Thirty years of suffering are over: Fernando Marcel from Botafogo FR thanks the football gods
Thirty years of suffering are over. On Saturday, the football club Botafogo FR from Rio de Janeiro not only won another important title, but also the 65th edition of the Copa Libertadores. They also won the South American premier class for the first time in the club’s history. In 2021, the club, which historically provided the most kickers to the ball kicking world championships for the Brazilian Seleção, took a victory lap in the Série B for the third time, then the football department was outsourced and transformed into a stock corporation in which the US-based Eagle Football Holdings is a shareholder. American businessman John Textor holds 90 percent of the shares. Once again it has been proven that the good old checkbook Campeonate can win in football.
This is not intended to detract from the performance of the Cariocas team; from a sporting point of view, the Libertadores triumph is completely fine. They had the luck that is almost always necessary in this sport, but it could have turned out to be terrible bad luck, and the club’s fans know that more than well enough from the last few decades. But since the former president of Brazil, the fascist Jair Messias Bolsonaro, opened up the sports clubs of the subcontinent’s largest economy for sale, the Brasuca clubs have gained dominance in South America. The last six Copa Libertadores have all gone to Brazil, and the current final was the fourth all-Brazilian in the last five years. If luck and bad luck balance out again, this may change in the short term, but not in the medium term. The top clubs in Brazil now operate like Real Madrid – getting into debt is everything, the name is a bestseller and therefore a commodity. It’s fine as long as it’s going well.
By the way, the game was played in the largest stadium in South America, the Mâs Monumental of record champions River Plate in Buenos Aires, which has had a capacity of 84,567 spectators since last year. Most Argentine football fans didn’t care that there were only Brazilians in the final. But: couldn’t they have met for their rendezvous somewhere else on this damn potato? Why wasn’t the match simply moved to Brasília or Honolulu? We saw in 2018 that anything is possible in banana republics like Argentina, when the second leg of the Libertadores – the last second leg in history, since 2019 there has only been one final on neutral ground – from the River Plates stadium to Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu was postponed due to an attack on the Boca Juniors team bus as it approached the stadium grounds. The Argentine Superclásico was played in the temple of the capital of the former conquistadors. It was a deal between the then Argentine President Mauricio Macri (quite possible that he will be next again) and Florentino Pérez, the bigwig of the Merengues. Both of them make stupid and stupid money in Argentina with tolls.
Football was also played. Botafogo’s opponent was Atlético Mineiro from Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais). Botafogo played ninety minutes shorthanded after defensive midfielder Gregore was sent off after 40 seconds. The “Galo” (Hahn) team didn’t know how to take advantage of this. Already at the half-time churrasco it was 2-0 for the current league leaders of Brasileirao and hot championship favorites after punches by the outstanding Luiz Henrique and Alex Telles (VAR penalty). Former Hoffenheim player Eduardo Vargas shortened the score immediately after the substitution, but the Cariocas, driven by Argentinian world champion Thiago Almada, stayed cool. Mineiro once again shone through inefficiency, miserable coverage, in short: apathy. Deyverson was a total failure. Júnior Santos consequently punished this in the 97th minute, Botafogos’ 20,000 Torcedores fell into bliss, as they should. Thirty years of suffering were history. With the title, Botafogo became the last team to qualify for the 2025 Club World Cup in the USA and the World Cup in Doha in December.
