DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS? IN HIS FIRST FINAL, TITE BROKE THE “CURSE” OF THE GAÚCHO TECHNICIANS AT FLAMENGO

High for the great season so far, Titebroke the "curse" this Sunday (07) and became the first coach from Rio Grande do Sul to be champion with Flamengo in more than 40 years. Born in Erechim-RS, Paulo César Carpegiani was the last, back in 1982. That year, he led Rubro-Negro to win their second Brazilian championship, interestingly in Porto Alegre, with a 1-0 victory over Grêmio.

The quotation marks placed between the word curse are more than fair because the greatest coach in Flamengo's history, Claudio Coutinho, is a Gaucho from Dom Pedrito. Carpegiani himself, before the national team, had already led Rubro-Negro in the Carioca, Libertadores and World Cup victories, all in 1981. The basis of this anthological team was created by Coutinho, between 1978 and 1980.

In October 1989, four months after winning Carioca that took Botafogo out of the 21-year line without titles, Porto Alegre's Valdir Espinosaarrived in Gávea. In 1990, the team started badly against Carioca and lost to all their arch-rivals. The last defeat, a 2-0 to Botafogo on April 28, cost him the position. Despite the results crisis, Espinosa was very loved by the group. The idol Júnior, who in the following two years would become the Maestro of Carioca and Brasileiro's conquests, was outraged by the dismissal and even considered retirement. In 2006, Espinosa returned to the club, managing Flamengo in nine games, with three defeats, four draws and just two wins. The stay didn't even last two months.

Idol of the club for the great football he played as a midfielder and also due to his historic titles as a coach in the 80s, Carpegianireturned to Flamengo for the first time in 2000. He was eliminated in the first phase of Rio São-Paulo, had an irregular campaign in the first round of Carioca and said goodbye with a 5-1 defeat to Vasco. In 2018, after the departure of Colombian Reinaldo Rueda, Carpegiani, who was considered to be the club's coordinator, ended up taking on the role of coach. After 17 games, he ended up being fired along with executive Rodrigo Caetano.

In 2005, Flamengo, sunk in a deep crisis of results, exchanged Cuca's offensive style for the defensive style and the "strength football" of Celso Roth, born in Porto Alegre. As expected, it didn't work out. The squad was limited, but the lack of connection between the professional and the club's history was glaring. The offensive performance was poor, with just 22 goals in 20 games, but not even the defense, Roth's top priority, did well. He was leaked 29 times and took four on three occasions.

Mano Menezes, born in Passo do Sobrado-RS, became disaffected among Flamengo fans when he abandoned ship at a time when the team was not doing well, but was also far from its worst days . And the resignation came one day after he stated that "things were happening the way he expected". Eleven days before announcing their decision, Rubro-Negro had achieved an epic victory over Cruzeiro, in the round of 16 of the Copa do Brasil, a competition that the club would win in November of the same year. With Mano, there were 22 games, nine wins, six draws and seven defeats.

By dim, the last gaucho before Tite was Renato, one of the greatest players in Flamengo's history and still an idol for a large part of the fans. Born in Guaporé, he had a start that seemed very promising. He beat several strong opponents, got through the knockout stages of the Libertadores with great ease and reached the semi-finals of the Copa do Brasil, but that didn't last long. There were bad results in all competitions, in decisive matches, so, even with a good performance (72%), his passage was stifled.