When Paulistinha becomes Paulista – 03/30/2024 – Juca Kfouri

When the São Paulo state championship was worth incomparably more than it is today, it was simply called the Campeonato Paulista. So, by name.

Those were times when there were those who preferred to compete in it instead of the Brazilian Championship, as in 1979.

So, of the big ones from São Paulo, only Palmeiras competed, eliminated by the undefeated champion Inter, in the semi-finals.

As Arena, the dictatorship’s party, was doing poorly, no less than 94 teams participated in the Nacional, reason for the fair boycott.

It was the nonsense of the augmentative, which revealed the need to elevate it to what it no longer was, that was responsible for the use of the diminutive as a response.

If the decision were between Bragantino and Novorizontino, the stamp would be even more current.

As it will be between Palmeiras and Santos, it is fair to call the tournament, in the end, the Campeonato Paulista again.

This Sunday (31), the eve of the 60th anniversary of the coup that plunged the country into darkness for 21 years, it will begin to be decided in Vila Belmiro, because Corinthians and São Paulo, mediocre and cowardly, denied Santos the Itaquera and Morumbi stadiums.

Now, yes, it’s funny.

The 1959 and 2015 finals are repeated, the first won by the Alviverdes, the second by the Praianos, nine apart from the decisions of the Copa do Brasil, in 2015, and the Libertadores, in 2020, both won by Palmeiras.

Of the four, the best happened in the last century, in January 1960, because on one side there was Valdir de Moraes; Djalma Santos, Valdemar Carabina, Aldemar and Geraldo Scotto; Zequinha and Chinese; Julinho Botelho, Américo Murolo, Romeiro and Nardo, under the command of coach Osvaldo Brandão; and, on the other, Laércio; Urubatão, Getúlio and Dalmo; Formiga and Zito; Dorval, Jair Rosa Pinto, Pagão, Pelé and Pepe, under the orders of Lula, at the time, the most famous Lula in Brazil.

There were two games, which ended in draws 1-1 and 2-2, and the third, all at Pacaembu, with a 2-1 Green victory.

Times that never come back and that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve the current ones.

Santos, in search of their 23rd title, is going through moments of reconstruction, they did well against Bragantino and have on the bench the three-time champion of São Paulo (2017/18/19) Fábio Carille, willing to avoid the second tri Palmeiras — the first in professionalism, the 26th state cup in history.

It is obvious that for Santos it will be more important to return to the Brazilian Series A than to win a new state title, although the achievement takes on the character of a resurrection.

For Palmeiras, who collect cups as if they were figurines, one more will do them good against their rival who, if he is neither the first nor the second closest, is the one who, in the 1960s, was only not champion 12 times in a row because Verdão prevented him in 1959, 1963 and 1966.

In other words, there is no shortage of history for the classic that Novorizontino came close to beating, by being better than Palmeiras, in the green stadium, during the entire first half of the semi-final, only to succumb in the final stage, because, after all, Palmeiras, moreover, has Endrick, who scored the only winning goal.

In 1959, King Pelé was 19 years old, two years older than Endrick is today. And he didn’t manage to become two-time São Paulo champion.

The young man from Palmeiras, who frustrated London, Madrid and Novo Horizonte, seems cut out to be tri.

Whether it will be or not, we will know from this Sunday.

But it was fun, it was.