A small step and a giant leap in the battle against homophobia in Brazilian football

Anyone who has played or watched football in Brazil has a homophobia story.

It might be the echoing cry of “viado” from a hateful soul in a nearby seat or from a child who cannot fully grasp its meaning. It might be the morons who treat every goal kick as an opportunity to tell the opposition goalkeeper that he is a “poof” — a refrain for which Brazil’s federation were fined no fewer than five times during qualifying for World Cup 2018.

These are the everyday cases, the ones that have, over the course of many decades, been smuggled into Brazil’s sporting culture under the banner of jocularity. “It’s only a bit of fun,” they’ll tell you. A lot of them will even believe it, too, remaining blissfully unaware that they might be making fellow fans feel uncomfortable or even unwelcome at the stadium.

Read my piece on homophobia in the Brazilian game – and a symbolic first step towards its eradication – on The Athletic. 

The best youngsters emerging from Brazil, including 'Little Onion', a classic No.9 and the second coming of Ramires

Scouts have to act fast these days, especially those working in Brazil.

Two of the country's most impressive young talents have already agreed big-money deals: Flamengo’s Lucas Paquetá is on his way to AC Milan, and Rodrygo, the latest teen sensation to come through the ever-reliable Santos system, will eventually move to Real Madrid.

But there is still plenty of potential in the Brasileirão if some of the European big boys decide to go shopping in January.

I pick out five of the best up-and-coming talents in my latest for Unibet.

Gringo no-go? Reinaldo Rueda, Flamengo and the backlash against foreign coaches in Brazil

Even from the start, Reinaldo Rueda's reign at Flamengo seemed destined to be defined more by controversy from without than by his actual achievements.

The Colombian was a popular choice among fans when he was appointed in August 2017. His reputation had been burnished during an all-conquering spell with Atlético Nacional of Medellín, and, with three national teams on his CV, he brought prestige and experience.

Reinaldo Rueda and the backlash against foreign coaches in Brazil: piece of mine in the latest @WSC_magazine pic.twitter.com/QdMfdXrbaY

— Jack Lang (@jacklang) February 10, 2018

The decision to appoint a non-Brazilian manager was not to everyone's taste, however. "It's not that I'm against foreigners working here, but we're already struggling to get jobs outside Brazil and soon it will be the same inside the country," remarked Jair Ventura, then of Botafogo.

That Ventura was not alone in adopting the Paul Merson position became patently clear in January, when, after five promising if anguished months at the helm, Rueda told the club that he was leaving to become the manager of Chile. Cue an outpouring of anger, accusations and, in some quarters, barely-veiled xenophobia.

My latest piece for When Saturday Comes is on the backlash against foreign coaches in Brazil. You can order a copy online here.

Porto Alegre giants Internacional facing up to life in the second flight after year to forget on and off the pitch

2006 was a high watermark in the history of Sport Club Internacional. The side from Porto Alegre won the Copa Libertadores for the first time and, just before Christmas, came to global attention by beating Barcelona in the final of the Club World Cup.

Under normal circumstances, the tenth anniversary of that golden year would have prompted a fresh wave of celebration; Brazilian clubs rarely need an excuse to hark back to past glories, after all.

But few fans had much time for the commemorative medals and sticker books that hit the market in 2016, for Inter endured an annus horribilis both on and off the pitch.

You can read about their plight in the February edition of When Saturday Comes magazine, which is available in newsagents and on their website.

Brasileirão 2016 end-of-season awards

The delayed final round of the Brazilian season was a touching, tearful affair. Up and down the country, tributes were paid to the victims of the tragic plane crash that claimed the lives of 19 Chapecoense players, plus other club employees and members of the press, in Colombia last month.

Most teams wore special kits bearing Chape's logo; some even broke with tradition and wore green for the occasion. In every stadium, the stands were full of flags and banners showing support for the stricken Santa Catarina club.

It was a heartening display of solidarity and understandably overshadowed events on the pitch. In the longer term, 2016 will always be remembered as Chapecoense's year.

It feels slightly vulgar to dish out awards in the wake of such events, but that's what I've done for WhoScored, choosing my player of the year, breakout star and so on. 

Inter the abyss: Struggling Internacional in need of a miracle as first ever relegation beckons

It wasn't meant to be this way for Internacional. Their opening eight matches of the Brasileirão season yielded 19 points – enough to take them to head of the table, three points clear of the chasing pack. A good season looked in prospect.

Since then, however... well, you could only really call it a disaster. Inter went on a 14-game winless run, sacked three managers and, with two seasons of the season remaining, find themselves in the relegation zone.

They have never been relegated from Brazil's top flight, but the Colorado now need a miracle – or a couple of them – if they're to avoid demotion on the weeks ahead. Read about their situation in my latest for WhoScored.

Job security? You've come to the wrong place! Why Brazil's sacking culture is holding coaches back

Levir Culpi wasn't going to go quietly. The coach, axed by Brazilian giants Fluminense, had a few things he wanted to get off his chest first.

"I'm pissed off," he wrote in an open letter to the club. "I'm grateful for the opportunity to be part of Fluminense's history. To work for nine months at a club famous for being the best in the world at sacking coaches is no mean feat."

His ire was understandable. True, Flu had gone six games without a win – a run marked by some fairly miserable football. But Levir had brought stability to a club rocked by behind-the-scenes turmoil and the sale of star player Fred, even guiding the Tricolor to glory in the inaugural edition of the Primeira Liga.

Unfortunately, this kind of thing is all too common in Brazil. While Levir's claim that Flu are the worst offenders is up for debate, there can be little doubt that Brazilian clubs on the whole are world-class sackers of football managers.

Read my latest for FourFourTwo here.

Diary of an unlikely hero: Meet Botafogo cult favourite Camilo, the best player in Brazil at the moment

He doesn't look like a hero. He's short, stumpy, has a scrunched-up face and the kind of haircut that should have been left in the last millennium.

He doesn't sound like a star. He's 30 and has never played for his country. His CV is that of a ten-a-penny Brazilian journeyman, elevated above the mundane only by spells in China and Saudi Arabia. They didn't go very well. He has all the global cachet of the salt shaker in your cupboard.

Appearances can be deceiving, though, for this is the best player in Brazil at the moment. Meet Fernando Camilo Farias (Camilo to his friends),  full-time cult figure and the creative force behind Botafogo's unlikely ascent to the upper echelons of the Campeonato Brasileiro.

Read the rest of this piece on the WhoScored website.

Flamengo may be homeless, but they can smell another Brazilian title with 'Ricardiola' at the helm

They haven't been able to play matches at the Maracanã all year, due to the Olympics and Paralympics. But that has not stopped Flamengo feeling right at home wherever they have travelled this term.

For with brilliant former youth team coach Zé Ricardo in the dugout, the Rubro-Negro have captured the hearts and minds of Fla fans throughout Brazil, many of whom have flocked to see them in 'home' games in São Paulo, Brasília and Natal.

Palmeiras continue to set the pace in Série A but there is a growing feeling that the Rio giants might just be able to overhaul them to secure an unexpected title. As their supporters would have it, the 'cheirinho de hepta' is in the air.

In my latest for WhoScored, I take a look at Flamengo's surge and Zé Ricardo's ability to squeeze performances out of previously unloved players.

Four is the magic number as Robinho, Fred, Maicosuel and Pratto drag Atlético Mineiro into title contention

Someone in Brazilian football needs to put a call in to De La Soul and break the news: the results are in and – for now at least – four, not three, is very much the magic number.

That's certainly the case for the Brazil men's team at the Olympics. After watching his charges slump to back-to-back goalless draws against South Africa and Iraq, coach Rogério Micale decided that enough was enough and decided to play all of his forwards – Neymar, Gabriel Jésus, Luan and Gabriel 'Gabigol' Barbosa – against Denmark, Colombia and Honduras. The outcome? Three victories and 12 goals scored, some of them stunners.

But it's not just at international level that four is the law. In the Brasileirão, which naturally hasn't paused for the Olympics, Atlético Mineiro have rocketed up the standings courtesy of their storied fantastic four: Fred, Robinho, Maicosuel and Lucas Pratto.

Read my latest for WhoScored here.

Pace, pressing and pig emojis: Palmeiras setting the pace in Série A thanks to Cuca's modern methods

It was the morning after World Emoji Day, so the headline was rather more oblique than usual.

Beneath a photo of a jubilant Erik, sports daily Lance! had printed a number of symbols that told the story of Sunday's Internacional vs Palmeiras match. Some – a Brazilian flag, a thumbs-up, a smiley face – did not require Columbo-level acts of decryption: even those not versed in the local football scene would have been able to work out that the away side had picked up a useful victory.

It was the remaining pictures that really spelt out the significance of the result, however. There was the number 32, representing Palmeiras' points tally after 15 games of the Brasileirão season. That is three more than anyone else in the division; they have now been at the summit at the end of the last seven rounds. Early days these may be, but the trophy emoji could be getting a few more outings in these circles over the next few months.

Then there was the number 19 with a cross through it, which – investigative journalism alert – isn't actually an existing emoji. But we should probably allow some artistic licence here to mark the end of one of Brazilian football's most dogged hoodoos: this was the first time the São Paulo giants had beaten Inter at the Beira-Rio since 1997. No wonder the little pig emoji (an allusion to a once-pejorative nickname that Palmeiras fans have made their own) looked especially pleased with itself.

The rest of this article, about Palmeiras and their excellent campaign so far, is on the WhoScored blog. Have a read here.

Colin Kazim-Richards in Brazil: The Coca-Cola Kid starts latest leg of world tour with a bang at Coritiba

63 minutes on the clock. The scoreline locked at 0-0. Fans getting anxious. Then, a cheer. Movement on the bench. The fourth official's board comes out.

This is Coritiba vs Atletico Paranaense in Brazil. The Couto Pereira stadium is... well, it's not actually full, but you wouldn't know it from the noise. Giant flags swing back and forth in the stands, the home supporters urging their side on.

They need a goal. The season is only 11 games old, but Coritiba are in the relegation zone. On strides the substitute, the hero-in-waiting. 17 minutes later, the moment arrives. A corner comes in from the left and gets flicked on. He cannot miss and he doesn't.

He wheels away to celebrate with his team-mates before kissing the lens of a television camera. They love doing that in Brazil. They also love a number ten and that's the shirt he's wearing.

But this is no home-town favourite and no rising star. He's a new signing. He's not even Brazilian.
The man who has just settled one of the most heated rivalries in South America is Colin Kazim-Richards.

Read more on the MirrorFootball website.

Sonic youth: Five breakthrough Série A stars who could be playing their way into Brazil contention

After Brazil's embarrassing early Copa América elimination and the subsequent sacking of Dunga, there have been calls for a new approach and fresh blood in the Seleção set-up. Tite has taken the reins after an impressive spell with Corinthians and will be charged with dragging Brazil into the modern era after the drudgery of the last decade.

The task starts at the Rio Olympics, where Brazil will be able to test some of the players who, it is hoped, will form the spine of future sides. The likes of Gabriel Barbosa, Walace and Rodrigo Caio were drafted into the squad for the Copa and should play a major role in the campaign, but Tite will be well aware that there is a whole crop of youngsters doing the business in Série A this season.

For WhoScored, I pick out five who have impressed so far this term.

2016 Brasileirão preview

Is it really that time again?

It seems like only yesterday that we were ushering the 2015 Brasileirão into the sweet hereafter, yet here we are, plunging headlong towards the watering hole once more.

The 2016 version gets underway this weekend, promising the usual blend of thrills, spills and financial ills. Sure, there are two major international tournaments and the Europan transfer window right in the middle of the season, but we can work around that, right? Right?!

I've previewed the Série A season for WhoScored, roughly separating the likely title contenders, midtable cloggers and relegation scrappers. Remember, you can my read match previews and features on the WhoScored site throughout the campaign.

The great migration: Why Brazilian clubs are losing their best players to China

Football fans in Brazil are used to seeing top players leave the domestic league but at the start of 2016, there's a growing trend to worry about. The country's best players are being snapped up with ever-increasing regularity – and no longer just by the grand old clubs of Europe, but by the rising powerhouses of Asia. For supporters, it is concerning.

Since the end of Brazil's national championship in December, a clutch of the 2015 season's standout performers have joined the exodus to China, with champions Corinthians hit hardest.

Read more about Brazilian football's great migration over at ESPN FC.

Lucas Lima, Malcom and more: 5 young Brazilians who could soon be in the transfer spotlight

With the European transfer window open, many of the world's top sides are looking to strengthen their squads.

This, of course, means there will be plenty of interest in the best Brazil has to offer: from established stars who could be tempted into one last adventure to up-and-coming players.

I have picked out five potential transfer targets from the Brasileirão, from Santos playmaker Lucas Lima to flying forward Malcom of Corinthians.

Have a read on the Mirror website.

Brasileirão 2015 end-of-season awards

For British football fans, Christmas is a time for joyously abandoning oneself to the vagaries of the fixture list. For our more cultured continental cohorts, it’s time for forty winks, a holiday and – heaven forbid – spending time with one’s family. Such are the rhythms of football life in Europe.

In Brazil, of course, the festive period brings the most miniscule of breaks before preparations for the next year begin in earnest. At least 2016 offers some hope in that respect: the nascent Copa Rio-Sul-Minas may well prove an important step in the overdue realignment of the Brazilian calendar.

Christmas is also time for reflection on the campaign that has just finished. History will show that 2015 was far from a vintage year in the Brasileirão: the overall level felt underwhelming at the best of times, many of the putative big hitters lurched through the season as if working off a few too many Friday-night caipirinhas, and any hopes of a real title battle were quashed months ahead of time.

Still, it falls to your so-called expert to dish out some praise. So stiffen your upper lip and join me on the podium for the WhoScored end-of-year awards, which you can read here.

The joy of six: Dominant Corinthians enjoy their victory lap after sealing sixth Brazilian title

As victory laps go, this will take some beating.

A derby match against your most bitter, most ideological rivals. Two goals in the space of three first-half minutes, then another before the interval. A laughable, playground-kick-about fourth that left opposition defenders slumped inside their own penalty area, dreaming of the bus ride home. An own goal forced, a penalty converted – and then one saved from the other lot. And all that with a reserve team.

This was not a normal game and this no normal Corinthians side, as their fans well know. 45,000 of them crowded into the Itaquerão for the game against hated neighbours São Paulo, but even the most optimistic cannot have expected the massacre that awaited.

It was an afternoon that had begun with chants of "É campeão!" and ended in tears - of emotion, but also of laughter at the sheer state of the São Paulo side tasked with ruining the party. The Timão had sewn their sixth national title up three nights earlier with a shrug of a draw away to Vasco, but that had been a non-event. This was a celebration.

Read my article on the new Brazilian champions on the WhoScored site.

Ricardo Oliveira among the forwards striking for redemption in the chaos of the Brasileirão

As we head into the final quarter of the Brazilian season, a couple of certainties are beginning to emerge from the fog of unpredictability that defines the league.

The first is that Corinthians will win the title. Tite’s troops continue to grind out win after win and hold a seven-point advantage over Atlético Mineiro after 28 games - a princely advantage in anyone’s books. The second is that Joinville are destined for the drop. For all their good intentions, the minnows cannot buy a victory and are already seven points from safety.

In between those two, however, lies ‘The Flux’. Vasco looked marooned a few weeks ago, but have won four of their last five to inspire hopes of survival. Their most recent win came against Flamengo, who recent results read WWWWWLLL. Coritiba have started winning after months of misery. Atlético-PR and Ponte Preta can’t seem to decide whether they’re top-four contenders or relegation scrappers. It’s chaos.

Amid the madness, though, is a nice redemptive subplot bubbling through the campaign: a handful of strikers up and down the country are sticking it to the doubters with their exploits in the final third. The leader in the category, of course, is Alexandre Pato, but here are three more doing the business in the 2015 Brasileirão.

Read about them in my latest WhoScored article.

There is a light that never goes out: On Ronaldinho's nostalgia-drenched debut for Fluminense

"How many today, João? Thirty thousand?"

"They said forty on the radio. Fifty, even. Everyone will want to be there."

Two metro stops from the Maracanã and there is an energy in the train carriage that cannot merely be put down to it being game day. The Fluminense fans are out in more force than usual ahead of the battle of the Tricolores against Gremio.

Indeed, it's not just any match, for there is to be a special guest; a royal visit in footballing terms. Ronaldinho is making his debut for Flu.

Read my dispatch from Rio on the ESPN website.