 9, 2009. Reuters photo.

A missing person’s hunt has ended happily in Brazil. Inter Milan striker Adriano has been found.

The burly 27-year-old, who has battled drink and personal problems in the past, failed to return to Italy last week after being an unused substitute in Brazil’s World Cup qualifiers with Ecuador and Peru. Inter had no idea where he was.

Brazilian and Italian media were filled with stories about his whereabouts. Some said he had missed his plane, some said he was dancing in the streets of a Rio favella, some said he had locked himself inside his Rio home and switched off his phone. One report even said he might be dead.

After five days with no definite news, his agent announced that Adriano had been visiting friends in the Vila Cruzeiro shanty-town where he was raised.

“It’s not a family problem,” Gilmar Rinaldi said as he tried to explain why Adriano had missed Inter’s 1-0 win at Udinese on Sunday. “It’s something very personal, which could happen to anyone, but it’s a private thing and that’s why I can’t say what it is.”

Instead of slamming the striker for his behaviour like he has in the past, Inter coach Jose Mourinho has been sympathetic to Adriano’s plight.

But with a year left on his Inter contract, it is difficult to imagine Adriano ever playing for the Italian champions again. Would any other club want to take a risk on him?

The season is under way around Latin America which means various countries have had a chance to roll out new-look (or not so new) domestic championships.

As usual, it feels like there is a contest going on to devise the oddest format for a football tournament. Over the next few days, the Reuters soccer blog will present the various candidates for this year’s award for the strangest concept.

The conventional league system — where the teams play each other twice and the one with the most points wins the title — is simply too orthodox for most South America countries which instead use Byzantine formulas.

Where else can a team have the chance to win the title and get relegated at the same time or find themselves playing the same opponents up to seven times in a row at the end of the season?

At present, only Brazil operates the conventional league system — but even here, the domestic season is cluttered by a profusion of regional championships (one for each of the country’s 27 states) in which the first division sides also take part and a nationwide Copa Brasil which sends teams on 15-hour journeys across three time zones to play semi-professional opposition.

Before writing off the region as eccentric, though, be warned that the recent tendency has been for Europe to follow Latin America and make its tournaments more complex (look at the UEFA Cup) rather than vice-versa.

The Libertadores Cup had two clubs per country — often selected by dubious criteria — long before the Champions League, its European equivalent, opened its doors to second, third and fourth-placed teams.

Colombia also began squeezing an extra round of “derby” matches into its championship years before the Premier League even talked about its proposal for a39th game.

It is not hard to imagine certain Premier League clubs casting an envious eye over the relegation system used in Argentina and now copied in several other countries.

Here relegation is decided over three seasons by dividing the number of points won by each team by the number of games played. It was introduced in the 1980s specifically to reduce the possibility of the big clubs going down as the chances of them having three bad seasons in a row are almost negligible.

Next we’ll look at Peru’s wacky system.

For more blogs on other sports than soccer, check out http://blogs.reuters.com/sport

PHOTO: San Lorenzo’s Gonzalo Bergessio celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal against Tigre during their playoff match in Buenos Aires, Dec. 17. REUTERS/Enrique Marcarian

Like so often in the modern game, arranging international friendlies is much easier if you happen to be a big and powerful footballing nation.

While this week offered three lucrative and prestigious friendlies — Brazil-Italy, Spain-England and France-Argentina — smaller countries were left scratching around for opposition.

Paraguay, who despite playing at three successive World Cups seem unable to attract the promoters, ended up visiting Peru, a country they have already met twice in just over a year in World Cup qualifying matches. That followed a tortuous journey to Oman for a game last November.

In other games, Uruguay visited Libya while Colombia hosted Haiti.

Costa Rica, who beat Honduras 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier on Wednesday, often struggle to find friendly opponents.

They desperately want a fixture ahead of their visit to Mexico for another World Cup game at the end of March. The Mexicans, on the other hand, have already fixed up a game against Bolivia on March 11 in the United States, where they can be guaranteed a sizeable crowd of expatriates.

“It’s difficult, they ask me why Mexico can play Bolivia and we can’t,” Joseph Ramirez, general secretary of the Costa Rican federation, told local newspaper La Nacion.

“The difference is that they have the economic means and attract more people, the promoters don’t take us to play in the United States because there’s a risk the public will not go.

“We’re trying to bring a team from South America. It’s more practical to play here, some teams will accept to pay for their own tickets and we pay for the accommodation, and sometimes there are teams who will pay everything under the concept of solidarity.”

Another example of inequality in the modern game.

For more blogs on other sports than soccer, check out http://blogs.reuters.com/sport

PHOTO: Paraguay’s Enrique Vera (C) fights for the ball with Peru’s Paolo De la Haza during their friendly match in Lima Feb. 11, 2009. REUTERS/Enrique Castro-Mendivil

Ronaldo is back. Nearly 10 months after suffering a serious knee injury during a Serie A game for AC Milan, the third such misfortune in his career, he has agreed terms to join Corinthians, one of Brazil’s biggest and most volatile clubs.

Even before the injury, Ronaldo had been struggling amid speculation he was overweight but had lost his hunger for the game. He had not been picked by Brazil since his much-criticised performance at the 2006 World Cup and was eventually off-loaded to Milan from Real Madrid less than six months later.

Now, after nearly a year of what he has described as a sacrifice, plus a highly-damaging incident involving three transvestites in Rio de Janeiro, Ronaldo is set for a comeback at the age of 32.

Few believe that he can get anywhere near the player who used to power his way past defenders before finding the back of the net with uncanny accuracy. Ronaldo, however, has proved the doubters wrong in the past. (more…)

Ronaldinho has returned to form since joining AC Milan from Barcelona, producing some nice assists and seven goals in Serie A.

According to Kaka though, the close-season arrival of his Brazil team mate has also mucked up the tactical balance of the seven-times European champions.

“Ronnie has settled in very well and he’s giving us a big hand but before we were used to playing with automatic moves consolidated over the years,” the playmaker said last week.

“Me and Clarence (Seedorf) behind a forward, usually (Filippo) Inzaghi. With Ronaldinho the team has had to change set-up and we have to get used to having the same automatic moves with him. We play together in the national team but it’s not the same. It’s a question of understanding, which is lacking a little.”

So Kaka is having to play in a deeper position and track back more with Ronaldinho in the side, which may be the reason he has been less impressive than usual in attack this season.

He said he is willing to “sacrifice himself” for the team in this way and that he and Ronaldinho are compatible, but not without adding that he prefers to play further forward and feels more useful there.

He seemed to prove the point when, with Ronaldinho injured, he gave a man-of-the-match performance in his old position in Sunday’s 1-0 home victory over Catania, scoring the goal that ended a four-match winless run.

Seedorf had already said Ronaldinho was not the sort of player Milan needed before his transfer from Barca.

What’s the point of bringing in a former FIFA World Player of the Year if it just makes the one you have already less effective?

Next month, Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti will also have to find a way to fit in David Beckham, another offensive player, although he is confident this will not muddle things more.

“It (Beckham’s arrival) won’t upset anything at the tactical level. He’s a midfielder and so there won’t be a problem of coexistence with Kaka and Ronaldinho,” he said.

Kaka may have a point, but it also has to be said that the “automatic moves” he mentioned did not cover Milan in glory last season, when they were knocked out of the Champions League by Arsenal in the last 16 and finished fifth in Serie A.

With Ronaldinho now in town, how long is Kaka willing to resist the lure of the Premier League to continue ’sacrificing himself’ at Milan?

PHOTO: AC Milan’s Ronaldinho (R) celebrates with his team mate Kaka after scoring against Inter Milan during their Serie A match, Sept. 28, 2008. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Adriano is surely one of the most frustrating players in the world.

The Brazilian has all the assets needed to be one of the very best strikers — power, pace and guile — yet he has wasted several opportunities to show he can be consistently good.

Indiscipline is part of his problem. Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho left him out for five games after he ignored his orders in a league match, stayed out at a night club and turned up late for training.

Cunning Mourinho brought him back for this weekend’s big clash with rivals Juventus, hoping Adriano would make the most of his return from exile.

Serie A leaders Inter deservedly won 1-0 and Adriano was alright but did nothing spectacular. Afterwards Mourinho defended his decision to recall the striker saying he needed ‘an animal’ to battle against Juve.

But didn’t Adriano used to be something more than an animal? 

He scored goals for fun for Inter and Brazil in 2004 and 2005, good goals at that, but a disappointing World Cup was the start of a sharp decline. His lifestyle upset then Inter boss Roberto Mancini and last year an overweight Adriano was packed off on loan to Sao Paulo.

He rediscovered his verve in Brazil and on his return to Inter it looked like he was going to be a regular, threatening Mourinho’s obsession with three upfront. 

Now the 26-year-old is once again in no man’s land. Will he finally fulfill his potential or is ‘the Animal’ destined to feed off scraps for the rest of his career?

PHOTO: Inter Milan’s Adriano (R) challenges Giorgio Chiellini of Juventus during their Serie A match at the San Siro, Nov. 22. REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo