Botafogo fail to win again, near completion of one of the worst choke jobs in history

Winning a league in any sport is hard. In soccer, that is very much the case, especially when you have a domestic league with so much parity among the top teams.

That's exactly what's been happening in Brazil, where the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A continues to shock and excite with every fixture. There might still be turning points, but tonight may very well be the nail in the coffin, at least for one specific team.

As it stands, Palmeiras top the table with 66 points. Botafogo, Atletico Mineiro and Flamengo are all on 63 points. There are two matchdays left. Palmeiras winning it all wouldn't be a surprise to anyone; in fact, they've won the most league titles in its history and are the reigning champions. But the way in which they would win it this year is unprecedented.

Botafogo's epic collapse

Botafogo won 15 of their first 19 games this season. They opened up a 14-point advantage over the second place team and looked like they were going to cruise to their third-ever league championship. But the universe had other plans.

They have only won three of their last 15 games and haven't won any of their last nine. In the midst of that dry spell, they blew a couple of big leads and conceded last-minute equalizers on several occasions.

On Wednesday night, their string of disappointments came to a head. Going up against the second-worst team in the Serie A, Coritiba, Botafogo had the match won with a 97th minute penalty kick. But as soon as the game restarted for the final minute, they gave up a relatively easy goal at the back post.

The game ended 1-1. Botafogo could have pulled to within one point of Palmeiras, who won their match 4-0. Instead, they are three points behind, need to win their remaining two matches and get help elsewhere. All of that to avoid a choke job of epic proportions.