If you ask young schoolboys anywhere in the world, that have ever kicked a ball what they want to become when they grow op, you will almost always get the same answer. "Pro footballer". In every country, club or academy tens and hundreds of young players come up every year that might have the potential to make it. But the fact is that very few will make it in the end. Most of these players are not able to develop their skills and attributes to keep ahead of their teammates as the get older, others lose interest in the game, some start chasing girls and booze and others simply cant take the physical strain of playing football for a living.
A lot of good players have come from the favelas of Brazil, Pele, Ronaldo, Romario and Ronaldinho to name a few and all of these players have made history within the game. This story is not about them, even though it starts in a similar place.
Carlos Henrique was a kid who played football on the streets of Rio De Janeiro when he was little. He was strong, had a good shot on him, he was very athletic for his age and he got picked up by a scout from the Brazilian club Botafogo at the age of 12. From there he joined the academy of Flamengo and when he was there he lost both of his parents. Those where dark days in the life of Carlos, as not only did he lose both his parents his progress stalled as a footballer, at happens to a lot of young players when they become older.
But as he got older and it became more and more obvious he wasn't going to become anywhere near good enough to play professionally, he fell in love with the lifestyle of the professional footballer. Good wages, a lot of spare time, partying and womanizing, what is there not to love?
Carlos wasn't about to quit football and he didn't see a reason why he should. he was in good shape, strong and had an alright shot on him even though his ball control, reading of the game and basically everything else a professional footballer needs was severely lacking. From his time in the academy's he had made a lot of friends in football, some of whom where legends in Brazil. Romario, Alberto Torres, Gaucho, Ricardo Rocha and Edmundo to name a few. In Brazil at that time, big players often initiated transfers for other players, and Carlos, a pretty charming guy that everyone liked, often got contracts because of his connections with these big players. Often these contracts where only 3 or 6 months trial periods for him to prove himself in order to get a longer deal. He was pretty good at getting longer contracts though by pretending to be in a bad physical condition when he came to his new club. That bought him a few weeks in fitness training instead of exposing how bad he was in normal training. Then when he was supposed to be fit enough to train he just started shooting a few shots at goal before pretended to collapse in agony. That bought him a few weeks on the treatment table. Then when his trial period ended, he had hardly kicked a ball and was often given more time to prove himself with an extension of his contract. Because after all, he looked like a footballer who had been at the books of some pretty big clubs.
With this huge list of friends and these antics of his, he got contracts at a few of the best clubs in Brazil. Teams like Botafogo, Flamengo, Vasco, Fluminese, America, Bangor and Palmeiras to name a few. Faking injury wasn't the only thing Carlos did to try to further his footballing career, like a former fitness coach of him remembers "He talked to a huge mobile phone after every training session in a very silly English no one understood. He pretended to be talking to agents and managers in Europe, but we all later found out the mobile phone was a toy and he wasn't talking to anyone".
A lot of good players have come from the favelas of Brazil, Pele, Ronaldo, Romario and Ronaldinho to name a few and all of these players have made history within the game. This story is not about them, even though it starts in a similar place.
Carlos Henrique was a kid who played football on the streets of Rio De Janeiro when he was little. He was strong, had a good shot on him, he was very athletic for his age and he got picked up by a scout from the Brazilian club Botafogo at the age of 12. From there he joined the academy of Flamengo and when he was there he lost both of his parents. Those where dark days in the life of Carlos, as not only did he lose both his parents his progress stalled as a footballer, at happens to a lot of young players when they become older.
But as he got older and it became more and more obvious he wasn't going to become anywhere near good enough to play professionally, he fell in love with the lifestyle of the professional footballer. Good wages, a lot of spare time, partying and womanizing, what is there not to love?
Carlos wasn't about to quit football and he didn't see a reason why he should. he was in good shape, strong and had an alright shot on him even though his ball control, reading of the game and basically everything else a professional footballer needs was severely lacking. From his time in the academy's he had made a lot of friends in football, some of whom where legends in Brazil. Romario, Alberto Torres, Gaucho, Ricardo Rocha and Edmundo to name a few. In Brazil at that time, big players often initiated transfers for other players, and Carlos, a pretty charming guy that everyone liked, often got contracts because of his connections with these big players. Often these contracts where only 3 or 6 months trial periods for him to prove himself in order to get a longer deal. He was pretty good at getting longer contracts though by pretending to be in a bad physical condition when he came to his new club. That bought him a few weeks in fitness training instead of exposing how bad he was in normal training. Then when he was supposed to be fit enough to train he just started shooting a few shots at goal before pretended to collapse in agony. That bought him a few weeks on the treatment table. Then when his trial period ended, he had hardly kicked a ball and was often given more time to prove himself with an extension of his contract. Because after all, he looked like a footballer who had been at the books of some pretty big clubs.
With this huge list of friends and these antics of his, he got contracts at a few of the best clubs in Brazil. Teams like Botafogo, Flamengo, Vasco, Fluminese, America, Bangor and Palmeiras to name a few. Faking injury wasn't the only thing Carlos did to try to further his footballing career, like a former fitness coach of him remembers "He talked to a huge mobile phone after every training session in a very silly English no one understood. He pretended to be talking to agents and managers in Europe, but we all later found out the mobile phone was a toy and he wasn't talking to anyone".
Later when Carlos was on the books of Bangu, he was put on the subs bench in a game against Cortiba. Even though his manager, Moses, had promised him not to play him because he was supposedly injured. In the second half he was ordered by Moses to go and warm up. Jogging up and down the touchline Carlos got scared of having to play and expose how bad he was to everyone, he jumped into the stands and started a fight. Before he could be brought on, he got red carded by the referee and he didn't have to play. His manager called him into a meeting the day after, understandably furious of what had happened the day before. Carlos simply told Moses that he had heard abuse from the crowd aimed at his manager, and he simply jumped in the crowd to defend his manages honour. Moses was so touched he rewarded Carlos with a year extension on his contract and a kiss on the forehead.
When Carlos had journeyed through Brazil for some time, he decided to dip his deceptive toes in foreign waters and try to get contracts abroad. All his career he had been very keen on talking to journalists, giving them shirts and other stuff from the clubs he was at and of course, talking himself up. As a result he had a large collection of articles about himself when he was at various clubs. When you where a Brazilian, in good physical condition, with some of the biggest clubs in Brazil on your resume and a few newspaper articles to back it up, it was probably not hard to find a club in Europe before the internet came along. AC Ajacco in French gave him a contract and a big group of fans came to see the unveiling of their new Brazilian star. As he stormed into the field, where they had placed a few balls for him to show of his non existent skills. Completely useless with the ball, he thumped them in the stands, one after another, and then went onto running in circles around the pitch to show off his fitness level. He stayed for a few years, and played a few games for the first time ever. At the age of 39, he retired after a career as a professional footballer spanning 20 years where he played around 30 games.
Today Carlos Henrique works as a personal trainer for female bodybuilders in Rio De Janeiro. Some time ago he appeared on the Jo Soares talk show and told his story. He told Soares he could have gone further in the footballing world than he did, if he bothered to practice. I still think that the people who had his services through the years can all agree on, that he has gone way, way to far.
Kari Hinriksson
@kariorn on twitter
When Carlos had journeyed through Brazil for some time, he decided to dip his deceptive toes in foreign waters and try to get contracts abroad. All his career he had been very keen on talking to journalists, giving them shirts and other stuff from the clubs he was at and of course, talking himself up. As a result he had a large collection of articles about himself when he was at various clubs. When you where a Brazilian, in good physical condition, with some of the biggest clubs in Brazil on your resume and a few newspaper articles to back it up, it was probably not hard to find a club in Europe before the internet came along. AC Ajacco in French gave him a contract and a big group of fans came to see the unveiling of their new Brazilian star. As he stormed into the field, where they had placed a few balls for him to show of his non existent skills. Completely useless with the ball, he thumped them in the stands, one after another, and then went onto running in circles around the pitch to show off his fitness level. He stayed for a few years, and played a few games for the first time ever. At the age of 39, he retired after a career as a professional footballer spanning 20 years where he played around 30 games.
Today Carlos Henrique works as a personal trainer for female bodybuilders in Rio De Janeiro. Some time ago he appeared on the Jo Soares talk show and told his story. He told Soares he could have gone further in the footballing world than he did, if he bothered to practice. I still think that the people who had his services through the years can all agree on, that he has gone way, way to far.Kari Hinriksson
@kariorn on twitter
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