Friday 20 May 2011

Brasileirão In Focus: Bahia

Esporte Clube Bahia are back in the Brazilian top-flight after eight painful years in the lower divisions. Their return has been a long time coming, considering Bahia is the biggest club in Brazil’s huge and populous northeast region.

The Tricolor squad this year is made up of tons of loan signings, mainly squad players from big clubs like Corinthians, Vasco and Cruzeiro. The more interesting names in the Bahia squad are four of these signings, Zezinho, Lulinha, Dôdo and Jobson. The first three are youngsters who have all been tipped as ‘the next big thing’ early in their careers, their progress seems to have stalled a little, but it will definitely be interesting to see how each of them get on. The fourth name is by far the most intriguing, 23 year old striker Jobson.

Jobson: Will he finally realise his potential?

At 21 years old, Jobson was the star striker at Botafogo in Rio de Janeiro, he had set the Brasileirão alight and was ready to sign for Minas Gerais giants Cruzeiro. Everything was all set for the transfer, until Jobson failed a drug test and the move was cancelled. It turned out he had a serious addiction to crack cocaine and was subsequently banned for two years from the game. The ban was later reduced to six months and he was resigned by Botafogo.

He managed to reclaim the form that he had back in 2009, but his attitude and lack of discipline meant he was very inconsistent and got in to a lot of trouble with Botafogo, often missing training sessions and succumbing to the temptations of the Rio de Janeiro nightlife. At the end of 2010 he was loaned out to Atlético Mineiro, but was altogether unimpressive during the Minas Gerais state championships, only making a handful of appearances.

Now at Bahia, he appears to be pleased with his new club, and excited in the wake of the new season. Whether this attitude is sincere or not remains to be seen, but what is certain is that the 23 year old still possesses a huge amount of talent, and if he plays to full potential he will be indispensable for o Tricolor. For the sake of football, here’s hoping we will see the true Jobson.

Bahia play a fairly standard 4-4-2 formation, with two defensive midfielders. Their key will surely come in attack, where Jobson and Souza will lead the line.

Expected Formation:
football formations

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