Ramon, coach of Brazil, has already been called the ‘IQ of lettuce’ – 02/17/2023 – The World Is a Ball

Ramon Menezes is the new coach of the Brazilian national football team.

Interim, it is true, with the initial mission (which may be the only one) to lead the team in a friendly in March against Morocco.

But it is still an opportunity that many coaches would like to have.

There are interim players who in recent times have ended up with major selections, such as Gareth Southgate (England) and Lionel Scaloni, this being the greatest example of success, since he won the World Cup with Argentina in the Qatar Cup.

When the ad came out, I had an obvious answer and asked myself an uncomfortable question.

The question: who is this Ramon Menezes? Annoying because, as I haven’t been closely following the youth teams of the Brazilian national team, I didn’t know that he was the holder of the position of commander of the under-20 team.

Seeing his face, I was immediately reminded of player Ramon. Only Ramon, no Menezes. It’s curious how, when the player becomes a coach, the previously unknown last name appears. Some examples: Muricy Ramalho, Cristóvão Borges, Antônio Carlos Zago, Roger Machado.

A good articulate midfielder, “short” (1.70 m), Ramon played for several teams from 1989 to 2013, including Cruzeiro, Atlético-MG, Bahia, Vitória, Vasco, Fluminense and Botafogo.

He, and that was my main memory, was called “lettuce IQ” in 2002 by Levir Culpi, then his coach at Galo, during a discussion before a training session in which the midfielder would play among the reserves.

With these words, Ramon’s intellect was questioned, since lettuce does not have IQ (intelligence quotient). The case ended up in court, which in 2005 condemned Atlético to pay R$ 50,000 to the athlete, since the impropriety came from a club employee.

Many years later, in 2016, Levir stated in an interview that he regretted having insulted Ramon in this way.

For a long time, however, the expression “stuck”, due to the repercussions. When journalists or fans mentioned Ramon in conversations, and the interlocutor did not immediately know who he was, it was clarified: “The IQ of lettuce”. Bad, derogatory, but that was it.

Because Ramon, 50, has now arrived where Levir, 69, has never been and will never be: the command of the Brazilian team. Result of recent success with the sub-20 team, champion at the beginning of the year in the South American category, in Colombia.

With Ramon’s choice comes the obvious answer: the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) is having tremendous difficulty defining who will lead Brazil in the cycle up to the 2026 World Cup, which will be in North America (the organization will remain charge of USA, Mexico and Canada).

There were some rumors, there was talk of foreign options (the Italian Carlo Ancelotti appeared, and still appears, as the strongest name). The conclusion is that the confederation does not see a decent alternative among Brazilian technicians.

And it’s really hard to find someone who is a consensus, as Tite was when he took over the national team, in mid-2016.

In addition to the increase in the number of gringos training teams in the Brazilian first division – such as the Portuguese Abel Ferreira (Palmeiras), Vítor Pereira (Flamengo) and Luís Castro (Botafogo), the Uruguayan Paulo Pezzolano (Cruzeiro) and the Argentine Juan Pablo Vojvoda ( Fortaleza)–, there is no one who arouses confidence in the fans or in the directors.

I thought, and even commented with some people, that Renato Portaluppi (Renato Gaúcho) could be chosen.

The Grêmio coach is not a rookie in the profession, he has previously said that he would like to lead Brazil and has relevant titles in his curriculum: a Libertadores and two Copas do Brasil.

Of the new crop, who has more space in the media are Fernando Diniz (Fluminense), a kind of “generic Guardiola”, whose game philosophy (often praised) does not bring titles, and the personalist Rogério Ceni (São Paulo), very good at Fortaleza and who almost lost to Flamengo, in the final round, a Brazilian won (the 2020).

Of the names with a lot of coverage in the profession, Mano Menezes already had his chance with the national team (2010 to 2012), and Dorival Júnior…

Well, the very polite Dorival I always considered a mediocre coach, without great potential. But it should be noted that he has been playing for elite teams for years, and recently won both Libertadores and Copa do Brasil with Flamengo.

It seemed, along with Renato Gaúcho, the name most likely to be invited to the national team. Ramon’s interim shows that he was nothing but a deceitful propensity.

The other coaches active in Brazil, and born here, do not deserve to be mentioned. They can be good professionals at times, but they are far from the level that the Brazilian team needs.

So let’s go with Ramon, to see if he’s good. If they succeed in the March friendly, they can, why not?, follow in the footsteps of Southgate and Scaloni.