An early exit from Brazilian cup and no Libertadores to be played after last season’s disastrous 13th place (São Paulo played on the unimportant Sul-Americana and left it on early stages as well) left Tricolores with only the league to worry about. And that was determinant for a while, as São Paulo could disguise the short squad they had by playing one match per week. Under these conditions, São Paulo managed to end the first half of the season on the top of the table, having arguably been the best team in Brazil for half a season.
However, as soon as the games started to pile on and some fatigue was felt by some more veteran players, the lack of second line solutions was blatantly visible. On top of the drop of form of some important players, there was an even more important factor that led to São Paulo’s decline after September: the injury of Everton. The winger’s influence on the team was pretty evident as Tricolores were unable to get back at any decent form after Everton started having physical problems. The former Flamengo winger picked a knock in the end of August; from the very first match of September right until the end of the season, São Paulo collected only three victories in 17 rounds! A disgraceful sequence that inevitably led to coach Aguirre sacking.
While São Paulo was able to keep up the amazing NERD foursome in good form, they were the best team in the country. Nenê was the best player in all league until the World Cup break; Rojas was a great adding to the team, until he picked a serious injury in October; Diego Sousa had a good scoring form during half season and Everton was the team’s most important player for a bigger part of the season, until he had physical problems before September.
