The Ibrox samba

  Although my first post was predominantly about the Irish national football team, I am in fact both a Scotsman and a Rangers fan through and through.  Having said that, I try to watch as much football from other countries as I can.  One of my favourite leagues in the world to watch is the Brazilian championship.  The term 'carnival atmosphere' is often used to describe it when some bloke from Hartlepool decides to bring a drum along to a match, but to really experience the true sense of the phrase, if you can't afford the airfare to Rio, you should check out some YouTube videos from the Brazilian Série A.

  Mental, right?

  Sadly, in all my 18 years as a Rangers fan, I've only known two Brazilians to be associated with the royal blue.  Even worse, neither really managed to make any real impact at the club, and shuffled out through the back door.  Neither were particularly bad players, it just seemed a case of wrong time, wrong place.  

Brazilian Number 1: Paulo André Cren Benini

  
Paulo André arrived in Glasgow for a 3 day trial in 2005 from Guarani.  Upon completing his trial, the then 21 year old Brazilian was pretty optimistic of landing a permanent deal at Ibrox Stadium:


"I know Brazilian players have not had a good time in Scotland but I am different.  I am a very physical player and, at the same time, very technical.   I will not have a problem playing in Scotland.  Rangers have an outstanding set-up and I was impressed.  Any player in the world would dream of playing for them and I'm no exception."


  Sadly, any player in the world also dreams of more money.  So when Brazilian giants Atlético Paranaense offered him a bumper deal, Paulo decided to stay on the other side of the Atlantic, rejecting both Rangers and Fiorentina in the process.


  The player himself eventually did move to Europe, signing for the French West Brom, Le Mans 72.  Having shone for them on the pitch, he struggled to adapt to European life off it, and was loaned back to Brazil in the summer of 2009, signing for Sao Paulo giants, SC Corinthians Paulista.  He continued to excel as a footballer, becoming a regular fixture for Timão, as Ronaldo's final club reached a respectable 3rd in the Série A last year.  With Lucio and Juan falling out of favour with the Seleção, is it totally out of the question to see this former Rangers trialist run out in the canary yellow before a baying Maracana in the not too distant future?

Brazilian Number 2: Emerson Moisés Costa

  From the wholly unproven to the tried and tested.  Rangers' other Brazilian, Emerson, at least managed a whole season in Scotland.  Brought up in Rio de Janeiro, starting out with the country's biggest club Flamengo, the dreadlocked midfielder worked his way through an impressive eight clubs before signing on at Ibrox, including spells at respected European clubs, such as FC Porto and Atlético Madrid.


  Unfortunately for the Brazilian, his arrival at Ibrox wasn't perhaps timed to perfection.  With Barry Ferguson heading down south to sign for Blackburn Rovers, the fans were wary that the club's plan to replace their talisman was to bring in a 31 year old journeyman Brazilian, despite then manager Alex McLeish explicitly stating that this wasn't the case.  To all concerned though, this was just the manager trying to ease the pressure on his new recruit.  Rangers were experiencing awful financial troubles at the time, so it was a real case of cutting back that summer.  Despite bringing in upwards of £10m in transfer revenue, the club only spent £700k on new faces, with just one of the six signings being under the age of 30.  Emerson was up against it from the off.


  The South American's time in Scotland's footballing hotbed was decidedly mixed.  Although he struggled to gain a regular spot in the first team, he did manage a goal in the Champions League, and put on a masterclass against Livingston at Ibrox early in 2004.  Sadly, this was not enough to secure a longer stay at the club, and he departed home for Vasco da Gama at the end of the season.


  Vasco da Gama, who are similar to Rangers in the sense that both were founded by a group of teenage boys, was to prove a more hospitable environment, and he was soon back in Europe, earning himself a move to Greek giants AEK Athens in 2006 on the back of an impressive season with Skoda Xanthi.  He ended his career playing in the Rio State Championship for Madureira at the stately age of 38.  

The future

  At the time of writing, not a single Brazilian is on the books of a Scottish Premier League club.  In fact, Argentine Damian Casalinuovo is currently the sole South American plying his trade in Scotland, playing for relegation bound Hamilton Accies.  To show how rare this is, out of UEFA's top 30 leagues, Scotland (15th) is the only one not to have a single Brazilian in it.  


  It's difficult to put your finger on why this is the case.  Brazilians can't handle the weather?  Rubbish- if 18 of them can handle a Russian winter, then they can jolly well handle a cold night up in Aberdeen!  They're not good at integrating into British society?  The likes of Denilson, David Luiz and Rafael would beg to differ.  What about work permits?  This is slightly trickier, although there are plenty of Brazilians with dual Italian/Portuguese citizenship.  


  The truth is probably that, here in Scotland, experimenting is often dangerous.  The extent of Scottish tactical adventures in recent years would probably extend to that crazy old bean Jimmy Calderwood going 4-2-4 in the dying minutes of a game, when his Aberdeen needed a goal.  Other than that, it's very much relying on the tried and tested.  And unfortunately, Brazilian players have been both tried and tested here, with little success. Celtic's samba adventures could be summed up with the unfortunate last name of their £5m acquisition from Grêmio.  Rafael Scheidt made three appearances for the Hoops, before heading back to Brazil with Corinthians.


  Scottish clubs have had their fingers burned in the past with Brazilian players, but it would be a shame to give up on all of them because of the failures of a select few.  Let's hope we can see some samba light up these shores once again in the not too distant future.