Wonderkid Factory | Part 3 | Godinho’s Godly Debut Season

A young Retrô Futebol Clube Brasil side just about survived in their first season in Série B, and an epic youth intake had fans dreaming of a bright future for the club that was only founded just over a decade ago.

Heading into 2027, manager Robinho Lazaró was disappointed to lose star wing back Pedro Rodríguez, who wanted to move to a bigger club and departed at the end of his contract. The club’s finances had improved to over £500k, largely thanks to Série B’s TV deal, but Lazaró decided to retain his faith in youth. He promoted last season’s exciting youth intake prospect Rodrigo Godinho as his starting striker, along with striker Wesley, midfielders Kevem Vitor, Garrincha and Bruninho, and centre backs Rodrigo Gueti and Valdomiro. And he moved to the more offensive version of his 3-4-3 approach.

Young Retrô Make A Bright Start

Godinho scored on his debut to become the youngest scorer in club and league history, aged 16 years 125 days, as Retrô began their Pernambuco State championship defence with a 2-0 win at Central. A few weeks later, he bagged a hat trick as a fan day proved a success in a 4-0 domination of Decisao. They went on to perform well, finishing 2nd in the league behind Sport Recife, before losing out to Náutico on penalties in the semi finals.

The bookies again made Retrô massive favourites to be relegated from Série B, with title odds of 350/1 well behind the likes of Athletic (MG), Náuticio and Guarani (50/1). The league has several more recognisable Serie A sides, with relegated Athletico Paranaense 10/11 favourites, followed by Vasco da Gama (Evens), Fortaleza (7/2), Juventude (4/1), Cuiabá (8/1) and Sport Recife (12/1).

The second season in tier two began with wide centre back Laécio Connely’s header earning a point at home to Chapecoense. But they performed well in their first away day, as Godinho scored a neat finish on 17 minutes before second half strikes by attacking midfield duo Radsley and captain Diego Guerra strikes downed Avaí 3-1. They narrowly lost 1-0 at home to Cuiabá before securing an impressive 3-3 at Fortaleza and a narrow 2-1 defeat. But they improved with a superb performance to win 4-1 at Remo led by a brace by Radsley, who then also scored the only goal at home to Criciúma, before a mightily impressive 0-0 at home to Vasco.

Godinho, who had quickly been dubbed “O Deus” (“The God”) by his adoring Retrô supporters, had made a flying start to his career, and set a new club record of 22 goals in a season with another brace earning a 2-0 win at Chapecoense in late June. However, the form dropped off through July and August, including getting battered 4-0 at Vasco, which teed up a tasty promotion fight, with Retro in 2nd and Fortaleza in 7th only separated by 9 points with 10 games remaining.

Guerra inspired a much-needed 2-1 win over Vila Nova and another exciting talent, Leonardo Mantega, stepped up with two goals in place of the injured Godinho to inspire a 2-0 success at Juventude. That turned the promotion race into more of a four-horse race between Retrô, Vasco, Sport Recife and Paranaense. Godinho marked his return with two goals in a 3-0 domination of Guarani, which effectively made it a two-way fight between Retrô and Vasco, who spent £7.75m in the September transfer window.

A 2-1 defeat at Ceará handed the big spenders the advantage, before a disappointing 2-0 loss at Gremio Novorizontino and a 2-2 at home to Operário Ferroviário allowed Paranaense back into the fight. And, with 3 games remaining, the second promotion spot was anyone’s to take, with 2 points separating the 3 sides.

Matchday 36 – Athletico Paranaense (3rd, away): A huge game in the promotion race saw Retrô make the trip to the slightly underperforming title favourites, who’d won 6 on the bounce. But a superb Retrô performance and goals by two homegrown stars bucked that trend. The visitors made a bright start with wingback Vinicius Votobel scoring a driven 20-yarder after 3 minutes and Godinho tapping home a second 7 minutes later. Paranaense got one back just after halftime, but a superb defensive secured a huge 2-1 victory. Later that day, Vasco drew 2-2 at Chapecoense to go 2nd on games won.

Matchday 37 – Ferroviária (14th, home): That big win was backed up O Deus scoring twice in the first half before Radsley scored in potentially his final home game to inspire a 4-0 victory over Ferroviária. Vasco and Paranaense also won to set up a final day promotion decider.

Matchday 38 – Athletic (MG) (15th, away): A thrilling final day saw Vasco and Retrô level on points, with Paranaense 3 points back. Vasco were away to 6th place Juventude, Retrô travelled to 15th place Athletic and Paranaense were at home to champions Cuiabá. Teams level on points are separated by games won then goal difference, which gives Vasco the edge.

Retrô started brightly with 3 shots in the first 20 minutes but struggled to create much, while Vasco struck first with a goal after half an hour at Chapecoense. A firm teamtalk worked as Rivas slid Radsley in for the opener on 49 minutes, only to concede two quickfire goals. Godinho had 2 goals harshly ruled offside by VAR, but it was irrelevant anyway as Vasco doubled their lead, while Paranaense went behind. And that’s how it stayed, as Vasco sealed promotion.

Retrô finished in an impressive 3rd place in Série B on 73 points after 21 wins, 10 draws and a league-low 7 defeats, scoring 66 (well below Vasco’s 99) and conceding 41. Unbelievably, 17-year-old Godinho was the league’s top scorer with 24 goals in 34 games and had the 2nd best conversion rate of 40%. While left wingback Erik had the 2nd most assists with 15, only behind Vasco’s Estrella with 16, and Deivid had the joint-most clean sheets with 12.

The 3rd place finish sent Retrô into the Série B promotion playoffs, in which, unusually, the winners of both ties earn promotion. They faced a two-legged clash against 6th-place Juventude, with the away leg up first. A tight game saw very few chances, but captain Guerra stepped up to finish off a flowing team move to edge a 1-0 victory.

That teed up easily the biggest match in Retrô history, with the club only founded 11 years ago now 90 minutes away from reaching Brazil’s top tier! Four days later, they welcomed Juventude back to Arena Pernambuco with youngster Advaldo coming in for the suspended Rivas in midfield. Guerra sent a long range effort inches over the bar early on, but Juventude bossed the first half without creating anything. They eventually did create something, forcing a good save out of Deivid just after halftime, but the game drifted without a goal. That was until a moment of brilliance from the hosts’ attacking starlets, as Guerra chipped a delicious ball over the top for Godinho to take the ball in his path and convert past the onrushing keeper with the outside of his left foot. And that was all they needed to nick another poor game.

Retrô FC won their promotion playoff to gain promotion to Série A!

Unexpected Promotion in the Magical Rise of Retrô

Lazaró was a little taken aback by the impressive efforts of his exciting young team. The club had gone from not even being in existence back in 2015 to earning the right to compete with Brazil’s big boys for the first time in 2028. 17-year-old Godinho was catalyst in their unlikely promotion push, leading the way with an impressive 33 goals and 8 assists in 49 matches. Guerra was also excellent with 16 goals and 12 assists, along with the departing Radsley (now 32) with 11 goals and 8 assists), Erik with a new club record 18 assists and Votobel with 5 goals and 7 assists.

The club’s potential was boosted by another excellent youth intake that contained 6 elite prospects (not quite the 12 from last season). The pick of the bunch was midfielder Juliano de Melo, along with strikers Fábio and Joílson, midfielders Fernando Barelli and Fransuar Santos Filho and left back Paulo Gustavo. While goalkeeper Rodrigo Daniel also has 4.5-star potential and right back Alanzinho and midfielder Gustavo Anderson have 4-star potential.

Those youngsters joined the ranks but don’t quite boast the Ginga rating of the likes of Votobel (71), Mantega (68), Gustavo Tanajura (65) and midfielders Cesinha, who impressed on loan last season in Série C, and Juninho (64).

Lazaró’s efforts at Retrô saw him offered interviews by Argentinian giants Independiente and River Plate in April (even though he still only had the National A licence), which was very flattering but he had no intention of leaving. However, his board repeatedly refused his requests to start on a new coaching course, but did offer him a new contract on £600 per week through to the end of 2030. So the manager was very excited about the potential, while a little nervous about how they could possibly compete in Brazil’s top tier.

So, with finances not showing any sign of improving upon the step up, could Lazaró lead little Retrô to Série A survival in 2028? Join us next Monday to find out!