If you’re already a Pro member, log in.
Become a member of Soccer America Pro today to get a complete online page with all the articles and discussions, and get all the Soccer America newsletters for just 50 cents.
If you are already a Pro member, log in.
After 28 years, it seemed that Botafogo’s Brazilian league drought was nonetheless coming to an end, thanks to a crackling start to the season and a huge injection of money from American tycoon-turned-soccer investor John Textor.
They then lost their coach to Cristiano Ronaldo’s Saudi Arabia and imploded dramatically in a series of key matches before letting a 13-point lead evaporate, leaving their long-suffering supporters to suffer a little more.
Considered one of Brazil’s iconic clubs, Rio de Janeiro-based Botafogo, which won the championship in 1968 and 1995, was mathematically eliminated from the 2023 name race on Sunday after a 0-0 draw at home to 14th-ranked Cruzeiro, squandering five points. . leader Palmeiras in the absence of an adjustment.
Reduced to fifth place, Botafogo, which led the league for 31 games and seemed invincible midseason, suffered the biggest setback in the history of the Brasileirao, Brazil’s elite league.
That humiliating final stretch is a scream of the team’s likely unstoppable start, when they smashed favorites like Flamengo and defending champion Palmeiras to a record thirteen wins in their first 15 games.
Drawing on a cast of little-known but rambling players, Botafogo has spent week after week making its fans dare to dream, to mention Textor, who took a 90-cent stake in the club last year.
John Textor owns stakes in clubs all over the world.
The 58-year-old media and tech mogul, who also has large stakes in English club Crystal Palace, France’s Lyon and Belgium’s Molenbeek, has pledged to invest $77 million in improving Botafogo, who only returned to the top-flight league last season after being relegated in 2021.
Home to former greats Garrincha and Jairzinho, Botafogo temporarily turned heads with a new generation of talent, adding goalkeeper Lucas Perri, defender Adryelson, midfielder Eduardo and forward Tiquinho Soares.
“The players aren’t living day-to-day, they’re hungry for tomorrow, to win, to be first,” said then-coach Luis Castro of Portugal.
– Revolving door of coaches –
The first fateful moment came in June, 12 games into the 38-game season, when Castro took over Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr.
His compatriot Ronaldo is said to have called the coach to ask him to accept the job.
His compatriot Bruno Lage, of Benfica and Wolverhampton, took over at Botafogo.
But Botafogo suffered a series of injuries and struggled to adapt to the style of Lage, who replaced Castro’s proprietary game.
Their commanding lead has diminished.
Lage was sacked in early October, with Botafogo leading by seven points.
Looking for an internal solution, Textor appointed assistant coach Lucio Flavio, a former Botafogo midfielder, to update it. But the team’s disarray only got worse.
After it gave up the lead to Palmeiras in early November, Flavio, too, got the boot, replaced by veteran Brazilian coach Tiago Nunes.
But Nunes controlled four problems in as many games.
– November to –
Palmeiras meanwhile surged to a commanding lead.
With 69 points (3 ahead of Atletico Mineiro and Flamengo) and a huge goal difference in their favor, the Sao Paulo giants are still confident of a second straight title when the league ends on Wednesday.
For Botafogo, now out of the name race with 64 points, it is a November to forget.
On Nov. 1, it led Palmeiras 3-1 at home, only to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, losing 4-3.
Textor said in an obscene interview after the attack that the red card shown to Adryelson in the 76th minute was the result of “corruption. “
The tirade of the president of the Brazilian Football Federation (CBF), Ednaldo Rodrigues, to sue him for defamation.
Improbably, Botafogo repeated the exact same feat on Nov. 9, giving up a 3-1 lead to lose 4-3 at home to Gremio, courtesy of a Luis Suarez hat trick.
It also gave up leads to suffer painful last-gasp draws against Bragantino (which equalized in the 96th minute), Santos (90th minute) and Coritiba (99th minute).
“There are no words I can say to comfort our fans,” Nunes said.
Their fairytale season now aborted, one Botafogo fan summed up the agony on X, formerly Twitter: “I’ve lost all feeling. I’m just a talking piece of meat.”
RAA/JHB/IWD
© Agence France-Presse
The only way to guess Botafogo’s true price is the players’ contracts. I just have to stay awake. Winning the league with a “little known but disjointed” team, while wasting the head coach, is a very, very, very long plan. Just stick with it and integrate a lot of young players who are making an impact in the B. Seria. A and be on the money.
advertising