Caught Fluminense v Cruzeiro at the Maracana last night. Stadium of 76,000 was perhaps half full, though behind the North(?) goal was packed. Loud fans. We were sitting 8 rows back, just maybe 3 meters off the center line.
Match seemed more frustrating than recent Everton affairs. slow offensive movement mean defense had time to back in, Flu were weak in midfield, and most offensive efforts were one on, with no trailing winger or midfielder continuing to charge if a shot was taken and deflected in a Naismith-poachable position.
Second match in a row I've been to where the manager got tossed.
Fluminense scored off a free kick around the 30th minute of the second half and the crowd, which had been loud at times, went berserk.
Our cabdriver who took us back to our place here was a Flamengo fan (Flu's big rival, their derby is also called the FlaFlu), fairly certain he took a slightly round about way back to the beach to take us home.
