America Mineiro were unable to stay in the Serie A, suffering relegation just one year after their promotion. While few would have expected them to stay up, most of those at the club will have been disappointed to have finished at the very bottom. Throughout the whole season they were the worst team in the division and can have no complaints about finishing last given that they spent 30 of the 38 weeks of the season rooted in last place. Their main problem was that they lacked attacking firepower and they simply could not score goals. In 18 separate matches America failed to get on the scoresheet, which was more than any other team, while they averaged just 0.61 goals per match over the course of the season. As you would expect of the team that finished bottom, they were also poor in defence, but they only conceded the second most goals and conceded just five more than 4th-placed Atletico Mineiro. So it was in attack that the bulk of their problems lay and their ultra-defensive 4-5-1 or 4-1-4-1 formations didn’t exactly help their most used centre-forwards Michael de Morais or Nixon out. As such, they scored just three goals between them and, embarrassingly for the strikers, the team’s top scorer was defender Danilo Barcelos with his four-goal tally. Enderson Moreira was the unfortunate coach whose name will go down in history with this bottom-placed finish, but there was little the 45-year-old could realistically do when he was brought in after the 15th week of the season, with the team already bottom of the pile after equally unsuccessful stints in the dugout from Givanildo Oliveira and Sergio Vieira. Moreira did the best he could and has been rewarded for his efforts with a contract extension that will see him lead the team into the 2017 Serie B.
As mentioned above, few attacking players covered themselves in any glory with America this season, but 24-year-old left winger Osman did show some encouraging signs and should be given more responsibility in 2017 if he stays. In defence, Ernandes, Leandro Guerreiro, Sueliton and Jonas had decent showings, while goalkeeper Joao Ricardo prevented the season from being any worse than it actually was.
The rebuilding process now begins for America Mineiro and the aforementioned Enderson Moreira is the man who is to be kept in charge for the foreseeable future. He must overhaul the squad, especially with the likes of Nilson, Alison, Pablo, Bruno Teles, Claudinei and Gilson all having been released before the season had even come to a close. Once America’s fate was mathematically sealed, they started releasing players, leaving gaps in all positions. The most glaring gap, though, remains in attack. If America are to win an immediate promotion back to the top flight then they need a striker who can score more than three goals in a season.
