Thiago Barros and Eduardo Vieira

Sports Journal

Rio de Janeiro - Four days remain until Flamengo's most important futsal match of 2008. The Flamengo futsal team will face Vassouras at home on Wednesday for a spot in another semifinal of the State Championship. The first leg, in Vassouras last Friday, was very evenly matched. Flamengo opened the scoring but conceded an equalizer, and the match ended in a 2-2 draw. The two teams meet again on Wednesday at Gávea. The first half was electrifying on Friday. Exploiting the speed of their wingers, Diego Panazio and Arthur, Mengão seemed right at home in Vassouras, dominating the attacking play in the opening minutes, and soon opening the scoring. Panazio made a good individual play and finished powerfully to give the Gávea team a 1-0 lead. Vassouras felt the goal, and Flamengo capitalized. Arthur took responsibility and scored the second. From then on, the home team changed their approach. Betão and Jesus' team began to press, and they still had a chance to extend their lead with a free kick from the ten-meter line, but failed. Within a minute, two quick strikes from Vassouras and the score was 2-2 at the end of the first half. Thanks to the first 20 minutes of play, the expectation was that the second half would maintain the high level of the first. But that was not to be. The match remained electrifying, but both teams wasted numerous scoring chances, and the score remained unchanged. "It was a very even game, as everyone expected. Now, Wednesday will be a great game! We'll do everything we can to secure this spot," says Diego Panazio. But the red-and-black team's mission will have an off-court factor that could hamper coach Cid Escarlate. Dudu was injured in a challenge with goalkeeper Breno and is doubtful for Wednesday's match. Magrão and Leco received their third yellow cards in Friday's match and will be suspended for the next match. Since Dudu and his immediate backup, Magrão, are both out, Cid should use Wallace, who was promoted from the youth team, as a starting defensive midfielder. The other option is winger Michel Marques, who could play as a substitute.