“The dance continues” declared the Brazilian press. Yet many don’t even get to see the end of the disco in the cut-throat business that is the Brasileirão, nor time to prove their worth and get their feet off the ground.
At the conclusion of Round 15 of the Serie A, a 2-0 home defeat to Bahia in Belo Horizonte was enough for Atletico-MG coach Roger Machado to receive his marching orders, after having only assumed the mantle in late November last year to succeed similarly-fired Marcelo Oliveira, despite getting O Galo to the quarter-finals of the Libertadores, from which they can still progress. In less than 24 hours, Rogério Micale had already been called back from overseeing a coaching course in China to take over from Machado.
On the same day, Coritiba’s Pachequinho was also handed his P45. Although at the club far longer in caretaker roles before taking the head coach job and suffering a more embarrassing 4-0 defeat to Ponte Preta in Campinas, Pachequinho had won them the Paraná state championship as recent as May and got his men off to a flying start in the league reaching as high as third and unlucky not to beat leaders Corinthians in a thrilling 0-0 draw.
Ironically, at the end of July, both Atletico-MG and Coritiba will face each other with their new managers. By then, who knows which other hot-headed and erratic directors and chairmen will have also demanded a change of leadership.
For Machado and Pachequinho’s dismissals marked the 11th time a change of coach has been decided less than halfway through this season. Other casualties include São Paulo FC legend Rogerio Ceni and Santos’ Dorival Junior, who has now assumed Ceni’s responsibilities at SPFC. Similar to Pachequinho, winning the state championship for Chapecoense wasn’t deemed enough for Vagner Mancini to stay in ‘steady’ employ.
As modern history continues to demonstrate, standing on the touchline and keeping one’s job at a Brazilian football club can be anything but a steady experience as since the start of the 2016 season, not one team in the Serie A now has the same coach with the longest-serving having been Dorival before he has was fired in week four after two years on the job.
Flamengo’s Zé Ricardo now assumes that title with almost a year and two months in charge, yet is already under pressure with fans calling for his head. Maybe a defeat at Corinthians on July 30th, which would effectively kill off Flamengo’s championship hopes, will be the final straw.
