Reuters Soccer Blog

Brazil: the land of the bullyboys

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.”