Taca de Prata. Hard to tell what the real strength was… the group winners in the second phase moved to Taca de Ouro. These were Americano, Botafogo (Ribeirao Preto), Guarani, and Uberaba. So, the strongest so far teams were out of the competition, but 12 clubs came from Taca de Ouro for the third stage: Moto Clube, Joinville, Galicia, Fortaleza, Mixto, Rio Branco, Brasilia, Treze, Paysandu, CSA, Juventus, and Ferroviario. The third phase corresponds to 1/8 finals – 16 teams and direct elimination. Mind: of the 36 second level starters only 4 and all of them second placed in their second phase groups continued in the third level – the rest all came down from the upper level, thanks to… finishing last in the first phase of Taca de Ouro. Among the early losers were:
Bangu – second phase,
America (Belo Horizonte), better known as America MG – first phase,
Coritiba – first phase,
Santa Cruz – second phase.
In the next round the original second level teams were further reduced in half: Guarany was eliminated by CSA and
Itumbiara – by Juventus.
The rest of the eliminated teams were:
Ferroviario,
Moto Clube,
Paysandu,
Treze,
Fortaleza, and Rio Branco.
Quarter-finals eliminated the last of the original starters of 1983 Taca de Prata:
Central – by Brasilia, and
Londrina – by Joinville.
Galicia lost to Juventus and Mixto – to CSA.
The semi-finals:
Brasilia (Brasilia) was out after 0-0 and 1-1 against CSA. Rules… CSA qualified because had better 4th record. No away goals, no over-time, no penalties, no replay…just record in the previous stage. Unlucky boys from the capital city.
Joinville was also eliminated after 0-0 and 1-2 against Juventus.
The final opposed CSA to Juventus and it was the typical South American affair: goals did not count, if there was no clear winner after the two legs, a tie-breaking third match was scheduled. There was no clear winner – CSA won at home 3-1, but Juventus won its home match 3-0. They also prevailed in the tie-breaker 1-0 and won Taca de Prata.
CSA – Centro Sportivo Alagoano – from the city of Maceió, one of the traditionally strongest clubs in the state of Alagoas, did well, but it was really mixed season: too weak to last in Taca de Ouro, they were quite fine in the second level, although with luck. Luck, however, rarely carry a team to the end – if away goals decided an outcome, CSA would have been eliminated in the semi-finals. Away goal was against them in the final too, but eventually they lost the tie-breaker, so some kind of justice prevailed.
Juventus – Clube Atlético Juventus (São Paulo) was in the same position like CSA, but managed to end with a trophy. At the time Juventus was practically unheard of and it was something like a miracle they were included in Taca de Ouro. But they did not last in the highest tournament and that was just as well – up there, they had no chance to win, even if they played surprisingly strong football. Taca de Prata was their level really and here they excelled and won. Which, apart from the trophy and name as champions, gave them ‘promotion’ to the next Taca de Ouro, one more try guaranteed.