After spending most of Sunday afternoon (August 29.08th) with a victory in hand, Flamengo ended up losing to Guarani, in Campinas, by 2-1. Jean scored for Flamengo at the end of the first half, but Guarani equalized and took the lead in the final minutes of the game.

Devastated, Marcelo Lomba, who even saved a penalty during the game, explained the feeling of the entire Flamengo squad.

"The nation must be very sad. I can only be ashamed, right?! We had the result in our hands and ended up letting it slip away," said the goalkeeper as he left the field.

Flamengo will return to the field against Cruzeiro on Wednesday (September 01.09st) in Uberlândia.

O JOGO
Early in the first half, striker Diogo suffered a severe sprain to his left ankle. Despite feeling considerable pain, he, who made his debut for Flamengo last week, continued playing and created two good scoring opportunities.

At 12 minutes, Diogo managed to infiltrate through Guarani's midfield and, in front of the area, shot hard towards the right corner of the Bugre goalkeeper, who managed to parry it for a corner. Then, the young Flamengo striker made another good play and passed to Petkovic, who was unmarked. The Serbian midfielder preferred to try a first-time shot, but the ball bounced on the uneven pitch and the shot went out of play.

Up until the 15-minute mark, Flamengo's dominance was evident, with possession reaching 70%. However, afterwards, Guarani began to reduce this advantage, but without seriously threatening Marcelo Lomba's goal.

And while Flamengo was counting on Diogo to have an inspired afternoon, full of movement and creativity, they ended up suffering from that incident early in the game. The striker, number 43, couldn't stay on the field due to a sprained ankle and was replaced by Toró in the 35th minute.

Guarani seemed to get excited by Flamengo's 'break' in the final minutes of the first half and decided to attack. Mazola received a good pass, found himself one-on-one with Marcelo Lomba, but was fouled at the edge of the area, and the resulting free kick went in without posing a threat.

When nothing more seemed expected from the first half of the game, Petkovic took a corner kick in stoppage time, which Jean headed in unmarked into the back of the net for the Campinas team: 1-0.

In the second half, Flamengo continued to dominate the game. In the 12th minute, Juan exchanged passes with Petkovic and was fouled just outside the Guarani penalty area. Flamengo's number 10 took the free kick, but it posed no danger. Then, in the 17th minute, the Flamengo left-back appeared again, this time on the byline. Juan crossed the ball to Val Baiano, who headed wide with the goal wide open.

Léo Moura, who was under heavy pressure, asked to be substituted, and Flamengo's interim coach, Toninho Barroso, brought Galhardo into the team. The young right-back ended up playing a key role in the most important moment of the second half. After being fouled by a Guarani striker in Flamengo's penalty area, Galhardo saw the referee award a penalty to the Campinas team.

But there's an old saying that a poorly awarded penalty doesn't go in. And that's what happened. Ricardo Xavier took the penalty and Marcelo Lomba saved it with his feet in the 32nd minute.

The defense seemed to have given Flamengo a new lease of life, and Petkovic set up Val Baiano one-on-one with the goalkeeper. However, the striker struggled with the ball's bounce and shot wide. This was the striker's last play on the field, as he was replaced by Diego Maurício.

And the missed goals may have punished Flamengo this afternoon at the Brinco de Ouro da Princesa stadium. Just like in the first half, the net shook in the final minutes, twice, but in favor of Guarani. Also from a corner kick, Aílson scored with a header after a deflection that deceived Marcelo Lomba. A minute later, Reinaldo received the ball at the edge of the area and shot hard. The ball again deflected and deceived the Flamengo goalkeeper.

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TECHNICAL SHEET

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GUARANI 2 X 1 FLAMENGO

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Stadium and location: Brinco de Ouro da Princesa, Campinas (SP)
Time/Date: 4 PM (Brasilia time) - August 29, 2010
Referee: Arilson Bispo da Anunciação (BA)
Income and audience:
Yellow cards: Guarani: Mazola (44'/1st half), - Flamengo: Marcelo Lomba (34'/1st half), Toró (15'/2nd half), Rafael Galhardo (29'/2nd half)
Goals: Flamengo: Jean (47'/1st half), Reinaldo (48'/2nd half) and Geovane (45'/2nd half)

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GUARANI: Emerson; Rodrigo Heffner, Rodrigão, Alison and Márcio Careca; Maicon, Baiano (Geovane 19'/2nd half), Paulo Roberto, Mário Lúcio (Reinaldo 1'/2nd half) and Mazola; Romulo (Ricardo 27'/2nd half). Coach: Vágner Mancini

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FLAMENGO: Marcelo Lomba; Léo Moura (Rafael Galhardo 27'/2nd half), Jean, Ronaldo Angelim and Juan; Correa, Willians, Renato and Petkovic; Diogo (Toró 34'/1st half) and Val Baiano (Diego Maurício 37'/2nd half). Coach: Toninho Barroso

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