Taca de Ouro. 40 teams started the championship – 2 directly qualified: the champions of 1981 Gremio (Porto Alegre) and the winners of 1981 Taca de Prata Guarani (Campinas). The other 38 were teams selected by their previous year positions, but according to the berths of each Brazilian state. Sao Paulo had the most berths – 6, followed by Rio de Janeiro – 5, and most states with traditionally insignificant football had 1 berth each. Some strange clubs appeared because of that – perhaps the strangest came from Sao Paulo, for they were ranked higher than famous Corinthians which had to start in the lower level: Internacional (Limeira) and XV de Novembro (Jau). Other hardly ever heard of clubs were Internacional (Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul), Gremio Maringa (Maringa, Parana), Taguatinga (Brasilia, Distrito Federal), Desportiva (Cariacica, Espirito Santo), Itabaina (Itabaina, Sergipe). The bulk started the first phase and in the second phase 4 teams, qualified from Taca de Prata joined as well to make the total of participants 44.
The most confusing to outside observer was the first phase: it was played in 8 groups of 5 teams each. The top three teams qualified to the next round. Fourth placed went to direct elimination play-offs , the winners qualifying to the next stage and the losers going down to continue in Taca de Prata. The last team in every group was relegated to continue in Taca de Prata. The first stage sifted out the small clubs, so no surprises happened – except in group F, where Vitoria (Salvador, Bahia) finished last. The rest of the relegated were Nacional (Manaus, Amazonas), Ferroviario (Fortaleza, Ceara), Itabaina (Itabaina, Sergipe),
Mixto (Cuiaba, Mato Grosso), Taguatinga (Brasilia, Distrito Federal), Joinville (Joinville, Santa Catarina), and Internacional (Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul).
The play-offs finished the first phase: Paysandu eliminated America 3-1, Nautico – CSA 6-2, Cruzeiro – Desportiva 1-0, and Londrina and Goias were 0-0, but Londrina qualified due to better group record. Goias was perhaps unlucky, but the only relatively big name eliminated here was America (Natal, Rio Grande de Norte). Thus 28 clubs proceeded to the second phase – the top 3 of the original 8 groups plus the play-off winners. Meanwhile Taca de Prata played two phases and the top 4 of the second phase qualified to Taca de Ouro, rounding the numbers to 32: America (Rio de Janeiro), Corinthians (Sao Paulo), Atletico Paranaense (Curitiba), and Sao Paulo (Rio Grande).
Second phase – 8 groups of 4 teams each, The top 2 qualifying for the next round and the rest eliminated for this year. Half the the teams finished their national championship at this stage – small fry largely, but also some bigger names.
America (Rio de Janeiro) – 3rd in group J,
Treze (Campina Grande, Paraiba) – 4th in group O,
Moto Clube (Sao Luis, Maranhao) – 4th in group Q,
Atletico Paranaense (Curitiba) – 4th in group P.
Paysandu (Belem, Para) – 4th in group M,
Atletico Mineiro – 3rd in group L,
Internacional (Porto Alegre) – 4th in group L,
Botafogo – 3rd in group O. Add Cruzeiro – 3rd in group Q. Some groups were tougher than others, of course, but there were some big failures – Botafogo, surely.
It was simple and clear cup format from this stage to the end: direct elimination or knockouts. The opponents met twice and in case of no winner, whoever had a better record in the second phase qualified. Away goals did not count for deliberation. Here ended the 1982 campaign for Operario (Campo Grande, Mato Grosso), Sao Jose (Sao Jose do Campos, Sao Paulo), Ceara, Londrina (Londrina, Minas Gerais),
Anapolina (Anapolis, Goias)
Bahia (Salvador, Bahia),
Standing from left: Pais. Marião. Ailton. Betão. Paulo Omar, Merica.
First row: João Carlos. Edson. Roberto Cearense, Givanildo, Joãozinho.
Sport (Recife, Pernambuco), and
Vasco da Gama.
The quarter-finals were the end of the road for
Santos,
Fluminense,
Sao Paulo, and Bangu. Bangu was the only unlucky team – all others lost fair and square, but Bangu and Corinthians exchanged away victories: Corinthinas won 1-0 at Rio, and Bangu – 2-1 at Sao Paulo. Fair, not fair… the rules stipulated that in such a case not away goals, no goal-gifference, no penalty shoot-out, or a play-off decided the winner, but the records of the previous round: Corinthians had a better one and went ahead.
The semi-finals reached familiar names, so when the dust settled, when all preliminary stages were played nothing unusual really happened: small clubs from obscure states had no chance of winning the championship. The big clubs still dominated and, since they were many, momentary lack of form of a weak squad would eliminate some, but still others will step up – as a whole, there was no major shaking of the established order. Under the surface it was a bit different: Gremio and Flamengo was strong at the time and more or less favourites since 1980. The other two came from Taca de Prata, the lower level. Guarani won Taca de Prata in 1981 and was promoted thanks to that. Corinthians underperformed big time in the previous season and could not get a spot in the big Sao Paulo quota. Socrates and company started the 1982 season in the lower level – they emerged from there thanks to the rules and were great after that. Yet, still coming from bellow – so, the semi-finals reached 2 of the top teams of the time plus 2 technically second level teams. And when the games were played, the top teams won quite confidently: Gremio beat Corinthians 2-1 and 3-1, and Flamengo – Guarani 3-2 and 2-1.
How to judge Corinthians? They reached the semi-finals and were quite the talk both at home and abroad. A team lead by Socrates, with whom the whole world fell in love in this very year, and having Ze Maria, Casagrande, Zenon, Biro-Biro, Wladimir was surely one to go far. A champion squad, considering that Brazilian teams hardly had more than 4-5 outstanding players. But it was also unbalanced team – the strikers were wonderful, but it was not so in defense. Perhaps that was why they lost. On the other hand, to start the season and second division and to end it close to winning the national title was remarkable.
Standing from left: Wendell, Jaime, Júlio César, Ariovaldo, Edson, Almeida
First row: Lucio, Hernani, Careca, Jorge Mendonça, Capitão.
Judging by the players here, it was not difficult to understand why they reached the semi-finals this year, but rather why they were in the second division the previous one. Wendell was hardly heard of after 1973 when he was tried in the national team, but surely was among the better Brazilian goalkeepers with plenty of experience. Mendonca, Hernani, Edson, Careca.. an interesting team. May be too young and in need of experience – if able to keep the stars, of course. But wonderful season anyway.
And the final opposed the strongest Brazlian teams of this time – Flamengo and Gremio. It was their time, both teams playing great domestically and internationally, at their peak. Flamengo hosted the opening leg of the final, but it ended in a 1-1 tie. Zico scored for Flamengo and Tonho for Gremio.
No goals at all in second leg, played in Porto Alegre. A third match… and only now there was a winner. Nunes scored the only goal, giving the victory to Flamengo. Nunes was becoming rapidly a club legend: a master of scoring crucial goals.
Of course, it is disappointing to lose even minimally, but Gremio did very well and second place was still a success and something to be proud of. Of course, to win a second title would have been better, but champions in 1981 and 2nd in 1982 – nothing to complain, really. Leao, Batista, Renato, Paulo Isidoro, Baltazar, the strong Uruguayan defender De Leon – Gremio were perhaps the best rounded team in Brazil, having excellent players in every line. Of course, the temper of Leao was a liability – more in the dressing and board rooms than on the pitch – but still Gremio looked better and deeper team than any other.
Flamengo won it second national title – success came slowly for the most popular club of the country: their first national victory was only in 1980, but after frustrating decade they were finally on top, obviously determined to stay there. Actually, in only 3 years they climbed to 2nd position in the all-time table – only Internacional (Porto Alegre) had more titles than them – 3. Flamengo shared 2nd place with Palmeiras, both with 2 titles – but where was Palmeiras now? In the second division. Their last title was in 1973, whereas Flamengo was fresh winner. Leandro, Raul, Junior, Tita, Nunes, Andrade… strong team, no doubt. But they had Zico too. May be less well-rounded squad than Gremio’s, but if not better, then fairly equal and with a genius like Zico any difference could be easily evaporated. A team at its peak, though – nothing momentary or just lucky about their title. Well deserved and even promising, for surely this team was ready to win more and soon.