The fifth iteration of our Wonderkid Factory series see us finally head to the spiritual home of football: Brazil. In this new adventure, we're basing ourselves in the northeast of South America's largest country for a monumental youth-focused challenge.
Robinho Lazaró's time in charge of Brazil started with a little disappointment as a tame performance saw them lose 1-0 to arch rivals Argentina in the Final of Copa América. The nation still believed in him so his next task was to lead them to World Cup 2034 in South Korea.
Lazaró's good financial management saw Santos come into his 11th season as manager with £300m nin the bank for the first time. There was more exciting news off the pitch as the club returned to the newly renovated Santos Stadium, which had seen a 16,000-seat expansion to take the stadium to a 49,127 capacity for the 2034 campaign.
The streets of Santos, in Sao Paulo, witnessed one of the biggest parties in living memory as Robinho Lazaró and his young team of heroes returned home from Colombia as Champions of South America.
Robinho Lazaró was given the ultimate honour of any Football Manager as he became the Brazil boss in August 2030.
Youthful Santos Futebol Clube claimed the club's first Brazilian title in 24 years as they stormed to Série A success in November 2028. Manager Robinho Lazaró now had to ensure they kept hold of their best youngsters to try and defend that title and aim for their first Copa Libertadores Final since 2020.
Robinho Lazaró was pretty happy with the progress that Santos CF was making. They were also progressing off the field as infrastructure improvements saw Santos complete perfect 20 youth recruitment, junior coaching and training facilities with 18 youth facilities.
Impressive performances in their first season back in Série A saw Santos FC finish in the top eight and, unexpectedly, qualify for Copa Libertadores. But rising expectations could present a problem for an inexperienced team that would have to endure massive fixture congestion.
Santos FC's first-ever taste of the second tier of Brazilian football only lasted for one season as Robinho Lazaró spearheaded the club to its maiden Série B title at the first time of asking. The big task now was for Lazaró to prepare an understrength side to try and stay in Série A.
"To play your best in the present, you need to turn the page on the past. To move forward, see the past game as a footnote in yesterday's newspaper. Imagine yourself flipping through yesterday's news and refuse to see what happened yesterday." That was the advice of Robaato Rasamu's lead sport psychologist to his Athlético Paranaense players and staff as they tried to recover from the absolute heartbreak they'd suffered in Paraguay.
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