By Robbie Blakeley, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The first round of the 2014 Campeonato Carioca got underway yesterday, with none of the big three clubs in action managing to win. Fluminense lost with new coach Renato Gaúcho taking charge of his first game, whilst there were draws for Botafogo and Vasco.
It was Conca’s first match back in the colors of Fluminense as well, but he couldn’t stop the Tricolor losing 3-2 to Madureira. On an awful pitch, Flu failed to find any rhythm despite taking the lead midway through the first half.
They had initially fallen behind to a wonder strike from Robert on thirteen minutes. Leando Euzébio leveled from Conca’s corner two minutes later. All seemed to be in order when Michael gave Flu the lead just before the half-hour mark, but Carlinhos scored from the edge of the area before the break, and, five minutes after the restart an unlucky deflection off Allan gave the minnows the points.
A missed penalty cost Vasco victory against Boavista, the game ending in a 1-1 draw. Reginaldo had given the Cruz-Maltino an early lead, converting Marlon’s cross with just ten minutes on the clock.
Yet Cascata equalized for the visitors on the hour mark to bring Boavista back square. Thirteen minutes from time, Vasco midfielder Montoya was brought down in the box and the referee pointed to the penalty spot. Fellipe Bastos saw his effort saved by Getúlio Vargas and the Vasco players left the field to the all too familiar chorus of boos.
A dreadful performance from Botafogo left them with a 1-1 draw against Resende. An inspired piece of play in the midfield from Bruno Gallo slipped Geovano Marranhão through on goal to give Resende the lead less than two minutes into the contest.
Renato got Botafogo back on an even keel but they never took the game away from their opponents. It was the first time the Glorioso have not won the opening game of the Campeonato Carioca since 2007.
This afternoon, Flamengo start their Carioca campaign against Audax, kick-off is at 5PM at the Maracanã Stadium.
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