Macaca Defeat Spurs Call from President for Athlete Accountability

Ponte Preta humiliation leaves questions over Macaca's championship credentials

Macaca's hopes of claiming the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B title suffered a major blow on Saturday as they were comprehensively defeated by Ponte Preta in the Estádio Moisés Lucarelli. The 3-0 defeat leaves Macaca languishing in eighth place in the league table, 10 points behind leaders Cruzeiro.

Having won their opening four matches of the campaign, Macaca have now won just two of their last eight and have failed to score in their last three outings. The poor run of form has led to growing unrest among the club's supporters, who are beginning to question whether the team has the necessary quality to challenge for promotion.

Disappointing performance draws ire of Macaca President

Following the defeat to Ponte Preta, Macaca President Leonardo Silva criticised the team's performance and called for the players to take responsibility for their current predicament.

"The performance today was unacceptable," Silva said. "We were outplayed in every department and deserved to lose the game. The players need to take a long hard look at themselves and start showing some pride in the shirt."

"We have a talented squad but we are not performing as a team. The players need to start working harder and playing for each other. If they don't, then we will not achieve our goals."

Macaca must rediscover winning ways to maintain promotion hopes

Macaca have a difficult run of fixtures coming up, with games against Cruzeiro, Grêmio and Bahia all on the horizon. If they are to maintain their hopes of promotion, they will need to rediscover their winning ways quickly.

The team's next match is at home to Cruzeiro on Tuesday. A win against the league leaders would be a major boost to Macaca's promotion hopes, but anything less than three points could prove fatal.