Lookout São Paulo, Neymar is coming for you.

By: Socratinho | February 6th, 2010

id_46862_neymar
“All hail Emperor Neymar!”

Santo André has been the latest team to feel the wrath of Neymar. On Wednesday he scored one of the early contenders for goal of the Championship. It was so good that Leonardo posting it midgame (yeah that good). You can see it here . Ganso added the other in a fairly comfortable 2×1 win. According to statistics Neymar has been involved in 75.6% percent of our goals this year. That is staggering. At the moment he is also joint top scorer of the Paulista with Geovane of Mogi Mirim with six goals.

You can’t help but feel that last year was Neymar testing the waters. This year he takes takes the league by storm.

His firs big test comes tomorrow in the form of São Paulo. They are two points behind us and are playing fairly well. There has been a lot of talk of who São Paulo will use to mark Neymar. So far, the names of Miranda and Jean have been dropped. Yet they seem to have forgotten our “secret” weapon:

id_46743_robinhosite
“Hai guys! Miss me?”

The King of Step Overs was presented last Monday. He arrived by helicopter with the King himself; Pelé (pause for customary praise).

id_46691_robinhoepele2

Yes, Robinho is in the squad for Sunday. Reports are that he will be on the bench. Watching and waiting.

Without further ado, the squad:

Goleiros: Rafael, Felipe

Laterais: Pará, Léo

Zagueiros: Bruno Rodrigo, Durval, Edu Dracena,

Volante: Arouca, Rodrigo Mancha, Germano

Meias: Zé Eduardo, Giovanni, Marquinhos, PH Ganso, Wesley

Atacantes: André, Maikon Leite, Neymar, Robinho

There are injuries to George Lucas Roberto Brum, Fábio Costa, and Maranhão. The proposed starting XI is:

Felipe; Wesley, Edu Dracena, Durval e Léo; Rodrigo Mancha, Arouca, Marquinhos e PH Ganso; Neymar e André

From what it looks like Junior will ask Wesley to play right-back since both of our right-backs are injured. It’s a bit worrying.

With a win we can take back top spot from Corinthians (they won earlier today). The game is technically away from home. I say technically because it will be played in Barueri, not at São Paulo’s stadium.

My prediction is a brace from Neymar in another 2×1 win. It would be great to get a win in the first big game of the season. I hope I don’t jinx it.

Before I leave I have two pieces of news.

The first is that we have stolen a player from under Wenger’s nose. Yes, you read right, Arsene Wenger from Arsenal. Globoesporte reported earlier this week that we have signed 17 year old Zezinho of Juventude on a two year loan deal with an option to buy. He was being tracked by Arsenal for a long time and then we jumped in and got him. I like this new Director of Football. He is a badass.

Zezinho is definitely a promising player who I always like when I saw him play. He didn’t have the best U17 World Cup but he was already a first team player for Juventude. He will have to wait his turn at Santos though.

The second is that after winning everything possible with the women’s team, Marta has returned to the WPS. Thanks Marta for playing a huge part in bringing trophies to the Vila Belmiro last season. Please come back on loan at the end of the year!

So that’s all the news for now. I have some studying to do before the big game tomorrow. Later.