return for championships

The first edition of the Friendship Cup had 8 participating teams, divided into 2 groups. In group A, were Rio’s CFZ, Flamengo, América-RJ and Kashima Antlers, while in group B, were Vasco, Botafogo, Nova Iguaçu and Ichikawa. The first placed team of each group advanced to the final and the second placed ones played for the tournament’s third position. In the final match, Botafogo defeated Flamengo by 2 to 1 and reached the title, while Vasco finished in third, after beating América-RJ by 2 to 0. Many players of both Botafogo and Flamengo are or were members of these two teams’ first squads. At the first Friendship Cup, Botafogo played with Rodrigo Fernandes, Mílson and Tiago Costa, among others. Flamengo had André Bahia, Ânderson, Andrezinho and Felipe Melo, nowadays a Cruzeiro’s player. The CFZ, coached by Dudu Coimbra, Zico’s nephew, did not go well, losing all its three matches at the first stage and not scoring a single goal. The team was eliminated, and only did not finish in last because of the Japanese Ichikawa and its negative goal difference of 13.