Botafogo crushed Boavista 4-1 at the Sao Januario stadium on the day Armando Nogueira, one of their most prominent supporters, passed away to ensure their qualifying for the Taca Rio semi-finals in the first place of Group 2. Sebastian Abreu, a striker from Uruguay, scored a fantastic hat-trick to secure Botafogo’s spot in the Carioca championship’s second round.
Abreu, who will play for Uruguay at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, gave Botafogo the lead in the eighth minute to give his team a slim lead going into halftime.
Nine minutes into the second half, the towering striker switched roles and found Marcelo Cordeiro, who increased Botafogo’s lead.
After one of his greatest performances since joining the Brazilian club, Abreu scored two more goals for Botafogo in the final 11 minutes of the game. Joao Batista de Arruda, the match referee, had earlier in the half disallowed a fair goal by Abreu.
In stoppage time of the second half, Tony scored a consolation goal for Boavista.
Abreu ranks third among scorers at the Rio de Janeiro event with nine goals. With twelve goals, Vagner Love leads the scoring rankings, one more than Flamengo’s attacking partner Adriano, who has eleven.
Will Petkovic prolong Flamengo’s stay?
On Tuesday, representatives of Flamengo will meet with Serbian midfielder Dejan Petkovic and his agent to renegotiate his May contract. Petkovic has declined to talk to the media about the issue since he has experienced better times at Flamengo. He just lost his spot in Flamengo’s starting lineup, and he’s not thrilled with coach Andrade’s choices.
Fluminense, a crosstown rival of Flamengo and a previous club of Petkovic’s, has expressed interest in the 37-year-old, who will reportedly rejoin the team along with his agent.
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