Flamengo's youth soccer team once again brought joy to the Red-Black Nation this Saturday morning, November 26.11th. In the second leg of the U-15 State Championship final, the "Mais Querido" hosted Botafogo at Gávea and won 2-1 (Yuri and Mikael). With this score, not only was the club able to celebrate the Rio de Janeiro state championship title again after nine years – the most recent achievement was in 2007, when Zé Ricardo, the current coach of the professional team, was still in charge of the U-15 team – but the work done in Flamengo's youth teams once again proves its worth, and gives the red-black fans the incredible feat of having won championships in absolutely every category during the second half of 2016.

"I use this team as a benchmark when it comes to the players' behavior on and off the field. They are very respectful and committed boys, very disciplined, and truly deserved this achievement. Regarding Zé Ricardo, he's a fantastic guy, with whom I had the opportunity to work in the U-20 category. He's a role model for all of us, and being able to give a club like Flamengo the U-15 state title again and have my work compared to Zé's in 2007 is a source of great pride for me," revealed champion coach Ramon Lima, who has been with the club for two years but took over the category only six months ago.

The grand final started tensely, with a tight midfield match and fouls flying from both sides. The first big chance came only in the 15th minute, and Mengão quickly opened the scoring. Rhyan received the ball on the right side of the box, made a good play, and passed it to Yuri. The number 10 calmly slotted it home, past the goalkeeper, to make it 1-0. From that moment on, Flamengo began to dominate the game. In the 25th minute, Yuri delivered a sweet pass to right-back Mikael, who crossed well into the box, but forward Rhyan arrived a millisecond too late. In the 31st minute, the Rubro-Negro scored their second. The match's standout performer, Lucas Gabriel, delivered a beautiful pass to Mikael, who burst into the box with great speed and fired a powerful shot between the goalkeeper and the post, making it 2-0.

"It wouldn't be fair if another team were the champion. I say this because of everything we accomplished throughout the championship. We worked with a lot of focus and perseverance, always helping each other, and this victory was the culmination of it all. I'm very proud to be part of this group," said midfielder Lucas Gabriel, also known as "Cabeleira."

During the second half, Flamengo was very focused on the field, simply managing the result with confidence. From the 30th minute onward, Botafogo came out desperately in search of an equalizer, opening up spaces in their defense. Braian and Lucas Gabriel missed two clear scoring chances in a row, and a chance to kill the game. In stoppage time, Flamengo got careless, and Matheus, in a misplaced clearance, went one-on-one with goalkeeper João Fernando, pulling one back for the team from General Severiano. But there was no time for anything else. The ball didn't even roll again, the referee blew the final whistle, and Mengão shouted "we're champions" once again, something that has become a common occurrence in the club's youth academy over the past few weeks.