6th Round of Taça Rio

By Jayme Monsanto, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO – The eight games of the 6th round of Taça Rio were played this Saturday (March 29th). Four matches started simultaneously at 4PM: Duque de Caxias against Bangu (the former won 3-1 against the latter), Boavista against Madureira (another 3-1 victory for the former), Mesquita against Tigres (Tigres lost 2-1 to Mesquita) and Flamengo against Resende.

In this match, Flamengo beat Resende (a team based in the north of the Rio de Janeiro state) with a great performance, and this alieved the fans’ worries. The final score was 4-0, and once again striker Josiel was the man of the match, scoring two goals and reaching the top goal scorer position of Taça Rio, with eleven goals in the competition so far. The Resende team eliminated Flamengo from Taça Guanabara last month, and this victory was in a sense a payback to the Carioca team. To read more on Flamengo’s victory and its situation in the championship, click here.

At 6:15 PM Vasco da Gama entered the Raulino de Oliveira stadium (at Volta Redonda city) and faced the local Volta Redonda team and managed to complete its 13th undefeated match in a row. The match’s score was 5-3 (with striker Enrique scoring twice for Vasco) and the Carioca team kept itself in the first position of its group in Taça Rio along with Fluminense.

Later that night, Americano won 1-0 agaist Friburguense and Macaé won by 3-1 on Cabofriense, but the night’s limelight was set on Maracanã stadium. It was there that the last and most expected match of the night was held. Fluminense versus Botafogo. These are two of the biggest Carioca teams, and they have huge fan bases. Fluminense is in the middle of a very good campaign, but Botafogo is also in a good shape, being only three points below Flamengo in the B group competition chart.

The game was very disputed since the first minute, and the players from both sides gave their bests. The game was tied on 1-1 until the last minute, when striker Conca scored the tie breaker for Fluminense. The game ended 2-1, and Conca was acknowledged as a hero by the Fluminense fans.

If the Taça Rio qualifiers ended today, the teams that playing the semifinals would be Flamengo, Vasco, Botafogo and Fluminense.