Ricardo Rambo - The Boy From Brazil - Manager of South China in Hong Kong
Christopher KL Lau
Ricardo Rambo is synonymous with Hong Kong football after nearly two decades in the city as both a player and a manager. Hailing from Brazil, Rambo is one of the few Brazilian managers in the Hong Kong Premier League or Chinese Super League. Here, Rambo shares his thoughts and views on the game in Brazil and the Far East.
You are from Brazil where football is everything but why do you think this mentality is different in Hong Kong?
In Brazil many young kids still go to the streets to play, while in Hong Kong it is a different mentality, as some kids like to stay inside and play with electronics things. It is not the same culture in Brazil.
Sometimes, those in poverty, they don't have any other things (to help them out of poverty) so they focus on football. In Hong Kong, we rarely see players moving to new clubs in other countries to make new lives. Culture has a big, big impact on the different mentalities of the two places.
Brazil are no longer the world power they once were? Why do you think this has happened and how can this be changed?
First of all, I think other countries are developing their standard of football a lot so they are becoming even better, so it is more competitive and harder to beat some nations. Furthermore, I don't think Brazil is organized in football how they used to be and it still relies on some clubs to generate one or two stars.
Life is different in Brazil now as you don't see as many kids on the road playing and individual, hard-working players are becoming fewer and fewer. Also, our way of managing teams is still not good enough as we still have the culture of changing coaches after one or two losses. This means another coach will come and give a different training session so this means that players cannot develop properly as a group.
Finally, many of the young players are coming out of Brazil too early so we see clubs selling players from the age of 19 and they go overseas and they don't stay in Brazil so they cannot contribute to the development of the game there. There are many points but I don't think we are organized enough.
Many Brazilian players come to Hong Kong or China to play football. Do you think it is easy for them to adapt to life here?
Yes, I think it is easy. We have this in our heart to explore overseas and to learn something different. Nowadays, it is much better than before, I met some Brazilians even in Hong Kong who went to China and they find it very difficult to talk and eat; these types of things revolve around lifestyle. These days China is more open, while Hong Kong has always been more international. You can find even more food from Brazil here so there are less difficulties now for Brazilian people. They might find it a little different as the atmosphere in the stadiums will never be the same as in Brazil.
Thank You!
© Chris Lau & Soccerphile.com