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Top scorers' duel Vasco, giant-killer Sao Caetano to battle for title
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Last year's Brazilian soccer champion will finally be determined Thursday when Vasco da Gama squares off against giant-killer Sao Caetano in the third and decisive final at Rio de Janeiro's Maracana stadium. The game will be a rematch of the final's second leg that was suspended after 23 minutes on Dec. 30 when a perimeter fence at Vasco's overcrowded Sao Januario stadium collapsed, injuring more than 150 fans. The score was 0-0 and the first leg in Sao Paulo had ended 1-1. As well as determining the champion, Thursday's game should prove an interesting duel between the championship's two top scorers -- Sao Caetano's striker Adhemar leads with 22 goals, three ahead of Vasco's veteran Romario. It had been unclear whether either star would play. Romario, still suffering from a leg injury that got him substituted in the Dec. 30 match, got the all-clear Wednesday. Adhemar, who has meanwhile signed with Germany's Stuttgart, also received permission to play. Sao Caetano, a second-league club that qualified for the championship by a legal loophole, goes into the match as an underdog. But getting to the final was already a feat that captured the imagination of this soccer-crazed nation, especially fans in Sao Paulo state. "Of course, a defeat would leave us all with our heads hanging, but I believe that we have already been crowned for our efforts," Sao Caetano striker Claudecir said Wednesday. After the last game's suspension, Vasco president Eurico Miranda claimed the title for his club, and the Vasco squad picked up the championship trophy and did a victory lap as the injured were still being carried out of the stadium. The cup, declared "missing," was found days later stashed in Vasco's headquarters. It took a decision of Brazil's top 13 soccer clubs and a ruling by Brazil's supreme sports court to confirm the rematch.
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