When There's Nowhere To Go But Up

[rekluse]

Chapter 1 - The Bottom

The flight seemed shorter this time, perhaps from having something to pass the time this trip in contrast to last months trip where 6 hours was spent attempting to decipher the nationality of each group of passengers. To Michael it seemed like just an hour ago he was boarding the flight yet here he was staring out the passenger window as the Volkswagen careened down a winding slope, lending a view of an incredible natural landscape. Green, lush, a faint mist burying itself in the canopy dissipating momentarily to show a river twisting through a valley and a beautifully orange lit city pressed against each side of its banks.

In the lobby of the Montese Hotel sat two men, chatting about the city, perhaps a bit louder than normal to be sure the attractive woman working at the hotel desk looked over occasionally.

“Can you take these up to my room please,” said Michael as the hotels attendant came over.

Michael was tall, average built with broad shoulders and neck. Light skinned with dark blue eyes and short dark brown hair, he was normally quiet but even more so now since he did not speak the native language. He was sitting across from an athletic middle aged man with a bright smile and the darkest hair and eyes, wearing a black short sleeved collared shirt and white bermuda shorts. The man, Marcelo Pinto, spoke to Michael in English with a thick accent.

“Cafezinho?”

“Thank you,” Michael replied, taking the small espresso and adding more sugar before tasting it, signifying his wasn’t his first time in the country.

“Mr. Simão said he has known you for more than a year, I was unaware you were involved in Brazilian football, what clu-.”

“I wasn’t,” Michael interjected, “I was introduced to him by Mr. Cardoso when I was making frequent visits to the Volkswagen plant.”

“He had mentioned you were a project manager with Volkswagen previously, my son-in-law works there,” said Marcelo.

“I may be able to beat their salary if he’s good between the posts,” laughed Michael, pointing out the team currently had no first team keeper.

“Well I’m off; Mr. Simão should be along any minute. If everything goes well I’ll be seeing you tomorrow on the practice field, glad to have finally met you Michael.”

Marcelo left Michael alone sipping his cafezinho and picking up a magazine titled “Placar” with a picture of Ceni and Marcão on the cover, further reminding himself that he may spend most of his week choosing a Brazilian keeper of his own.

After finishing the article, understanding enough Portuguese to get the basics yet still skipping at least a word each sentence, Michael looked up at a man in loud conversation with the woman working the desk, and wasn’t the only one as the older gentleman sitting next to Michael had looked up from his paper to take in the conversation better than Michael could.

The conversation turned into a one sided confrontation, the man yelling at the woman making it hard for even someone fluent in Portuguese to understand. There seemed to be trouble with the mans credit card and he was convinced it was a repeated mistake by the young desk clerk, and was now yelling into the surprised look on her face at being blamed for something clearly out of her well manicured hands.

Michael felt if he intervened for the woman it would only make matters worst, but he felt he had to do something. He noticed the outraged man had left his mobile on top of his luggage left by Michael, he quickly grabbed it thinking he would hang on to it for now and toss it but instead had another idea and quickly replaced the phone as he had found it, with only the SIM card missing.

The ploy was humorous for the first 5 minutes of the man fumbling with his phone, wanting to call the number on the back of his overbalanced bank card, but was abruptly ended by the livid man tossing his phone onto the floor and storming out of the hotel, luggage in tow.

After this show, an older gentleman known by Michael as Ricardo Simão entered the hotel and the two greeted each other as if they were old friends and made their way to the bar by Mr. Simão’s direction.

“You don’t want the position?” said a surprised Ricardo, as he asked Michael to call him.

“I do,” replied Michael, “I’m just not sure if it’s worth the risk, my only experience in managing is at youth levels, not to mention I have a family to think about or should I say a wife who doesn’t want me to risk my career on a childhood dream.”

“I’m reminded of a quote by Paulo Coelho,” Ricardo said softly with a half smile, “When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.”

“You’ve had a month and you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t want to be convinced of taking the position at my club, so tell me how best I can convince you. Come to the grounds tomorrow morning and meet the team and staff, perhaps then you can come to a decision. I’ll bring these papers again in the hopes you make the right one.”

Michael hesitated, recalling the words of his wife that should he quit his job with Volkswagen and follow this ridiculous dream of managing a football team then he should be sure to give her his new address in Brazil so she will know where to send the divorce papers.

Perhaps it was the feeling he had watching his local youth team lifting the cup knowing every afternoon, every weekend that he gave to those kids paid off. Maybe it was the landscape and culture that captivated him on his first trip to Rio de Janeiro still deep inside him. Or possibly it was the thought of passing the beautiful Brazilian desk clerk each day instead of the furrow browed woman that calls herself his wife. Whatever the reason, Michael took the papers and signed each one then handed them back to Ricardo, now with a full smile on his face.

Michael would now live halfway between two incredible producers of brilliant footballers, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro; he was now the manager of Resende FC, a Brazilian club on the fringes of the Serie C.

[simon07]

Like this as a start rekluse, a great introduction.

Will be watching with keen interest.

Good league choice too

[rekluse]

Thanks. I promise after chap 4 it will get more football involved, but there's a point to it all

[rekluse]

Chapter 2 - How Did I Get Here?

Brazil, the state of Rio de Janeiro roughly halfway between the city of the same name and Sao Paulo situated on the President Dutra Highway, or simply the BR-116, lies the city of Resende. The city straddles the banks of the River Paraiba do Sul and is home to over a hundred thousand residents, many of whom work in one of the cities several major factories located. This includes the Volkswagen Truck & Bus factory, manufacturing nearly all of Volkswagen’s heavy vehicles. Also the Brazilian Nuclear Industries, the only industry to enrich uranium in the country, French alcohol beverage company Pernod Ricard among others. Resende is also home to the first, and largest military academy in the country, Academia Militar de Agulhas Negras, or AMAN, commanded by General Gerson Menandro Garcia de Freitas, himself from Resende.

Then there is Resende FC, RFC, founded in 1909 they have enjoyed years of minor successes and mediocrity in the world of football. Now finding their way into the Campeonato Brasileiro Série C, Resende have a monumental climb to achieve a top two position atop the table in order to reach the next round. No money, already over the projected wage budget, the first team keeper a 15 year old boy pulled from the youth side, grounds with 1 main stand and the rest curtailed by a retaining wall, and a team containing such players that even the best of would hardly make the starting XI of any other team in the Serie C group 6 that Resende are expected to prop up.

All of this ran through Michael's head as he stared at the ceiling of his hotel room, finalizing his thoughts with himself as the cherry on top, a manager whose only achievement in the sport was a cup win for a local youth team. Why did he accept Ricardo’s offer? He was making a comfortable living at Volkswagen, the job wasn’t inspiring but it did provide a comfortable living and opportunity to travel abroad. He thought about how he spent his spare time at home coaching local youth teams, learning as much as the boys as they moved along.

Then there was his first trip to Brazil, he was sent to oversee that new protocols were in place at the plant and spent a couple months in the country. Driving along the river on the Av. Rita Maria Ferreira da Rocha with Vice Mayor Paulo Cardoso, Mr. Cardoso turned and wanted to make a quick stop to visit an old friend. Michael was surprised to step out of the car onto a football pitch where a match between two young sides was being played with a few onlookers standing about.

Michael was soon introduced to Ricardo Simão, president of Resende FC whose facilities they were at. Ricardo was an acquaintance of Mr. Cardoso, and considered a friend of Cardoso’s when his son began playing in the Resende youth leagues, in hopes of his newly titled friend finding a place for this boy in the upcoming years. Mr. Cardoso often attended matches with Ricardo and over the next several weeks Michael was invited to each one by Ricardo himself. What may have started as Ricardo wanting Michael there as a conversation buffer between himself and Mr. Cardoso’s unrelenting stories of his son’s hat trick in their 14-2 win the previous week, it turned into a friendship between the two.

The last 2 weeks, before Volkswagen recalled Michael to Wolfsburg, he had been invited by Ricardo to coach a group of boys aged around 14 whose replacement coach had yet to be determined after the previous took a position with Vasco’s youth side. While they only played 5 matches under his guise, the boys had come to enjoy playing under Michael, the language barrier added to their enjoyment rather than deterred from their learning.

When he was on his way to the airport he received a call from Ricardo and the last thing he said to Michael was “Perhaps you will receive a call from me in short time to take over the senior side.” Michael passed this off as a jest yet here he was, staring at the speckled ceiling of his hotel room urging himself to place his feet on the ice cold ceramic floor tiles and make his way to the shower and begin his first day as the manager of a professional football club, however unlikely it was that he would retain this title after the first month of results are recorded.

[O\'Hara_fan]

I'm liking the start of this story, very well detalied, good luck with it.

[rekluse]

Thanks, first time I've played in the brazilian lower leagues as well so quite different

[rekluse]

Chapter 3 - Karma

Michael wasn’t sure what all he would need to bring with him; he had never been inside the clubs facilities other than the stands and Ricardo’s office and lobby. On his way out the hotel door, the first time in his life he had put on a track jacket for work, he greeted Isabel at the desk and left for the club grounds.

When he arrived at the club facilities, via Av. Marcilio Dias, he was the first and only one there. He realized “morning” to a man who had a full time corporate career up until the previous night was earlier than it was for the members of a sports club. To pass the time he had a stroll around the Estádio do Trabalhador, or Worker’s Stadium. The pitch was circled by a running track with one main stand opposite the club facilities; a retaining wall skirted the edges patched with graffiti. This, a row of businesses and the Av. Rita Maria Farreira da Rocha are all that separate the grounds from River Paraiba do Sul. The grass was short and hard with areas clearly quite thin, and to a football standpoint clearly put forth images of Brazil’s fast paced style they were renowned for. Michael saw two men walking towards him and recognized Ricardo accompanied by Jonas Blanco, a newly appointed physio. He greeted Ricardo and Jonas, tall and quite athletic for 35 years of age, more so than most of the Resende squad, as they walked toward the club offices.

“This is your office, I’m sure you’ll have everything you’ll need. The team will begin to arrive between nine and ten, except for Rocha and Nailton,” remarked Ricardo.

Michael recognized this as his first test as Resende manager, Nailton one of only two central defenders was a key figure of the team both on and off the field and Rocha was an experienced staple of the midfield.

Michael thought, “How could he hope to get the team to work as hard as he envisioned when veterans like Nailton and Rocha show up late?”

His first test as manager was simply lack of understanding, something that would most likely be ever present in Michael’s career.

“Nailton looks like he’s 20 out there, not 33,” Jonas said as he looked out the office window.

Rocha and Nailton both had arrived early each and every morning and ran together while their teammates were nestled in bed or sipping their morning coffee. These were the leaders, these were the players that Michael needed to bring this team together to work harder than they ever had before and push for 3 points week in and out regardless of their competition. Michael didn’t even need to see the rest of the team, these were his captains, these were his Lothar Matthäus’.

The rest of the team arrived one by one, dressing and stretching around the pitch under the guidance of Jonas. Michael had planned on evaluating each player individually during drills but he had to conduct the drills himself as his newly appointed assistant Sandro Luis had yet to show up. This left a great burden on Michael as it was only himself and Jonas to deal with the entirety of the first team and junior side, by the end of which both were quite frustrated.

Ricardo was fuming at the lack of Sandro’s appearance; he knew Sandro had arrived in Resende as he received a call from him previously, and then left him 2 messages that he should be on the grounds at first light. After some discussion and more attempted phone calls, Sandro appeared around midday.

“I believe the messages I left for you said first light, not when you decided to turn your light on Sandro.” Michael heard Ricardo say, as he turned around.

Sandro came walking over more briskly now and Michael recognized the furrowed brow and squinty eyes as the same man that was yelling at Isabel, the owner of a certain mobile Michael had taken the SIM card from the previous night.

“I’m terribly sorry Ricardo, my mobile just decided to stop working completely, I never received your messages but still planned on coming earlier to see the grounds yet I use my mobile as my alarm clock, so as you can see it was a series of events yet no one to blame other than myself.” Sandro said as he looked at Ricardo with periodical glances towards Michael.

“I believe I saw you last night, we’re staying at the same hotel,” Michael said in reply to the glances.

“I thought you looked familiar, my names Sandro Luis, looking forward to working with you.”

They quickly caught Sandro up on the goings of the day and by afternoon Michael had a pretty good idea of the strengths and weaknesses of his new team.

The talent of Resende were amongst the defenders, in the form of Nailton in the middle and a very quick right back in Marcio Gomes. The midfield stars were Rocha, a determined exact defensive midfielder and his understudy Fred who was conforming into the same mold as Rocha. Beto was a hardworking midfielder with no real weakness yet no great strengths but would prove key in the link between Resende’s front and back. Up front was German Arangio, the only non Brazilian on the team, he was a 32 year old Argentinean forward with a pendant for creating chances as well as capitalizing on them. His striker partner was in the form of Andre Norat, a young forward with incredible ability for this level in the game, he was one of the only players on the squad that could impose his will on the solid Resende defenders during practice matches. As solid as a central defender Edinho was, he was no match for Norat’s spectacles as he would often single out Edinho to beat before embarrassing the 15 year old between the posts.

The rest of the week was spent assessing the squad, holding tryouts for selected free agents to bolster the depth. The club had no funds for transfers so Michael’s first, and possibly last, foray into the professional realm of the sport would be first spent scouring free agents and potential loans from wealthier Brazilian sides.

The first of these was pure excitement for Michael; a 33 year old keeper by the name of Marcelo Bezerra stood out from all other keepers and was snapped up on a free. Bezerra was solid all around and athletic which made up for his lack of size. The dire need for a keeper was now taken care of as they quickly agreed to terms yet Bezerra would not report to the team early enough to feature in the opener.

Leonel was a more than capable left back and few players available to Resende could compare yet with Bruno Leite on a long term injury the only cover for Leonel was 37 year old Marcio Costa. A young 20 year old left back from Corinthians was available for loan and few teams were eager to add Nascimento to their squad. Michael decided to give the young man a chance, his lack of natural talent was apparent but Nascimento was a very hard worker and through sheer determination was able to keep up with the even the likes of Marcio Gomes in practice.

This was the team Michael was going into the first match with, a match against Rio Branco FC who were touted to be one of the top 3 teams in the Serie C Group 6 which consisted of 8 teams: ADESG, Guaratingueta, Jaguare, Linhares, Macae, Paulista, Rio Branco, and our own Resende who were unanimously agreed upon to prop up the table. The match would be played on June 22nd in Estádio do Trabalhador. A lifetime of dreams and no opportunities and suddenly here he was, Michael felt the weight of the world on his shoulders for a game between two nearly insignificant Serie C sides in a non-televised match. Yet in Resende it was a highly anticipated affair, the mark of Resende’s potential would be decided tomorrow as onlookers saw Resende contest their first Serie C match.

[rekluse]

Chapter 4 - No Place Like Home

The dressing room had been moved at Michael’s request, the original was in a bunker styled room with a few benches and chairs and not much else. It was moved to a room with windows on 3 sides and with money on such short order Michael himself spent his off time helping put together a respectable dressing room. There sat the team, none of which wanted to break the deafening silence that had overcome the dressing room. Michael wasn’t concerned, it wasn’t a silence from fear, it wasn’t a lack of confidence, on the contrary it was a confident silence. The players knew their roles, they knew the roles of their opponents, Rio Branco, and most of all they knew they had no expectations except those put upon them by themselves and their manager.

Michael went over the geometry lesson once again, the name given to Michael’s many tactical discussions due to the number of circles, squares, triangles, exes, diamonds and even on occasion stars and octagons that found their place on the board representing different players, and their many roles on the pitch.

“Would you rather I simply have colored circles with your numbers on them?” Michael asked once as he was free handing a diamond overlapped by a rhombus. “Maybe I’ll put little legs on them too.”

Resende was going into their first game with a backline consisting of Nailton and Edinho in the center, and Marcio Gomes with Nascimento, who had greatly impressed during practices, playing on the sides. Nascimento was a more defensive figure with Marcio Gomes a speedy attacking threat playing up and down the right flank. The midfield would feature Rocha, wearing the armband, and Hiroshi playing defensive roles. Directly in front of them were Fred and Beto who would link up attacks from the back and into the forwards, Norat and Arangio. This lineup seemed to match up quite well to Rio Branco in Michael’s mind, yet he was quite worried, Bezerra was not reporting to the team until the day after so in goal sat a wide eyed 15 year old Carlos.

The team was formed around a solid defense and crowding the midfield to open up lanes for Gomes to run up and down on the right flank. Counter attacking and high tempo were worked upon as much as anything during practice matches and this game would gauge whether it was tactical genius on Michael’s part or simply something which only works in video games.

As they made their way onto the field the support was tremendous for only a single main stand being available. Resende came out in white shirts with black shorts and lined up against the opponents they had been reeling in their mind time and time again.

The match began and quickly Rio Branco was on the attack, Ico stringing passes between himself and Cesar Baiano. Beto got involved and toed the ball away with a back pass to an awaiting Rocha who attempted a far flung pass that stopped 30 yards short of the opposing box. A foot race ensued between Arangio and right wingback Ley, Arangio won, side stepped Ley as the keeper Ronaldo came to meet him, Arangio lobbed the ball over Ronaldo’s head and it dipped down gently to the ground and into the net. Resende had done it! Resende had scored in no less than 8 minutes against heavy favorites Rio Branco! The excitement in the stand was tremendous; Arangio kneeled down and kissed the ground before celebrating with his teammates. Resende sat back and bolstered the defense; Resende controlled the game with light passes between each other, luring the opposition inward before launching Gomes on the right flank. The rest of the half finished without Rio Branco having a single attempt on goal. The defense, especially from Nailton, was tremendous.

The locker room atmosphere at the half was much more jovial than before the game, Michael remarked on this and made a point to let each player know this game was far from won.

“You boys look good out there, Nailton you’re a tower in our defense and Rio Branco know this now, they’re likely to come out playing wider which puts the efforts onto you two,” Michael said as he pointed towards Gomes and Nascimento. “Junior, you’re coming on for Arangio,” he added, as the wide eyed 21 year old striker glanced towards Arangio who had his head in his hands and his right leg in Jonas’.

Michael then began to go over what he wanted from Junior, not to the player himself but rather to Marcelo Pinto who would relay them in a better Portuguese than Michael could muster to the excited striker.

“This doesn’t change anything for us, we’re still going back out there with the same intentions as before. Ico is seeing far too much of the ball, Rocha I want you to mark Ico whenever he’s in a forward position.”

The second half began with Rio Branco’s Rossini taking the ball forward and slotting a pass between Fred and Hiroshi right to the waiting Juliano Cesar. Cesar took the pass in stride, too much for Hiroshi to catch from behind, and began towards goal where a 15 year old sat, feet cemented to the ground and Michael on the sidelines praying Cesar’s shot would hit the immobile youngster, it didn’t. Mario Gomes had slanted across the box and caught Cesar as he began to shoot, the ball harmlessly out for a goal kick.

Rio Branco began an onslaught of missed opportunities until the 60th minute when Fred began to lose his stride after picking up an ankle injury. Marcio Costa came on for Fred and shortly after a struggling Beto was replaced by Ale. Costa struggled throughout the game but Ale made up for lost ground and spread Rio Branco’s midfield with constant attacking runs through the middle.

In the 84th minute Junior was hacked down by Marquinho and had to come off, having used all 3 substitutes this left Resende a man down for the remainder of the game. Norat was left as the lone striker and the midfield were playing more defensively from there on. Resende held on for 8 minutes then in the 92nd minute Rio Branco found their opportunity. A newly subbed Paulinho Pitbull capitalized on an Nascimento mistake in the box, turned about and fired a shot, it hit the post and bounced at an awkward angle to Rio Branco captain Doca Madureira who went for the far corner but

Carlos saw it off his fingertips and controlled the oncoming corner. The game ended with a Rocha winning man of the match, Arangio with the only goal, and a 15 year old keeper with his first clean sheet, however deserved. Resende had won their first match with staunch defense and a moment of brilliance from German Arangio.