Red Bull Bragantino consolidated themselves in Brazil last year following being the best team in the group stage of the Sao Paulo State tournament, as well as winning Brazilian Serie B. Created by a multinational project, with bases established by foreign executives, the team is getting more and more Brazilian.
Unfortunately, that is not a compliment.
The Brazilian Way
Differently from their Red Bull “brothers” from Austria and Germany, the Brazilian Bragantino team started having the same addictions as the rest of the teams in Brazil. That is the process of getting rid of a coach right away following a five-game negative sequence, as well as benching players for the same reasons. Three things were important for this to happen:
• A wobbly start for the team in the Brazilian Serie A League
• Major failures from some important players
• Huge dissatisfaction of the fans
Due to all that, Bragantino has already changed their manager for the League, with only 9 matchdays, firing Felipe Conceicao and hiring Mauricio Barbieri. That shows how different things are in Brazil. If we think about RB Leipzig, from Germany, they never changed managers during the League since they started playing the Bundesliga. The only changes happened during the transfer windows between one season and the other.
Important players have also lost space in the squad or have become targets of critics not only from the fans but also from the media. The goalkeeper Julio Cesar, that already helped the team many times, was the first one to suffer. After mistakes made in a quarter-final match in the Paulista Championship. The former captain of the team lost his place as the main goalkeeper to recently hired Cleiton.
The new goalkeeper, however, is not pleasing their fans either. In a match against Sao Paulo, for the Brazilian League, he had some terrible moments that, in the end, gave the victory to their opponents. If things continue like that, Cleiton will probably lose the position as well.
In this same match, another thing called a lot of attention. Bragantino had two penalties during the game. Claudinho, the player who always steps up, lost the first penalty and, when he tried to get the ball to the second, a fight started. Striker Arthur didn’t let him take it and stepped up. In the end, he lost as well and Bragantino lost the match and the enormous chance of getting the three points.
After that we could see, still inside the pitch after the end of the match, players fighting each other. Some were even demanding more respect with the team hierarchy.
Conclusion
Now, it is up to Red Bull Bragantino to solve their problems and try to avoid these terrible addictions of the country in which they were settled. Or else, they will probably not be able to show the high investment and long-term planning that were made by the international investors.
The club will have to trust their players and manager in order to teach the Brazilian people that football requires time and show the fans that, with patience and training, the good results will surely come.