The 2012 season was Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama's 114th year in existence, the club's 97th season in existence of football, and the club's 41st season playing in the Brasileirão Série A, the top flight of Brazilian football. The 2008 season was the only season where the team was down graded resulting in their playing in the Brasileirão Série B in the 2009 season. After doing well in the 2011 season, Vasco da Gama aimed to win its 5th title of the Brasileirão Série A. The team came close to achieving this in 2011, but lost to the Corinthians. As well as competing in the series A, Vasco da Gama returned to the Copa Libertadores (the main football competition of the Americas). In the eleven years after the 2001 Copa Libertadores, the team had enjoyed 8 consecutive wins which was a record, before being eliminated by Boca Juniors, the 2001 finalists. Despite doing so well, Vasco da Gama could not defend the title of champion of Copa do Brasil, because of conflicting schedules. (A Brazilian team competing in the Copa Libertadores cannot compete in the Copa do Brasil but this is planned for reconsideration for the 2013 Copa do Brasil). Season overview Pre-season Vasco da Gama, unlike some other Brazilian clubs, decided to keep its main lineup of the 2011 season for 2012. Top players, like Dedé, Rômulo, Felipe, Juninho Pernambucano and Bernardo, were kept on, at least for the Copa Libertadores competition, which only takes up the first half of the season. Despite this, there are other players who may play for Vasco da Gama in the 2012 season. Some of them are: the centre backs Réver, of Atlético Mineiro, Rodolfo, from Grêmio (on loan from Lokomotiv Moscow), Miranda, from Atlético Madrid, and Leandro Almeida, from Dynamo Kyiv, the left backs Maxwell, from Barcelona, and Kléber, from Internacional, the Argentine attacking midfielder Walter Montillo, from Cruzeiro, the Chilean second striker Eduardo Vargas, from Universidad de Chile, the Colombian second striker Jonathan Copete, from Santa Fe, and the strikers Diego Tardelli, from Anzhi Makhachkala, and the Argentine Facundo Parra, from Independiente. Another possibility would be the return, by loan from Al-Jaish, of the central back Anderson Martins. But despite his wishes to return, he stated that could not because of his contract. Moreover, he had not yet made his debut for his new club, as it had not registered