Five seasons after, Sport is going back to Série B. The fans must still be heartbroken after such a cruel ending of season. Sport’s season can be divided into four different phases. The first one was of absolute success, as Pernambucanos was sitting on the second place after the first ten rounds, based on the combination of class and work rate of midfielder Anselmo. Coach Claudinei Oliveira arrived on round 3 to replace Nelsinho Baptista after two unsuccessful first rounds, and let Sport into a great initial third with impressive performance like the one that got them an away win over the champions-to-be Palmeiras.
However, round 11 started an awful sequence for Sport, which had certainly much to do with Anselmo’s departure. Claudinei Oliveira was sacked after collecting only two points in the following 8 rounds. Eduardo Baptista arrived on round 19, but lasted only 8 rounds, having collected only one victory in that period over the already struggling Paraná. Finally, Milton Mendes arrived, and his first match would be the last of the second phase of Sport’s season, an awful 2-5 defeat in Minas Gerais.
After that initial upset, Milton Mendes raised the team’s morale and found a good formula that brought Sport from the 19th position to 15th in 7 games. The introduction of the promising young defender Adryelson, the excellent form of Jair well accompanied by Marcão in the centre of the pitch, and a fluid attacking foursome with Matheus Gonçalves deserving the spotlights was Mendes trademark for this final third of the season.
However, some suspensions and injury problems (most notable the five weeks injury of the very reliable left-back Sander) exposed Sport’s lack of solutions in their squad, and the team was caught up in a sequence of five games without winning that brought them back to relegation spots right before the dramatic last round. Sport did their job by defeating Santos, at home, but some unfavourable scores elsewhere made them pay for those three awful months from June to September.
