Football shows the obvious to SAF fans, there is no guarantee of victories

The arrival of the SAF’s in Brazilian football represented, in the best-known cases, a breath of fresh air. The injection of money and the promise of professional management encouraged fans of the big clubs, who once again allowed themselves to dream of something better than agonizing relegation battles. But the photograph from this start of the season disappoints those who had high expectations.

In 2022, John Textor arrived at Botafogo making big promises. In the same year, Cruzeiro got it right under the administration of Ronaldo, the Phenomenon, and finally managed to return to the elite of our football. Now in 2023 Vasco, another one that after frustrated attempts managed to return to Série A of the Brasileirão, revamped all its football, with the right to some millionaire signings made by the 777 Partners group. Under the umbrella of the City Football Group, Bahia also entered the market strongly under the promise of internal leadership. At the moment, however, none of these giants is going through a good phase.

Worse: everyone has already gone through a crisis at the beginning of the 2023 season. Vasco da Gama, eliminated on penalties by ABC, in São Januário, in the second phase of the Copa do Brasil, is the most recent case. Cruz-Maltino had been encouraging its fans, managed to beat arch-rival Flamengo for the first time after three consecutive defeats in recent years, but sees Rubro-Negro as favoritism in the semifinal confrontation of the Carioca Championship after being defeated by 2 to 1, in upset, in the first game of the state.

Botafogo comes from a 7-1 victory over Brasiliense in the Copa do Brasil, its most elastic result in the history of the competition, but it still does not give confidence to the fans. The team, which ended 2022 on an upward trend, also raising expectations for a better 2023, was left out of the Carioca semifinals and needs reinforcements in different positions. Coach Luís Castro came to swing in office, but was retained. With financial difficulties caused by different interpretations involving the social club’s debt payment in the SAF Law, the current Alvinegro is weaker than its version of a year earlier and seems susceptible to new crises.

Cruzeiro, on the other hand, never saw Ronaldo Fenômeno, owner of the celestial SAF, promising worlds and funds. The former striker, by the way, is usually quite sincere when he says that he will not do financial crazy things. OK. But the initial performance in 2023 has not been pleasing fans. In nine matches, the number of wins is the same as the number of draws and defeats: three. In the event of a fall to América, who took the lead in the semifinals of the Campeonato Mineiro, with a 2-0 victory, it is possible to imagine tempers heating up once again.

Bahia “City” not only accumulates failures, such as the elimination in the first phase of the Copa do Nordeste, but was also thrashed by 6-0 by Sport Recife in the regional tournament before, for the Campeonato Baiano, suffering a setback of 4-0 to Itabuna. Results like this have already motivated one of those protests that the tricolor fans imagined would take a while to make the news again, after the City Group bought their SAF.

The mitigating factor for fans of Bahia, Botafogo, Cruzeiro and Vasco is that the season is still in its infancy and there is a lot (but a lot!) to come. The turmoil faced may have come to balance the huge expectations of these fans in these new times of SAF. It’s one of those lessons that reappears in football every now and then: regardless of money or style of play, there is still nothing that is an absolute guarantee of titles and victories.