After meeting with club president Juvenal Juvencio on Friday, both sides amicably parted ways. Thus ends the reign of the longest-tenured Brazilian coach of the past five years.

This decision came about after the Tricolor´s loss to Cruzeiro in the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores. The 4-2 aggregate loss left the São Paulo giants out of the running for their fourth continental title.

Former Ramalho assistant Milton Cruz will take the team over immediately. His task wll not be an easy one in his debut as he will have to face none other than the Ronaldo-led Corinthians side at the Estadio Pacaembu on Sunday.

São Paulo is in very poor form so far this year. They were eliminated in the Paulistão by eventual champions Corinthians and were eliminated in the the Copa De Brasil. They currently find themselves in 12th place in the Brazilian national tournament (Brasileirão), seven points behind surprising leader Atlético Mineiro.

Ramalho took over for the immensely popular Paulo Autuori who took the Tricolor to continental glory as they won the 2005 Copa Libertadores as well as the World Club Cup later on that year; beating Liverpool in the finals. Ramalho took the team to the finals of the Libertadores the following year but would fall to Internacional. Despite his failures internationally, Ramalho was able to establish São Paulo as the most dominant Brazilian side in the domestic tournament capturing the crown on three consecutive ocassions.

Ramalho Gets Sack At São Paulo

Amid the lack of cooperation from the rest of the federations in South America, Chivas and San Luis withdrew from South America's premiere club tournament. Brazilian club São Paulo and Uruguayan side Nacional's refusal to go and play in Mexican territory due to the H1N1 virus outbreak earlier that virtually paralyzed the the nation the past couple of weeks.

FeMexFut president Justino Compean and secretary Decio de María decided to withdraw both teams due to the lack of Fair Play on behalf of CONMEBOL. Both Chivas and San Luis were rejected venues from Colombia to Chile.

There is no doubt that this entire process will strain the relations between the Mexicans and the CONMEBOL for events such as Copa Lib, Copa Sudamericana, and even Copa América. Only time will tell, though. We will stay on top of this story.

Chivas And San Luis Withdraw From Copa Lib

Back in 2001, when Colombia was hosting the Copa América and both Argentina and Brazil decided to boycott the tournament because "they feared for their lives". Brazil ended up bringing a C side that eventually was beat by Honduras. For many in the international football scene the tournament was a disgrace with out a match being played. Guess who came to the rescue? Mexico.

El Tri gave the tournament very exciting and were able to reach the finals against a Colombia side that saw Francisco Maturana get a new lease on life in his coaching career.

Let's go back even further. Colombia was the host of the 1986 World Cup and then president Belisario Betancur said that there were "greater needs" in the country. That was why Colombia had to step down as host of the World Cup. Flash forward 23 years and those same "needs" that President Betancur talked about have not been met yet.

So then Mexico came to the rescue, despite still recovering from a devastating earthquake they suffered months before the tournament was scheduled to kickoff.

Even though the fixtures were set as of Thursday night, there was yet another monkeywrench thrown into CONMEBOL's plans to "accomodate" both Chivas and San Luis due to the outbreak of the Type A .

ESPN Deportes and Colombian daily El Tiempo confirmed that the government of the city of Bogota refused to allow CONMEBOL to use their facilities to play a doubleheader at El Campín.

CONMEBOL secretary Francisco Figueredo Britez stated that they are looking at the possibility of having both Chivas and San Luis face off in the knockout stages of the tournament. The city of Bogota came in and said that these teams were not allowed to play in Colombia. Now the ironic part of this all is that all flights as of May 1st coming in from Mexico were still allowed. So is this double-talk? They are following WHO recommendations yet, they still welcome people of the country of origin, so they aren't truly adhering to what was stated. If Bogota health director Juan Varela's knowledge of swine flu was the equivalent of HIV, then he would be telling everyone to avoid toilet seats, cooked pork, and kissing. Their decision was based mostly on what was being said on the news. Colombian Federation president Ramón Jesurúm mentioned that any type of preparations for the virus should be considered "terrorist acts". So now we see where the Colombian authorities stand as far as education of the disease.

Colombia left Mexico in the cold when they were needed most. Right now what the Mexican people need is to see their teams play. It is the least that can be done. I don't want Mad About Fútbol to become Mad About Swine Flu, but we have to talk about what is right and what is wrong. Where I think they are wrong is in the way they are treating this whole situation. The local government's health department knowledge on the subject has caused for this whole travesty.

Due to this decision, now CONMEBOL will look at the option of playing their home matches in Chile. The ball is now in Harold-Mayne Nicholls' court and if there is any indication of how they will be received, the Everton-Chivas match could be a good indicator. The final option in CONMEBOL's arsenal of solutions is to pair the two Mexican sides off and see what happens "over there".

Let's be honest, CONMEBOL is doing everything in their power to suffocate these two sides because no one will defend them. FeMexFut has no say and they do not want to get involved. So from all sides, the biggest losers are the players. They will have to go out on the pitch regardless of whether they play in Mexico City of Mumbai. Right now they will have to play in North Korea or Nicolás Leoz' backyard, they have no say.

This is why Mexico needs to be supported. This is why Colombia has dissappointed someone outside of their border for the first time in 23 years. Ironically, it's the nation that has bailed them out more than once.

It's Time To Support Mexico