Ending a season with a negative goal difference score of 14 and waiting until the very last round to confirm their salvation in Série A will never get any smile from a Tricolor fan, no matter how deep and disturbing the financial problems on the club were. This was a very problematic season for the club from Laranjeiras. A high instability on the club’s directors board and constant delays on the players and staff salaries had an obvious impact on the team. The charismatic Abel Braga left the club apparently because he was bothered by those problems.
Fluminense was already in a good shape when Abel Braga left, with only 14 points after 12 rounds. His replacement Marcelo Oliveira had a decent start immediately breaking a run of four consecutive defeats with three positive results in his first games, including a good 1-0 win over the eventual champions Palmeiras. The club kept improving for a considerable period. An occasional defeat wasn’t harming too much as Tricolores found themselves in a decent 8th place after a good 4-0 win over Paraná in the 28th round. However, as the injuries were piling up and the squad was becoming too short, Fluminense got back to a depressive form in the ending part of the season. From round 31 to 37, Fluminense collected five defeats and two goalless draws, having gone into a record breaking goal draught of seven league games (plus two continental) without scoring a single goal. This forced Flu to defend their presence in Série A in the very last match, where eventually a narrow win over the condemned América saved them.
While he was fit, they young striker Pedro was not only Flu’s absolute start but also one of Brazil’s sensations. Not only he was scoring for fun (with ten goals on the 20th round, he was the leader of the goalscorers table), he was showing that unmistakable talent to dominate the box, with and without the ball. Unfortunately, he picked a serious injury still in August, and Fluminense was profoundly hurt. Kayke was called to replace him, but was total miss; Luciano and Everaldo formed an interesting duo for a while, but eventually the opponent’s learnt how to deal with them. Besides the 21-years old striker, Gum at the back, Richard in the centre and Sornoza as a provider were the team’s best units in an overall poor and short squad.
