Esmeraldinos were arguably the most surprising team of the year. Unlike the also newcomer Fortaleza, there wasn’t many reasons to believe Goiás was going to have a successful season. The quality on the squad was not evident, Claudinei doesn’t have a recent story of successes and, to make it worse, there were some important early injuries.
Nonetheless, Goiás made it through and was very close to get an access to pre-qualifying rounds of Libertadores. Claudinei was not doing a bad job keeping the team on a relatively safe mid-table position, but two 1-6 defeats intervaled with two goalless draws convinced the board to bring Ney Franco.
It took one month for Ney to improve the team, but eventually Goianenses started to produce some serious results: Goiás collected an interesting sum of 9 wins in the second half of the season, more than any of the relegated teams had during the entire season.
Early injuries on centre-halves David Duarte and Yago Silva let the team exposed at the back. Reserves Rafael Vaz and Fábio Sanches had to play a big part of the season almost without any backup. The two ended up being a key part on the club’s success, and together with a great Tadeu in goal formed a solid back-line.
Attacking midfielders Marlone and Giovanni Augusto were absolute disappointments, but on the other hand some players had their affirmation on top flight football like Leo Sena, Yago Felipe and the absolute star of the team Michael, who will certainly have a few approaches during the next transfer window.
Despite the good season, there are no evident signs of a true identity being built. Moreover, it’s possible that more than half the squad will be moving elsewhere. Next season will hardly be a continuation of 2019.
