After 12 years as a Football Manager, Robaato Rasamu had gone from a nobody theorising the best approach to management in a thesis to winning three of the five top-tier continental trophies. In May 2035, his Kaizer Chiefs lifted the African Champions League, which Rasamu added to those won in Asia with Albirex Niigata and North America with LAFC.
However, rather than jump straight into a new job, Rasamu took a little time away from the game. Fresh from resigning, he booked a flight home to Japan, ate his mother’s food for a few days, then spent a few days taking in games and got a hero’s welcome home at his first side Sanuki and Niigata.
Having fully relaxed for a month or so, it was time to consider the two outstanding tasks on his Pentagon Pursuit. The next challenge on his globetrotting adventure was to find himself a job in South America. But importantly, it couldn’t be any old South American club. Rasamu had won his three continental titles with teams that had never previously been champions of their continent. And, while that may be more difficult in South America and Europe, he had imposed a rule of teams that hadn’t achieved the feat in 15 years. In the case of Copa Libertadores, that didn’t rule too many teams out. Flamengo have won it nine times since 2019 with Palmeiras, Boca Juniors and River Plate winning two and Santos the other.
Feeling reinvigorated, Rasamu cast his eye to the Job Centre and noticed a few eye-catching vacant roles, including Brazilian sides Athlético Paranaense and Fortaleza and Colombian sides América de Cali and Atlético Nacional. While the managers of Corinthians and Fluminense were also insecure.
He applied for all the vacant roles and quickly received interview offers from Paranaense, Fortaleza and Nacional – who all moved quickly to offer him the chance to move to South America. Rasamu delayed all three offers as he now he had a big decision to make. He was tempted by Nacional’s 20 youth recruitment and solid finances with £12m in the bank but then didn’t really fancy the carnage that is managing in Colombia. While Paranaense seem to be in a good place financially and also have decent infrastructure and managing in Brazil is slightly less chaotic.
Realistically, when you have the chance to manage in Brazil, the spiritual home of football, you can’t really say no. So on 2 July 2035, Rasamu was heading to Brazil.
Who Are Athlético Paranaense?
Club Athlético Paranaense is a professional team based in Curitiba, the capital city of the Paraná state in southeast Brazil. The club, intriguingly nicknamed Furacão (Hurricane) or Rubro-Negro (Red and Black) was founded in 1924 after a merger of two sides International Football Club and América Futebol Clube. The club originally used striped red and black shirts but, in 2018, differentiated itself from the likes of Flamengo by using diagonal stripes on the kit and crest to represent the concept of Furacão.
Paranaense has one Série A title, won back in 2001, plus one Copa do Brasil and two Copa Sudamericanas but has never been Champion of South America. It has a fierce rivalry with Coritiba with whom it competes in the Athletiba Derby and a rivalry with Paraná against whom it plays the Paratico Derby.
The club plays at the 42,370-capacity Ligga Arena, known in real life as Arena de Baixada or Estádio Joaquim Américo Guimarães. It was first built in 1914 but renovated several times, including for the 2014 World Cup, which saw it become the only stadium in South America to have a retractable roof and the first to be given FIFA approval to use artificial turf. In real life, Paranaense is probably most famous recently for producing striker Vitor Roque and has solid infrastructure of 19 training facilities, 16 youth facilities and recruitment and 15 junior coaching with a 4-star reputation.
Rasamu was walking into a tricky situation with Paranaense sitting next to bottom of Série with just 12 points from 17 games, having been predicted to finish 7th. His new board expected Sudamericana qualification, which was seven points away with 21 games remaining. However, they were also still in Copa Libertadores with a tricky second round tie against River Plate on the horizon.
Meet The Athlético Paranaense Squad
The best player at Paranaense is rapid winger Reinaldo Strada, who’s the only player to have 4-star ability but has oddly only played six games this season. Other key players will be centre back Carlos Bruno, striker Tom and midfielders Ronaldo Henrique, Danilo (the former Forest player) and Fábio. There’s potential in 17-year-old midfielder Lucas Pena Barcelos, winger Carlos Eduardo, right back Yago and Moroccan striker Khalid Ennafati and midfielder Samir Cheikh. The youth teams also had nine players with 4.5-star potential or better led by centre-back Evaldo, midfielder Anderson and winger Paulo Roberto Aal. Rasamu arrived at Paranaense two days before the transfer window opened and wasted no time in selling 10 players for £2.5m then signing Paraguayan striker Alejandro Villamayor for £950k.
Having assessed the players available to him, Rasamu noticed a clear lack of a left winger and worrying lack of decent centre backs. So he lived up to his reputation for creating unusual formations by going with an unconventional 4-3-3 approach.
Getting Started In Brazil
Rasamu’s first game in Brazil was a challenging trip to Corinthians, who were also underperforming in 14th. Their hosts started the better but a free-kick rebounded to Fábio to drill home from 20 yards. That goal gave them confidence and Fábio’s low cross fell to Strada to convert his first goal of the season then Cheikh fired home following great play by left back Brayan Marín just after half time. Corinthians got a late consolation but this was a superb start for Rasamu.
The Paranaense fans’ first look at Rasamu was a huge game as they entertained local rivals and 15th place Coritiba. The home side were awarded a penalty on 16 minutes and Cheikh stepped up to slot it into the top corner. Coritiba equalised but a half time ticking off worked wnders as Cheikh converted with a cheeky backheel and that proved enough for a huge win to lift them out of the relegation zone.
The good start continued with back-to-back 0-0s at home to 5th-place Bahia and another Athletica Derby at Coritiba but they eventually lost 2-0 at Fluminense then 2-0 at home to Internacional. A run of must-win games against fellow bottom half sides began with a much-improved 4-2 win at Cruzeiro in which Villamayor got his first goal for the club and young winger Eduardo got two assists. And the young duo impressed again as they scored in a 2-1 win at home to 16th-place Cuiabá then a superb 4-1 win over Santos in which Tom halted his 13-hour goal drought.
Paranaense’s form continued to be a little shaky and, despite threatening Sudamericana qualification, a tricky run-in saw them slip to 14th. They finished on 45 points and 10 behind the Sudamericana qualification spots but 15 clear of relegation. However, they did take 33 points from Rasamu’s 21 games, compared to 12 from the first 17, which would have been enough to finish 6th over an entire season, so he definitely had them moving in the right direction.
First Taste Of Copa Libertadores
Rasamu was thrown straight into Copa Libertadores as Paranaense took on the mighty River. They looked pretty good in the first half of the home leg and Marín headed home the opener on 62 minutes. Just when they looked to be in control, they gifted River two goals but, to everyone’s surprise, they equalised in injury time through winger Juan Manuel Giaime. Paranaense should have been in front early at Más Monumental as Cheikh missed a sitter and they were made to pay as River swiftly got the opener. They held River until the 80th minute when their midfielder scored a sensational solo goal, but Paranaense were knocked out 4-2 on aggregate.
Major Rebuild Needed
Rasamu was far from pleased with what he’d seen from the players in his first few months at Paranaense. So-called leaders in the squad had been unhappy from minute one and kicked up a fuss for no particular reason. So Rasamu was planning to move on some of his overpaid players and continue developing some of the promising youngsters he’d given a chance at the end of the season.
How big a rebuild would Rasamu overtake in his first off-season in Brazil? Join us on Monday to find out!
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