Preview of the new season of The First Division: The pattern of the top three is still the same, and many former Chinese Super League stars have gathered into the sea

With the competition of Brazil's major states coming to an end, the 2022 season of the Brazilian League is coming as promised, in the long run, the Brazilian League is praised for its unpredictability, coupled with the soil that has cultivated generations of Samba geniuses and the return of many former Chinese Super League stars, the new season is bound to attract the attention of a group of minor league fans, at the beginning of the season, the giants can continue to be strong in previous seasons. And which teams can break through to become a new dark horse?

Championship Group: Can the Top Three Pattern Continue?

Last season's Baliga, Atlético Mineiro, Palmeiras and Flamengo not only broke into the top four of the Copa Libertadores, but also ranked in the top three in the Baliga, and under the impact of the epidemic, the strength and weakness of Brazilian teams have become more and more distinct. Whoever can hold enough money will have stronger strength, and from this point of view, the above three teams will most likely be the favorites for this season's championship.

Although last season's Brazilian League was three-legged, but when Palmeiras and Flamengo were distracted by the Copa Libertadores final, Atlético Mineiro still won the championship early with a huge advantage of as many as 13 points, and then the team defeated the South American Cup champion Atlético Parana in the Final of the Brazilian Cup to win the domestic double, and the former Hulk of SIPG was full of personal honors, but the meritorious coach Kuka chose to resign due to family reasons, and The Argentine coach Muhammad, who led three different Mexican teams to dominate the Mexican Super League, became the new coach of Atlético Mineiro.

In the new season, Atlético Mineiro has won the Minas Gerais State Championship again, but considering that rival Cruzeiro has fallen into the Second Division, Atlético Mineiro's victory also lacks a certain amount of gold content. In the transfer market, defender Medana defected to the sworn enemy Mineiro Americas, supplemented veteran Godin, Hulk is one year older, and costa, last season's forward partner Costa has left the team; one after the other two veterans over 35 years old plus Muhammad, who has never had coaching experience in The First Division, let Atlético Mineiro bury the dark clouds in the new season of defending the title, but fortunately, the defensive backbone Alonso who has left the team has returned after the Russian Super League incident, strengthening the team's defense.

Palmeiras and Flamengo reached the Copa Libertadores final together last season, and portugal coach Ferreira managed to defend the Copa Libertadores title, and the two teams moved differently.

Ferreira successfully stayed in the team and led the team to win the São Paulo State Championship championship with strong opponents, and the regular season was unbeaten with 9 wins and 3 draws, and the last 2 games, Palmeiras won 4-0, showing good fighting ability.

Flamengo Libertadores Cup final defeat, Brazil's local coach Gaucho blamed the class, Flamengo Dong shi shi, from the Polish national team poached another Portuguese coach Paulo Sousa, and finally the team in Rio state defeated Fluminense, due to poor results and locker room contradictions, Paul Sousa is also facing the crisis of dismissal recently.

Although Atlético Mineiro and Flamengo have their own concerns, palmeiras still has the team to win the championship, and Flamengo is the most financially powerful and luxurious team in the First Division, and the two teams still have a lot of possibilities to win the championship.

Copa Libertadores Qualification: Down-and-out giants challenge capital upstarts

As Brazilian teams monopolized the Copa Libertadores and Copa Libertadores titles last season, qualifying was postponed, with as many as 14 Brazilian teams competing in intercontinental competitions in the new season. However, in the new season of The First Division, the Copa Libertadores quota is only 4+2, and all the giants have to fight for the Qualification of the Copa Libertadores. Last season's upset qualifications for Fortaleza and Bagantino (Red Bull of Brazil) were actually examples of the decline in many strong states in the Brazilian League and the brutal competition for the Copa Libertadores qualification.

Corinthians, as the team with the most former Chinese Super League players, last season was after Guedes and Augusto joined the team to win the Copa Libertadores qualification, and in the new season, the team introduced Paulinho and hired former SIPG coach Pereira to form the Chinese Super League in The First Division.

Another São Paulo state team, São Paulo, also has Eder and Miranda, two veterans of the Chinese Super League, and the signing of atlético at Parana Athletic forward Nicau, Mineiro America defender Carl and Gremio full-back Allison has further strengthened the strength of the squad.

Both teams are second and third in the league with 7 wins, 2 draws and 3 defeats at the São Paulo State Championship, and São Paulo has reached the first leg of the final to beat the powerful Palmeiras 3-1, with the potential to qualify for this season's Copa Libertadores.

Both Corinthians and São Paulo are financially strained by the pandemic, especially Sao Paulo's resignation last season because of salary arrears that led to Alves quitting. Brazilian teams with financial crises will face competition from upstarts, such as Red Bull Bargentino under The Red Bull Group. As a team that has only been promoted to the First Division in the first two seasons, Bagantino's rise is unstoppable, winning the South American Cup in the first season, and in addition to winning the Copa Libertadores qualification last season, it also broke into the final of the South American Cup, and this season the team won the Uruguayan giants 2-0 in the first game of the Copa Libertadores, once again highlighting the strength of the team that cannot be ignored.

In terms of lineup, Bagantino has few star players, but it has one of the top young squads in the Bajia, and the new season reinforcements also take the young route, including all the little demons in South American football.

Fluminense and Brazil International are also not to be underestimated, the performance of both teams in the last season has declined significantly, the new season has ushered in a relatively large lineup change, Fluminense has just won the Rio State Championship, the coach Braga almost reorganized the team's attack, and the goalscorer Kano, who was introduced from the Second Division, was in 11 games, 10 goals and 1 assist, carrying the team's offensive banner.

The fly in the ointment is that The Fruminense squad is aging, with the main players such as Cano, Willian, Fred, Ganso, Merlo and Braz all over the age of 32, and the oldest is fred 38 years old, the 2014 World Cup Brazil main striker has been determined to retire at the end of this season.

Brazil International also missed the Baliga championship by 1 point two seasons ago, retreated to the middle and lower reaches last season, and this season was painful, hiring Uruguay's 43-year-old young coach Medina, and also made a number of reinforcements in the transfer market, especially taking advantage of the Suspension of the Ukrainian League, the team from Dynamo Kiev and miners have successively introduced De pena and Vitang, and once approached Patrick and Malone, who introduced miners.

Relegation: The top three in the West are popular for relegation The giants also have relegation worries

In the past few seasons, Brazilian giants Cruzeiro and Gremio have been relegated, and Botafogo has just been promoted back to the First Division. There are as many as 4 direct relegation places in the Bajia, and the relegation battle is unprecedentedly fierce, and relegation is no longer a problem for small teams to consider. Brazil's giants still have relegation concerns.

Last season, São Paulo and Santos were at risk of relegation, and in the end, São Paulo was successfully relegated after hiring the former meritorious Cheney. The new season in Sao Paulo is in hot form, there is a great possibility of leaving the relegation zone, but Santos is still sluggish, the team in the São Paulo State Championship 3 wins, 5 draws and 4 losses in the middle and lower, the last Game of the South Ball Cup is 0-1 defeat to Banfield swallowed the opening black.

Although Neymar was sold at a high price many years ago, under the exploitation of the agent and the harvest of terms, there were few fees flowing into Santos's account, and Santos, who had cultivated many Brazilian geniuses, struggled in the past few years due to financial crisis, and Robinho's return to Santos contract monthly salary was only 1500 reais (about 2000 yuan), which caused many media ridicule, coincidentally, Chinese player Xiao Junlong signed Santos to put aside additional terms, and the real contract monthly salary was also only 1500 reais.

Santos has a hidden danger of relegation, but the team with the most relegation risk is still small teams such as Goyagoni Athletic, Cuiaba, Goyas and Avas. Brazil's football territory is mainly concentrated in the southeast coast of Rio and São Paulo states, the west is a poor place for football, this season's Liga has gathered a total of three western teams, namely Goyas, Goiania Athletic and Cuiaba, is the first time since 1986 that the First League has three western teams in a single season, but there is no doubt that these three western teams have relegation pressure.

Goiás has just been promoted, Cuiaba struggled to relegate last season, and Goyagoni Athletic did an excellent performance last season and ranked ninth in the league, but the main team was immediately divided, and almost changed most of the squad in the new season. Goagone Athletic is also one of the smallest teams in the League, with a stadium that can only accommodate 12,500 fans, making it the smallest team in the League this season.

In addition to the aforementioned Awai and Goiás, the other two promoted macuritiba and Botafogo are still alive, but have repeatedly played the role of lifts in the past few seasons and are also relegated. Juventud was the only team last season who did not qualify for intercontinental competitions and did not relegate, and this season's one-sided battle, for a team with strong defense and weak attack, Juventud has a certain relegation hope. (Back-ups/MIKU)