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By Brian Homewood
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 8 (Reuters) - Joel Santana's final game with Flamengo before his move to South Africa started as a party and finished as one of the biggest upsets at the Maracana since the final game of the 1950 World Cup.
Santana, who has been hired to lead hosts South Africa at the 2010 World Cup, had originally been due to leave Brazil's most popular club after the Carioca championship final against Botafogo on Sunday.
But, after Flamengo won 4-2 away to Mexico's America in the first leg of their South American Libertadores Cup third round tie last week, the club persuaded him to stay on for Wednesday's return at the Maracana.
The directors apparently wanted to treat the game as a testimonial for Santana, who has resurrected the team in his 10 months in charge.
However, Flamengo contrived to lose 3-0 against a team which had just finished bottom of the Mexican championship with the worst performance in their history and were under interim coach Juan Antonio Luna.
Luna replaced Ruben Omar Romano became the second coach this year to leave the club following last week's game.
Santana, in contrast, had led Flamengo out of the Brazilian championship's relegation zone last year to a third-place finish. He followed that by winning the Carioca championship on Sunday with a 3-1 win over Botafogo.
HISTORIC EMBARRASSMENT
Before the game, Flamengo's players formed a line of honour for Santana, who was also presented with a plaque and a club shirt with the number 1,000 emblazoned on the back.
Club directors, buoyed by Sunday's success, joined in the festivities while America quietly warmed up.
Early on, the game followed the script and Flamengo attacked.
But the situation turned when America took a 2-0 halftime lead and the unthinkable happened when stocky Paraguay forward Salvador Cabanas scored his second goal of the evening in the 78th minute to give the Eagles the margin they needed.
"Flamengo set up a circus for Joel but lose 3-0," said a headline in the daily newspaper O Globo. "From happiness to chaos," said the sports daily Lance, describing the defeat as an "historic embarrassment."
A stunned Santana denied that his team had failed to take the game seriously.
"I said when we left Mexico that the game was not won," he said.
Outside the stadium, the situation turned nasty as angry Flamengo fans stoned the team bus and insulted directors.
Some commentators even likened the defeat to the final match of the 1950 World Cup against Uruguay.
Brazil needed only to draw to win the trophy and that looked a mere formality after they blasted 13 goals in their previous two games.
Instead, the Uruguayans came from behind to win 2-1 in a match which still haunts Brazilian football.
