Cano, Pedro Raul and Tiquinho disenchant and renew hopes for Fluminense, Vasco and Botafogo

By scoring three times against Audax, Sunday, at Maracanã, Germán Cano lifted a weight off his back and brought hope to Fluminense. In addition to having interrupted a sequence of two defeats in a row, the tricolor saw its top scorer rediscover the path of the nets after living the longest period of goals with the club’s shirt. But it wasn’t just the Laranjeiras team that experienced this situation in 2023. Three of the big four in Rio also saw the droughts of their top scorers – in addition to Cano, Pedro Raul (Vasco) and Tiquinho Soares (Botafogo) come to an end in the last few games of the State, which may represent a better future in the competition and in the rest of the season.

Cano needed five games to score his first goals of the year. He opened the “gate” with a gala performance: there were three against Audax. Fasting is behind him and he reaches better numbers than the beginning of 2022. Last year, when he scored 44 goals, the Argentine needed 481 minutes to score three times. This season, he reached the mark in 435 minutes.

“I knew that at some point I was going to score. I have no problem with that. I trust my terms,” Cano said.

The Argentine is not only essential for Fluminense to score goals, but for the construction of plays, alongside Jhon Arias and Paulo Henrique Ganso, mainly. If it’s bad, it’s a cog in coach Fernando Diniz’s scheme that doesn’t work. Well marked, little managed to build in the early rounds, which coincides with the bad performances of the team. In his best game, he helped Fluminense to a convincing victory.

Sunday was also full of goals and relief for Tiquinho Soares. The alvinegro striker went four games without scoring before disenchanting Boavista, scoring twice in the 4-0 rout in Brasília.

Botafogo’s planning, however, already eased possible pressure on the attacker. The club chose to choose a B team in the initial rounds of Carioca. Against Madureira and Nova Iguaçu, Tiquinho came on only in the second half. As a starter, he went blank against Volta Redonda and in a classic, against Fluminense.

Tiquinho was also important for alvinegro in 2022, in the run that made the club dream of a place in Libertadores. There is no lack of credit with the stands for one of coach Luís Castro’s trusted names.

Pedro Raul had suffered from the goal drought, but got rid of the fast a little earlier, scoring twice on Thursday, when Vasco thrashed Resende.

Main reinforcement of 777 Partners, the group that acquired control of SAF from Vasco, the center forward became one of the most expensive signings in the history of Cruz-Maltino. He was acquired for 2 million dollars (about R$ 10.5 million), paid in cash to Kashiwa Reysol. And in the first games, including the pre-season friendlies in the United States, he went blank – with the right to a missed penalty on the way, in the defeat against Volta Redonda. Peace with the fans was made in the 5-0 victory over Resende, in São Januário.