Ramon takes over the national team and tries to repeat Scaloni’s script – 02/17/2023 – Sport

Coach Ramon Menezes disembarked last Tuesday morning (14) at Tom Jobim International Airport, Galeão, in Rio de Janeiro, visibly tired.

There were 30 days away from the country, 39 away from home, from the start of preparations to winning the South American under-20 title, in Colombia —a feat that ended a 12-year drought for Brazil in the competition.

A few hours later, he was already at the headquarters of the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) to, after a meeting with President Ednaldo Rodrigues, temporarily take over the main team. The yellow and green formation will play a friendly against Morocco, in Tangier, on March 25th.

The first interim manager of the national team after 23 years, he has the chance to try to repeat what Lionel Scaloni achieved, who went from interim solution to world champion ahead of Argentina.

“I got here and I’ve already met with the president. There wasn’t even time to celebrate the title. My life, now, is study and work,” he said to Sheet. “I’ve already started studying the opponent. I’m going to think a lot about this call-up so that we can put together a very strong selection”, he added.

The case was similar to what the miner experienced in Vasco, almost three years ago. The conversation with then-president Alexandre Campello had not even ended, in March 2020, who had announced that he would make him effective in the position left by Abel Braga, and he was already on the phone with the players explaining what he intended with the new methodology and why who believed he could recover a team in low season.

The “workaholic” profile no longer surprises family members. During the six months at the helm of the Cruzmaltino team, when he got home, even exhausted after traveling, he had the habit of spending the night studying the highlights of the matches.

“I hear from my wife: ‘For God’s sake, are you going to watch football again?’. But I consider it fundamental to draw new lessons and conclusions”, said Ramon.

Former midfielder with Vasco, Atlético Mineiro, Vitória and 12 other clubs, known for his skill in free kicks, he was praised in charge of Vasco for creating a tactically indoctrinated team, with rare kicks, which suffered few counterattacks. There, he says, he also learned not to be fooled by football.

The team even led in the first rounds of the 2020 Brazilian Championship, but ended up losing pace throughout the competition. He was sacked after six consecutive matches without a win. Vasco would finish the competition relegated.

“Undoubtedly, life teaches us a lot, and every day we are more prepared. Today I feel more prepared than before. That moment lived at Vasco was very good. I think they created a great expectation, also because of the work “, he recalled.

After leaving São Januário, Ramon had a spell at CRB, which lasted only nine games, in addition to 18 matches in charge of Vitória – with only three victories.

He took over, after almost a year off, the under-20 selection, largely because of the discreet and studious profile for which he is known.

“When I returned to the CBF as coach of the under-20 team, going through all the preparations until reaching this achievement in the South American Championship, we worked a lot. So, my life has always been based on a lot of effort, a lot of work” , he stated.

Still as a player, in 2012, he asked the president of Joinville for a week to hold a course for coaches in Rio de Janeiro. It was the awakening to the new career.

When choosing the squad of 23 players who would compete in the South American Championship in Colombia, he had to strategically reassemble a good part of the team due to the non-release of eight athletes – including strikers Endrick, from Palmeiras, and Ângelo, from Santos.

“Since January 5th, in our presentation, every time I was asked about someone’s absence, I always said: ‘God knows all things; it was and is to be who is here'”, he told the players. , in the locker room, right after winning against Uruguay.

Brazil ended the competition as the only undefeated team, with seven wins and two draws, with the best attack and the best defense. In all, Ramon has 17 games ahead of the green-yellow youth team: 11 wins, four draws and two defeats, a 72.5% success rate.

“With the group we formed, we were able to seek a balance between the offensive and defensive phases. We were the team that conceded the least goals in the competition and scored the most. [esse equilíbrio]”, he said.

Ramon won his first opportunity as a coach in 2014, at the modest Associação Esportiva Evangélica, in the third division of Goiás. He left her as undefeated champion.

At Joinville, in 2015, he managed the team in 12 games, with a 44% success rate, and did not avoid relegation to Série C. In the same year, he had already fallen in the Campeonato Mineiro with Guarani de Divinópolis.

Asked if he can repeat the trajectory made by Lionel Scaloni, from interim in 2018 to world champion with Argentina in 2022, he avoided answering.

Scaloni, after a few games in 2018, decided to dare – albeit discreetly. On the first FIFA date of 2019, he called up eight players who had never defended the country. On that list were Gonzalo Montiel, Lisandro Martínez and Rodrigo De Paul, important players for the victory in Qatar.

“He is the head of this team. He built everything basically from scratch. The truth is that he is one of the main architects of everything that has been achieved”, praised De Paul, in an interview with TyC Sports.

In Brazil, the last time of an interim coach was with Candinho, 23 years ago. He was the immediate solution after the dismissal of Vanderlei Luxemburgo, whose assistant he was.

Luxemburgo lost his job after being eliminated by Cameroon, at the Sydney Olympics, in 2000. In his only test, Candinho beat Venezuela 6-0, in the Qualifiers, with four goals by Romário.

“It’s a very different context. We won the 1999 Copa America, and I was already a coach for many years. Ramon is coming from a job with young people, he has to experience a lot. Continuing depends a lot on the personality to do things the right way. him,” Candinho told the Sheet.

While waiting for the decision on the possible replacement of Tite –the favorite is the Italian Carlo Ancelotti, from Real Madrid–, Ramon promises to do what he always does: work.