Opinion – Sandro Macedo: Clubs no longer want Brazilian coaches, they want scholars

So much has happened since the pandemic that it sometimes feels like the outbreak was from Covid-13 or Covid-14.

Take the wonderful world of coaches in Brazilian football, for example. Until mid-2019, no one thought they needed a foreigner to call their own. Dorival Júnior and Mano Menezes were the names that popped up whenever a team was looking for a new teacher — somehow, it seems that Dorival and Mano are always available. And it was said at the time that Tite was just warming up the bench for Renato Gaúcho, who would be the next coach of the selection. It was a certainty…

Jesus came. And the world has changed. Now, when a team called great is without a coach, only Portuguese is spoken. Not that he hadn’t had an occasional foray into foreign coaches before. But the preferred target was always Latin Americans, like Rueda, Gareca and Osorio.

The Premier League has already had its small wave (it was not a wave) of Portuguese, captained by José Mourinho, as well as the French. Now, the richest league on the planet is in a more German vibe, thanks to Jürgen Klopp.

Around here, every now and then there is a little ill will from analysts when commenting on why clubs are looking for Portuguese people — everyone wants a new Jesus. They say, with reason, that Portuguese coaches are not all the same. It is true.

But trying to look at the glass as half full, when teams here look for Portuguese, what they’re looking for is a scholarly European coach, who can understand the human material and get the best out of it tactically. The reason why those wanted are only Portuguese is obvious: the language. If in terra brasilis German was taught at school, we would certainly be after the teacher from Mainz, Leverkusen or something similar. But we are a people limited in education. We barely understand Spanish.

Argentine Jorge Sampaoli held 947 press conferences here and to this day I have no idea what he said. If there was an excellent Greek coach running around, at a discount, nobody would hire him, but he would yield great titles.

That’s why we want Portuguese. Because they study and are smart when building teams. Just the motivational chat in the locker room doesn’t solve anymore. Jesus and Abel, from Palmeiras, are completely different, and both were very successful with the forward Flamengo and the tactical Palmeiras.

​Before Covid, I remember that a course for technicians that the CBF made mandatory for local teachers was starting to take shape. Renato Gaúcho was pissed, it would interfere with his vacation, with the right to footvolley on the sands of Rio.

Corinthians and Botafogo were left without coaches and I didn’t see the name of Renato, Dorival or Mano being considered once. Both clubs went after Portuguese (at first, the same).

Serie A should start with 20% of Portuguese coaches (Palmeiras, Flamengo, Corinthians and Botafogo, yet to be confirmed). And there are five others from the “hermanos” group (Atlético-MG, Coritiba, Fortaleza, Santos and Internacional). And until the start of the first round, in early April, the number of the foreign fleet still has time to increase.

If you’re going to have good games, like Atlético-MG vs Flamengo in the Supercup, why not?

appeal/campaign

Kia, after having given a car to Hulk, the best player in the Supercup, sends a car to Gabi Zanotti, from Corinthians who was the best in the women’s Supercup in Brazil. In addition to the obvious deserving, sure they will have more media return.