Flamengo's dream of winning the South American League for the second time is more alive than ever. Coach Paulo Chupeta's team played a great game this Friday (November 26.11), beating Franca 84-78 and securing their spot in the semifinals of the competition, as the top team in their group. Their opponent will be the Argentine team Quimsa, against whom Flamengo won the title in 2009, this Saturday (November 27.11), at 21 pm, also at the HSBC Arena.

The game's top scorer was Marcelinho Machado, who scored 24 points in the first half alone and finished with 30. The result eliminates Franca from the competition. Boca Juniors, from Argentina, advances to the next round and faces Brasília at 18:30 pm this Saturday in the other semifinal. Fla's captain and top scorer analyzed the victory in an interview with the official website team.

"At the end, we ended up letting their team get there, maybe because we thought the game was already won, that the advantage was good, but the team deserves congratulations. We played a very good game, both in defense and attack, now it's time to rest, stay focused on the match against Quimsa and fight to reach another final," he explained.

Fla dominates from the beginning
The first half belonged entirely to Flamengo. Proof of this is the statistic of the score changes: there were four. The home team's biggest lead was 19 points. Franca's was one. The red-and-blacks went 17:15 without conceding a single goal. Franca, in turn, had only 40 seconds of advantage. With a performance worthy of what one would expect from a major club in a derby, coach Paulo Chupeta's team dominated their opponents from the start, opening up a 4-0 lead. With Bábby and Teichmann dominating in the paint, racking up seven rebounds in total, and Marcelinho hitting three-pointers, the team from Gávea built a six-point lead by the end of the first quarter: 23-17.

In the second period, the Flamengo captain continued to be inspired by his long-range shooting, and a technical foul on Franca's Benite made things even easier. Flamengo's lead, which was 37-21, increased to 45-27, highlighted by the return of point guard Duda, who had narrowly avoided missing the competition due to injury. He returned in time and put on a show of assists to lead the team to a 52-37 victory at halftime. Marcelinho scored no less than 24 points in the first 20 minutes.

Red-Blacks only manage
The São Paulo team started the third quarter better, eventually cutting the deficit to eight points. Calmly, Flamengo didn't give in, keeping its head, and with two good plays from Hélio, one for three and the other for two points, the team from Gávea opened up a lead again. Even with coach Paulo Chupeta making significant changes to the lineup, Flamengo's quality didn't wane, and Flamengo won the period 70-55.

The victory was already well underway, and in the final quarter, the team simply had to hold on to its lead until the end. Franca closed the gap considerably, but Flamengo held on, and in the end, a technical foul by Fernando secured the 84-78 victory. A triumph that was a gift to the fans at HSBC Arena, who not only celebrated the positive result but also the elimination of their rival Franca.

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Flamengo: Marcelinho (31), Helio (11), Wagner (2), Fred (7), Duda (7), Jefferson (7), Teichmann (2), Atila (2) and Bábby (15).
France: Fernando (12), Ricardo (5), Benite (11), Helinho (3), Rogerio (8), Marcio (13), Drudi (16) and Andre (10).