International of Jeddah. Fagner already received an offer last minute of Wolfsburg. The proposal was readily accepted by the player. On the same day, the crew of Vasco da Gama completed the signing of Dakson. The midfielder, from the Bulgarian Lokomotiv Plovdiv, came to the club surrounded by mistrust, because, despite being an idol in the Bulgarian team, is virtually unknown in Brazilian football. On 25 July, Vasco da Gama defeat Botafogo 1–0 in Engenhão. The game was pretty much expected by the confrontation between Juninho Pernambucano and Clarence Seedorf, two of the best players in the Brasileirão. The Surinamese-Dutch midfielder got to play well, but the Brazilian midfielder had another gala performance: missing 2 minutes, Juninho Pernambucano invaded the area, but if balance and fell. Lying on the lawn, dribbled two Botafogo players and touch to Alecsandro scoring the winning goal, making O Reizinho da Colina ("The King of the Hill") got out of the field cheered. On 28 July, Vasco da Gama drew with International 0–0 at Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre. The match was surrounded, because it marked the debut of Diego Forlán in Brazilian football, playing for Internacional. But the match turned out to be warm and flat, despite the great public and the high quality of both teams. August On 5 August, Vasco da Gama drew 0–0 with Corinthians in São Januário, Rio de Janeiro. Like the first match between them for Copa Libertadores, the game was very truncated, and very few clear opportunities, which resulted in a goalless score. On 8 August, Vasco da Gama won Sport 2–0 at Ilha do Retiro, Recife. In a complicated game and truncated, mainly because of the soggy lawn because of the rain, the Vasco da Gama opened the scoring on a beautiful free kick from Juninho Pernambucano (the entire game booed by the crowd of Sport, being ex-player club). Soon after, in a defense of inattention, the Ecuadorian Carlos Tenorio dribbled two markers and keeper to make a great goal and give final numbers to match. On 12 August, Vasco da Gama lost to Atlético Mineiro: 1–0 in Independência, in Belo Horizonte. The game between two of the top three teams was as expected: busy, rushed, and extremely technical. Nevertheless, the first half ended goalless. In the second half, Vasco da Gama decided to retreat too, and hence Atletico Mineiro took control of the match. With that, eventually reaching