When Sergio Soares, coach of Brazilian second-league team Santo Andre, got off the phone some two months ago with Vanderlei Luxemburgo, he couldn't keep from mumbling to himself in Portuguese, "Ah, what bad luck this boy has."
Luxemburgo - a former Real Madrid coach and current skipper of premier Brazilian club Santos - wanted Santo Andre star Jose Ramalho for his team. The conversation between the two was brief and to the point. Soares had to say, "I'm sorry, but he already signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv." Luxemburgo responded, "Where?"
"Maccabi Tel Aviv, a team from Israel."
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If you ask Soares, or any other person who saw Ramalho play in Brazil, he'll tell you with full confidence that the guy simply suffers from bad luck. Perhaps not the kind that expresses itself in chronic injuries, but circumstantially. It's the kind of misfortune that for years has kept the 27-year old from taking off with a truly major club.
Ramalho started his career in 1995 with the same Santo Andre from which he came to Maccabi Tel Aviv. After six years, during which he stood out on the club, he was lent out to Vitoria for two seasons. He won two regional championships with his adopted club. "He is a leader by definition," tells Soares, "a player who carries an entire team on his shoulders. This is a strong and charismatic defensive player whose principle strength is in his moving the ball forward."
After winning the championship, Ramalho was lent out for four months to a big club, Sao Paolo, but he spent most of his time warming the bench. Coach Emerson Leao - a former Brazilian national team coach - just didn't give him a chance. "Until today I don't understand what happened there," he says. "Everyone in the press thought Emerson and I were in a fight with each other because they also didn't understand how I wasn't playing, but I swear we never even had one conversation."
At the end of that 2004 season Ramalho returned to Santo Andrea and helped the club win its first State Cup ever. Winning the prestigious cup brought him back to Sao Paolo in 2006, but he still struggled to make his mark. "It was simply bad luck," claims Juca Chaves, a member of the Sao Paolo front office. "He came here when Josue and Mineiro, both national team players, were at the peak of their game. If he had come at a different time, he surely would have made it. Everyone really loves him in the club and think about bringing him back in future."
"I played enough games there, but usually as a sub because of the local stars," recalls Ramalho. "Despite this, Sao Paolo thought about buying me but the Santo Andre president wanted too much money for me."
Club VP Jairo Livolis confirms Ramalho's version. "I don't remember how much I wanted, but it certainly was around half a million euros," he says. "They knew the player would succeed there in any other situation, and I didn't want them to get him as a present. He was our most important player, the leader, and to acquire him, they would have needed to open up their wallet."
Management that puts you at ease
In the end, Ramalho returned to Santo Andre and was lent out to Beitar Jerusalem mid-season. His luck there dragged as well. He played well in his initial match, but didn't make the starting lineup thereafter. "Yossi Mizarhi, who brought me in, was an excellent coach," he recalls. "I'm not angry at him. I'm just disappointed. I wasted half a year there. He brought me in because [Derek] Boateng was suspended for three games, and when I came I provided two assists and we beat Haifa away. I was sure I would make it, but since then I didn't get a chance."
It looks like fate continues to tamper with his career. After another good half season at Santo Andre, he hooked up with Tel Aviv in a year which threatens to be the club's worst season ever. However, despite the miserable opening to the season and his personal history, he believes his luck is about to change. "Just let us collect a little confidence, and I'm sure everything will be alright," he says. "When I arrived, I heard there were a lot of problems on the team, but I haven't noticed anything special."
Even today, two-and-a-half months in, he still doesn't understand all the fuss surrounding the club. "True, results are not good so far, but we have management that puts us at ease and excellent players - especially [Yannick] Kamanan, [Yossi] Shivhon and [Milan] Martinovic. There are a lot of injuries now, and the momentum is still negative, but we'll get out of this sometime. We've got to."
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