Why Do So Many Brazilian Footballers 'Burn Out' Young?
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- Опубліковано 7 лис 2023
- Whether it be Adriano, Alexandre Pato, Philippe Coutinho, or Ronaldinho, there is a very long line - dating back over a hundred years - of Brazilian footballers peaking young and suffering premature falls from grace.
Sometimes those demises are attributed to injuries, whilst other times they are attributed to character flaws, but the bigger question is why players from Brazil seem to be so prone to such tendencies.
In this video, HITC Sevens attempts to answer that question, taking a look at a number of Brazilian players who burnt out young, the reasons behind it, and what makes footballers from Brazil different to those from anywhere else.
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Nothing would surprise me less than Alfie's first words being 'The 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan' 😂😂
Obviously, his 1st words were Eddie Howe
@@dzananbajraktarevic756 “Sit back, relax, and join me on a journey to..”
It's further ado
He's talking shit too... it kicked off way earlier than he'd have been at school.. like 7.30am or something.
@@frequentclearance9641 bit sus you knowing the precise school habits of like a 6-year-old boy 21 years ago ngl
That's why Thiago Silva is so special, still one of the best CB in the world at 39.
Adriano's story is really sad and tragic. Depression is still widely underestimated, but it makes your life hell. I'm speaking from my own experience here.
And people still fake it for attention... heartless narcissists
Respect to the Fallen Emperor 😔
@olm8829 I’m glad you’re still fighting the good fight dude!! Depression is no joke
Darkness rises and takes over 🙈 🙊 😈
Keep strong buddy, you are not alone
Fabinho could also be a shout for this. Man had played as many minutes at the age of 28 as the average 36-year-old in his position. Now he's out in Arabia at 29.
his fall off is ridiculous, one of the best at his position in 21-22 and then basically worthless at the top level in 23-24
Wow Fabinho is only 29 🤯 what a waste
@@duyanhng8430 The amount of goals he scored around November to February was unreal. Saved us so many points by popping up at the right times.
Oscar was done at mid twenties by going to China
He fell off sooner, I think. It was around February or March 2022 when I was sounding the alarms irl, Twitter, and Reddit. Players were running past him with ease more often. It culminated in the horror season of his in 22/23 (most people think it started then are incorrect), not helped by Henderson and Thiago hitting the wall, whether age or injury prone. And Keita and Ox injuries woes.
The big thing, though, is the number of games Liverpool played in 21/22. 60 games. Winter World Cup year. Small turnaround from UCL Final to opening EPL day. 3 games a week until the World Cup break.
To add to the factors of the video, I genuinely think that the giant expectations over Brazilian players since Pele are also responsable for a lot of mental burn out. Making a jump to clubs like Real Madrid or Inter at a young age while the media repeats how you're the next "Ronaldo", "Neymar" or "Pele" has to add some unnecessary weight on your shoulders. Brazil's amazing football legacy plays against them
Edit: as xavier1752 wisely commented, these expectations are already big when the good players start in Brazil, because of the country's fanatical football culture. So, they're never without a lot of expectatives upon them
They are touted in Brazil as well it’s not as if a spotlight just appears on them once they join a big European team. Being able to manage local pressure is a good indicator of how you’d do in a different foreign environment. Sure that’s something RM took into account before signing a player like Vinicius Jr.
@@xavier1752 sure, there's pressure to manage in every level of professional football. But in those young players going Euro is a lot bigger. What happens in Brasileirão gets a fraction of the attention of what happens in the big UEFA Leagues
I'm nervous for Endrick. He's the youngest Brazilian to be called by the senior squad since Ronaldo, and one of 4 to be called before being 18 years old, the other two being Edu and Pelé. What do they all have in common? They are all World Cup winners, that's an immense pressure. Also ever since Real Madrid acquired him, the number 9 shirt has been vacant, if they give it to him it could generate even more expectations for a kid that's less than 20 years old
@@nicovelardita8619 Fraction of attention from you but the pressure felt from them would be incredible. You can’t act as if the pressure from Brazilians pales in comparison when talking about the most mad football nation on earth. I used Vinicius Jr. purposely as an example because he was pivotal for Flamengo (a big Brazilian club) before he left. Yes, you will have more eyes, a larger price tag, and be on a bigger stage so to speak but if you could handle that pressure before, there’s a great chance you could do it again. You said it yourself, more “attention” but I would not trivialize the pressure some of these young players feel domestically.
@@JustKrin I doubt Real will give Endrick the 9 shirt. He’s not an automatic starter for Palmeiras and I don’t think Madrid are expecting him to have that immediate impact. Both Vini and Rodrygo were eased into their current positions (squad number, minutes, etc.). Additionally, I think Perez is just in love with the idea of Mbappe at Madrid so that’s the bigger factor behind that
About Romario it's important to point out that for him partying was all about music and women. He didn't use to drink or use drugs, and in multiple ocasion he stated that his only drug was women (to quote it politely). He just didn't sleep a lot and had loads of sex, but he was not damaging himself by bindge drinking and by training with headaches due to hangovers like many of his colleagues back then. He stated multiple times that he new he could recover from not sleeping well much better than other friends of him, and he would notice during his career that his recovering abillity would naturally diminish with age, and he started to sleep more during his late 30s early 40s
o proprio romario tb é uma anomalia genetica, ent é foda usar ele como parametro, aquela longevidade é mais impressionante por exemplo do que o cr7 tem justamente pq o romario era mt menos regrado
I relate to that so much...I don't drink nor smoke but women and that party lifestyle have always been my downfall
@@luizansoundspior. Romário era bizarro.
As a Brazilian this is an incredible video, growing up poor deprives you of things that people with normal lives will never understand.
then what about African footballers?
@@greeninspiration7725 same thing but the football world has known of Brazillian players being world class most of the time not African players
@@greeninspiration7725 They problably go trough the same stuff, as all South Americans as well, is no that we are the only poor, all the colonized country experice very simillar backgrounds, but brazilians are the benchmarks I guess
almost the same case @@greeninspiration7725
hm? i think its both africans and brazilians has africans have produced some of the best talent we have seen just brazil has way more, weah,eto,drogba,essien,toure,abedi pele,zidane,kanu,okocha,adebayor,salah and way more to mention or are too complicated@@tanjiropillar6294
And then there's Zé Roberto, who retired at the young age of 43
which kind of proves the point - he was a defender.
He was a midfielder
@@noeldown1952he was a left winger, played the majority of his career there for Bayern etc...he switched to central midfield after his pace faded into his late 30's
He was amazing, loved the player. But what helped his longevity was that he moved to Europe quite late and wasn't involving in seasons where he had to play 60+ matches like his peers today.
@@pritapp788 he made the move at the right time, aged 23 to Madrid. He was excellent as you say, top class and the best in the World at LW for many years
As a Brazilian I can say the pressure kids get since they join a professional club is too much. So often they have to leave their family and move to another state, and the pressure isn't just on fiele but outside, by knowing they are the only hope to provide financially to their family. Once they go pro, they finally think "that's it, I made it" and then...
The first half is the exact same as basically everywhere else.
Kids leaving families at age 10 or do to train at a clubs academy. Pressure is immense.
That's not the full story to
Exactly. At 14 they are already employees of soccer clubs and supporting their families financially. The extreme competition of the Brazilian league is also very draining. They age very fast physically as well.
@@gandalf_thegreyThe difference is that if you are in Europe you're not poor, by Brazilian standards. Here, the boys come from real poverty and when they make it into professional, they relax and just enjoy the money and the luxury it can buy. It's something that Europeans have since kids, whether you're poor in your country or not, of course not in the same level, but stil...
Agree with everything said but another factor worth noting, one that exacerbates the problem of young players playing too much, is that Brazilian teams play an insane number of games. In 2016, the average English Premier League team played 47 games, more than any other major league in the world except Brazil. Most others were between 40 and 45 games per team, with Argentina all the way down at 36. Brazilian teams played *68.7* games that season, and while many of these are played with weakened sides in their state championships, this means that young players get into the team even earlier, and they sometimes still appear in some of those games once established as stars.
Plus the better sides, which the best young players usually play for, generally play even more than that. Plenty of teams have played more than 80 games in a season, and a number have played over 90.
Maybe snce he has spoken about that fairly frequently before he didn't mention it?
That’s irrelevant because all these players mentioned , well 97% of them….all played in European leagues.
@@leonleon2276 Every single one of them started in Brazil. Obviously. It is well known that playing a lot of competitive games as a very young player is likely to shorten your career, and the schedule of Brazilian football is a major factor in players starting young and playing a lot of games as teenagers.
This is literally in the video, I'm just pointing out another contributing factor, along with those already mentioned.
They play all year round….its absolutely bizarre
Brazilian teams have larger squads than almost every European team. It’s not as if they don’t rotate. Fluminense just won the Libratadores but for like their last three or so league games, none of their starters played. It’s not as cut and dry or cynical as Alfie makes out in the video.
What made Brazilian footballers today in such a dark shape is due to the immense impact of Pele. He was not just a legend but many people in Brazil also aspired to become like him.
Sadly Pele's many good aspects, such as refusing to partying, his disinterest in alcohol consumption, and his hard-working ethics, are not studied well. The reason why Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are still so brilliant despite they are near 40s is because they are, just like the late Pele, knowing where they stand and work hard without going to controversies. Meanwhile many Brazilian footballers are now embroiling into the path of Maradona, yes the damned Diego whose talents won the 1986 World Cup but his drug uses and partying were unthinkable.
Pele was the model but Brazilians failed him so much. They are, instead, producing more Maradonas than Pele.
This is also a sign of a poverty-stricken society. In other words: That is a symptom of the problem in the country.
Not some affront against Pele.
@@gandalf_thegrey Pele also came from an impoverished background but he has been cited as a model footballer because he lived a healthy life. But this made him a rare model in Latin America in modern days.
Messi and CR7 both considered Pele as the ultimate reason why they live a healthy life, but there are also a lot of reasons why. For Messi, he was sent to Spain when he was young, whereas Ronaldo was lucky to be born in Portugal. Both Spain and Portugal are far richer than any Latin American country. Had Messi stayed in Argentina or Cris Ronaldo had been born in Brazil, they would have become indisciplined and rebellious. Simply put, Latin America is notoriously poor and economically so unstable that if you wish to become a good man, you must have a strong will to live. Messi and Ronaldo were so lucky that they were raised in Europe, not Latin America.
On the other hand, Pele's eternal rival Diego Maradona is the embodiment of Latin America's chronic problems: talented, skilled, brilliant but unstable, rebellious, and partying, not to mention other tons of sins. When Brazil is now producing more Maradonas than Peles (which is also exactly what happened to most Latin America, including the current world champions Argentina), you realise there are something wrong.
@@davidbowie5023background plays a huge role. Kaka came from a stable life and as you can see it. He might haven't dominated as much as Messi or Ronaldo, but still lives a healthy life
@@davidbowie5023this comment is so full of deterministic and eurocentric bullshit. The place where someone grows up and lives does not translate itself automatically to the person, it is their values that are relevant. Pele's example just proves this: the fact that he was poor didn't change the fact that he was focused at the game.
There is nothing wrong with partying . There is nothing wrong with consuming alcohol. Alcohol is only bad if you consume it often and too much. Everyone I know consumes alcohol. Everyone I know parties. Not partying means getting rid of having a good time for no reason at all. As long as you don't get drunk often there is no reason not to party.
Partying and being a hard worker aren't mutually exclusive. Drinking alcohol and being a hard worker aren't mutually exclusive either.
Only idiots don't party. Only idiots don't drink alcohol.
In order for behavior to be bad it has to have negative effect ton society. If every young person parties up until 4AM that has no negative effect on society, unless they do it every day.
That’s the kind of discussion we don’t have here in Brazil. Thanks for bringing that up Alfie
Micheal Owen isn't alone for England in this - Joe Cole and Shaun Wright Phillips both played their last game for England aged 28, Aaron Lennon was only 26
Walcott too
Lennon was amazing to watch on match of the day. He was so fast 💨
wilshire
@@user-pw6gm1tu6q was rubbish anyway
@@justhuy7960 Walcott wanted to play for England but he argued with Southgate for being left out and that was that.
As an Arsenal fan, the number of games, minutes and kicks that Bukayo Saka has had terrifies me
I literally said about 2/3 years ago that Saka will be done by 27... Maybe not completely done, but he'll be a completely different type of player. It's so sad
@@JoDyMa Hopefully we would have won the League/Champions League/World Cup by then
@@JoDyMa Much like Sterling. He burst onto the scene like Big Meeks at 17, won the Golden Boy award, and now at 28 can’t even get in the England squad to play Malta.
That graph of take-ons vs age was highly informative.
I remember arguing with Arsenal supporting mates of mine last season about this. As a Liverpool fan, what happened to Owen, Fowler and Cisse for us, and even Gerrard to smaller extent as he several 2 or 3 month injuries before the UCL win. Seeing that happen haunts you when watching young players rack up the games. Even just general burnout rather injury. Trent, for example, in 20/21. I even worry a little for Sbozoslai atm.
Jude is another one we need to watch out on. I know he is injured atm, but it's not to major.
@TPRM1 I think Sterling's situation is more down to years under Pep having a adverse affect on him tbh. The player at Liverpool in 13/14, and QPR fans probably saw before it wasn't the Sterling we saw at Man City.
Sure, the numbers are there, but the instinctual game has been eroded under Pep's more maniac robotic style of drilled football. Look at Grealish at Villa vs now. He did well last season, ok, but the Villa one was electric because he had the freedom, he was one of the, if not the main man.
Sterling also never improved his finishing too at all during his career, whatever of his numbers. He has had shocking guilt edged misses for Liverpool, City and Chelsea.
Man.. watching Ronaldo Nazrio play in his prime was genuinely a pleasure, I'm grateful to have seen Messi/CR7 come up and hit their prime but the flair that the BR players had back then is honestly unmatched
As a Brazilian myself, I think that is a lot of things that are involved. The young great players always get a lot of pressure, just look at guys like Endrick and Vitor Roque, every new talent that is coming is the “new Ronaldo”, “new Neymar” etc and Brazilian players they don’t take care of themselves like others. Just look at Neymar, Ronaldo, ronaldinho, they love to party, drink. The only one who managed to play high level to late years was Romario and Ze roberto.
Something I would like to point out though, is that Neymar represents a paradigm change on how Brazil handles young talent, as it became clear how the pressure of the media and expectations on him from a very early age, and mismanagement from his father hurt his career a lot. Few people stood up to Neymar when he would misbehave at an early age. With Endrick I can see a very different treatment, maybe Endricks own maturity and mentality helps in that regard, but I can see Palmeiras takes his mental health a seriously, although the media still puts too much pressure on him. Another point is the role of agents exploiting these young players. Brazil's littered with these stories.
Engano seu , Neymar é um extraordinário jogador e muito profissional . Fez sucesso na Europa , levou a seleção brasileira a ganhar sua primeira olimpíada. O que tem que se entender , é muito simples , as pessoas têm características diferentes , umas gostam de sair e outras não. Só isso !
@@Rogercamposalpha Um excelente jogador que não atingiu o que tinha potencial pra atingir. Ele não tem obrigação nenhuma de atender as espectativas dos outros, faz o que quiser da vida, mas a carreira foi pro brejo pq ele é imaturo e rodeado de puxa saco e aportunistas.
@@jonnyso1 Ele tem uma carreira vitoriosa até hoje , ganhou vários títulos aqui e na europa , se compararmos com Zico , Neymar foi muito mais vitorioso, e Zico nunca foi de baladas, festas . Quanto a carreira dele , creio que seja muito cedo para decretar o fim dela , mesmo porque , certa vez decretaram que Ronaldo estava acabado , e ele surpreendeu todos , vencendo a copa do mundo ,2002 .
Então prefiro aguardar e torcer para que Neymar volte bem e quem sabe ajudar a ganharmos a próxima copa .
Being Brazil's neighbour, I can assure you Brazil's immense football legacy is widespread in Latin America. But this is also the reason why our Latin America and the Caribbean have one of the worst record of player indiscipline and talents' early burst. Today, types of old, resilient players like Dani Alves, Marcelo, Messi, Suarez and Di Maria are not very common here.
I just listened to a podcast series about the War of the Triple Alliance.
Forgot to mention Thiago Silva
dani alves partied hard and is now in jail convicted for rape, his example should not be followed
Messi literally uses PHP so of course he's always going to perform 😂
James Rodriguez being a party kid also worth mentioning. The time he scored a beautiful goal in 2014 was brilliant but he failed to rise to potential.
There are also another 2 Brazilians that come to my mind as a Werder Bremen fan.
One was the attacker Ailton, who 2004 became germanys first foreign player of the year, best goal scorer and also won the german championship. When he joined Schalke 04 the same summer, it all went down from there and now he has no money anymore.
The other was Diego. He was one of the most exciting midfielders in the late 2000s Bundesliga, becoming the most fouled player between 2006-2009, because no one could catch up to him and he was also the first foreign player, to score in the new Wembley. When he left for Juventus he did not exactly make a nosedive like Ailton, but he never reached the same heights again like at Werder. But he had a decent career, even winning the Libertadores with Flamengo.
Hate to be that guy, but the first player, foreign or otherwise, to score at new Wembley was Giampaolo Pazzini. First goal took about 30 seconds, and he went on to score a hat trick.
Source: I was there
@@m33446 That was the friendly match England vs Italy, two under 21 sides. I remember that match too 🤣 Agbonlahor was there and I thougt he would be next big thing 🤣
The first foreign player to score in a senior competitive game at the new Wembley Stadium (which I'm sure is what the original poster meant) is English-born Jamaican Craig Dobson in the FA Trophy final between Kidderminster Harriers and Stevenage Borough on the 12th of May 2007 (which ended Kidderminster Harriers 2-3 Stevenage Borough, and Dobson scored in the 74th minute for Stevenage Borough). However, in terms of any football matches at all, the first ever match in the new Wembley Stadium was a behind-closed-doors match between Multiplex (the general contractors for the stadium's construction) and the Wembley Stadium staff, so although I can't find the scoreline anywhere, I think it's fair to assume that there would've been at least one goal in that game, so the first player to score at all in the new Wembley Stadium wasn't Giampaolo Pazzini.
Diego kinda had a revival with Atlético Madrid being pretty good. But you could see he had to be spared for big occasions.
Both were so good to watch. I only started watching Bundesliga here in Ireland when Diego was making noise for Bremen. Reminds me a little of Gourcuff's fall off around the same period. Unbelievable number 10s who should have achieved much more.
Ailton highlights show what an animal finisher he was.
The NBA did an in depth research on the impact of young players playing for too many hours while still young. They found a strong correlation between it and serious injuries much earlier on their carries compared to those who were not played as much in their youth.
Great video. I followed the Brasilerao for work for several years and I just want to point out a couple of things:
- Romario was partying crazy, but unlike Dinho, Robinho, Neymar, Ronaldo, Adriano etc. he never drank. He was (and is) teetotal;
- Ronaldinho did not have an outstanding season at Flamengo. He was average at best with the only highlight being the game v Santos that we all remember
Also, R9 retired at 35 ,not 37.
Cheers!
Mate I'm from Brasília. Romário is no teetotal anymore. Now that he's a politician his parties at home are legendary and yes, NOW he has one too many.
Very interesting and under discussed topic. These are the types of videos where you do your best work.
Dutch tv made a documentary about Romario's PSV years. He was known for partying until the early morning and womanizing, but he didn't drink alcohol or smoke. He also spoke pretty decent Dutch, which is fun to hear. Guus Hiddink, who has a reputation as a good people manager, usually let him do his thing, knowing Romario would be there in the big games.
Yeah its funny cause he went on till his 40s
26:16 This was the case with Clarence Seedorf at AC Milan. He kept suffering from groin injuries & was cured of it when the new club physician was able to diagnose that it was due to Seedorf’s wisdom teeth causing inflammation in his gums & affecting his whole physiology.
Really? Wow. That’s interesting then
@@EliasRoy yeah they whipped them out at milan and his injury struggles went away,its not just inflamation that can be a problem it can also come from the actual structure of your mouth affecting your gate and how u run because its all connected so something like a slight overbite could be causing all sorts of trouble
This is an amazing comment! 😮
@@willhooke thanks i do try
Beckham as well
I am brazilian and I just want to add that it’s not that brazilian players lose interest in taking football seriously after they become rich and succesfull, it’s mostly about football for us being all about joy and art, something that comes from the heart as much as the feet and the european methods take a little bit of that fun they’ve felt since childhood away for some players
Edit: Not criticising, the video is great
As a Brazilian who has debated going into scouting, a big issue is young Brazilians going overseas who don't have the maturity or mentality to compete in a bigger league. Some are just in it for the money, fame, partying and will eventually go back to Brazil and retire there. Cheers HITC!
Adriano on PES6 - the streets will never forget
Not to draw shallow links but look at Dele now, he had the world at his feet but depression drawn from childhood abuse led him to drugs and complex internal struggle. It's without a doubt mentally difficult to maintain a consistent work ethic and level of performance as a footballer irrelevant of country of origin, but being a Brazilian footballer where the expectation in football trumps all the other nations in the world that means the pressure is threefold and coping under it is an unimaginable struggle in itself.
Ok
Not knocking the 2002 team but my first world cup saw the 1982 team. That was an amazing team with Zico, Alder, Socrates and Flacao to name a few, the football was from another planet. How they allowed themsleves to get beat by Italy still baffles me to this today
That game just happened to be the day Paolo Rossi remembered he was actually really good at football.
The small matter of Italy scoring 3 goals (actually 4, one got disallowed for a non-existent offside).
It was those early 80s shorts…several Brazilian players had no circulation in their legs.
Italy went with slightly roomier kit and the rest is history…
Brazil was robbed. An italian player literally ripped the shirt off a Brazilian player inside the penalty box and no call.@@pritapp788
It didn't baffle me. Easy. Didn't you watch the game?There were a few reasons. It doesn't even matter that Brazil had a crucial injury absence of Careca. Considering the amount of close opportunities he customarily got, and scoring some, he would well have scored if he had been there. The replacement was a guy called Serginho who got a whole batch of very good chances and incredibly missed everything. Almost any ordinary player would have scored a couple of those. But still, Brazil was the better team. Along with some customarily Italian favoured refereeing, the crucial event in that game was when an Italian grabbed Zico's shirt and pulled him down in the area so hard that it ripped the shirt with a huge hole. I saw it clearly, as did everyone in the stadium except the referee. In those days they used a different elimination format, and Brazil only needed to draw to advance and eliminate Italy. In history, Italy's chances of ever beating Brazil are the same as if Zico had missed that penalty if it were awarded.
Here in the US, the first World Cup that was actually broadcasted (on a cable network, but still), was the the 1990 WC in Italy. I was playing travel soccer and coached by English ex-pats.
I became hooked on the game for good after watching Gazza and co. almost make it to the final. I remember being a big fan of Chris Waddle, and going out to the backyard and practicing his step over move hundreds of times!
Cristiano and Messi, they consistently won trophies and Ballon D'or, even his career last until now because they avoid excessive partying and alcohol consumption. Also they work out regularly which makes their fitness last long.
true
What Adriano could've been
@@pavise6333 Well at least so far Vinicius Jr is staying away from all those negative stereotypes and could become the next big thing. Time will tell if he's going to learn well from the mistakes and flaws of so many talents before him- so far his career's going good and off pitch he's a great dude doing activism on the side. But well, only time will tell. Let's hope so.
@MikoyanGurevichMiG21 Yeah but he's 23. Neymar didn't start to really lose the plot until PSG. Give it time.
That's why both of them deserve the utmost respect, especially when we consider that both of them also had some scary injuries when they were younger. From what I could remember, Messi had a metatarsal fracture and ligament knee injury while Ronaldo had ankle surgery and a torn collateral ligament. Man, they spoiled us with their consistency and greatness.
Loved this documentary.
Especially the psychological POV.
Brazilian teams play a ludicrous number of games, and have a lot of trust in their youngsters to play most of them. State championships, national championships, Continental competitions, National cups. They end up playing over 70 games a season a lot of the time and sometimes even 80 or 90
The exception is one of my all time favourites Ze Roberto. He played from 1994-2017 and was almost always one of the best on the pitch. Legend🙌🏿
What a player and seemed like a good guy all around. Thiago Silva is in that mould too.
He loves training, even to this day his Instagram is full of training posts.
The social aspect is also another very important matter. Many brazilian players come from extremely poor neighborhoods (favelas), without good access to education or no financial support. Then, at an early age some of them become suddenly the main attraction in media, living in other continent like Europe. They change from extreme poverty to millionaires all of a sudden, attracting people who are only interested in their money. It’s a drastic change of events in the lifes of these boys.
Oh my first world cup.. It was 1994 and I am Bulgarian . We reached the semifinals- our best achievement to date.. I t was a magical summer!
My first World Cup too. Loved you guys that year.
I still remember Hristo Stoichkov and another player that looked like a werewolf.
Those players who play a lot in their youth are not only at risk of being injured a lot in later years.
They might also just be mentally tired later on in their careers. They grew up watching friends be kids, teenagers and then adults. They didn’t get to be that. And then, they are successful, rich and accomplished. What is there still to play, train and work for? Being a professional footballer must be tiring. Your whole life revolves around it, you travel a lot. You can’t eat what you want. You can’t go where you want. All those small things wear you out over the years.
If you start the life at the highest level at 16 instead of 20, you are tired at 26 instead of 30. It’s understandable that you are prepared to enter your twilight years at an earlier age.
In Brazil, most people don't even spend time with their childhood friends because they go to team bases in other states. The size of the country encompasses almost all of Europe. And many of them, very young, are alone, even without a family member.
Many Brazilian talents are of impoverished background. This is not limited to only Brazil but all Latin America, in general, suffer this problem. This has a tendency of causing unrest, indiscipline and other controversies. You can think of Byron Castillo, an indisciplined Colombian who became Ecuadorian national team member after illegal paperwork provided by the Ecuadorian FA. Ecuador was not banned from the 2022 World Cup, but because they didn't have Castillo due to FIFA's disqualification of this player for the edition, they were eliminated early. I think Latin America has a severe issue with their players.
They received as punishment -3 points for 2026 qualifications.
@@lucassantossj FIFA could have banned Ecuador for this, but Ecuador later agreed [reluctantly] to declassify info about how Byron Castillo got naturalised. So Ecuador were granted the participation rights. Had it not been for this decision, Chile would have been in the same group with the Netherlands, Senegal and Qatar instead.
You need to do a video on the downfall of the Bulgarian national team and Bulgarian football in general, especially after what happened on Monday.
#thepeopleschannel
i have been saying this for years since the late noughties to my brother- what we realised was it seems to only be suffered by forwards, not particuarly midfielders and certainly not defenders or goalies. romario, edmundo, denilson, robinho, juninho (middlesbrough dribbly one not the lyon free kick god) and those are just off the top of my head. then think of great defenders and goalies that had long careers - cafu, aldair, lucio thiago silva, julio cesar, zetti, roberto carlos etc.
Romario scored 30 goals at the age of 39. He had greater longevity than just about anyone.
I was a bar supervisor at Butlins in Bognor Regis during the Japan/Korea World Cup. It was a killer working until 2/3am, then having to reopen around 6am for people to watch the games.
Good memories though.
I was 25 during the 02 world cup, and had been working nights, therefore, I was on a pretty big sesh in the pub that morning. I too however was also convinced, that even though it was ronaldinho, he didn't mean to lob seaman! 😂😂
He absolutely did. You can see the look he gives at the exact position the ball enters the gol just before he kicks it. He saw Seaman was in a bad position and capitalized it.
There is a similar issue with American born nba players. They have too much mileage by the time they become adults.
Excellent overview! I grew up in Guyana, South America in the 70s and absolutely agree that to play professional football in the continent is the epitome of a young player's desire. Though we were full of admiration for european football, nothing can compare to the social and cultural currency of being recognised as a professional footballer in the culture that you understand are are adapted to perform within. The Clubs are embedded within the social fabric of the society in a multitude of ways, even the lower league and semi professional clubs represent a level of achievement and organisation that is a constant in societies that are often characterised by mismanagement and political chaos. This was a perceptive, hard hitting and analytical look at an issue that says things that reach beyond the mere matter of differing football infrastructures. fascinating post! Thank you.
I agree with everything on ur video. Btw great job as always :)
In my opinion its a comination of 3 things:
1. An insane high workrate from a very young age that takes its toll in the mid or late 20´s
2. This brazilian wonderkinds are mostly very tricky and gifted with the balls and therefore getting fouled especially hard. A red card suspension lasts only one game, a broken kneecap lasts for a season.
3. Most of this wonderkids are coming frome the favelas or slums similiar to the suburbs of Paris which have high crime, high unemployment and very little perspective. Escaping via football and becoming rich and famous is what drives them. And when the manage to become rich and famous they lost their "dream" or their inner motivation. Just like a boxer that dreams his whole life of the world championship and when he becomes champ he is loosing the belt the very next fight.
Another brilliant video! Thank you, Alfie. ❤
The bit about Adriano really hit hard, we think we know these players, that they're absolute machines... But they're only human and just as susceptible to problems as the rest of us.
1994 World Cup is the first I can remember.
That Baggio penalty miss.
great video just to add a bit more, theres also a very high pressure at a young age as we are a passionate country with very high expectations, young stars like neymar, endrick etc have been painted as the next big thing, the next pele since they were like 13, 14. neymar was already the most talked about and critized player in brazil at 18, this stress i feel like its one of the reasons players get burnt out mentally much sooner compared to other young stars, players like foden, haaland, mbappe, bellingham had very high expectation in their teens but not nearly as soon as endrick for example. also some clubs like mine (santos) depend heavily on youngsters and everytime a player gets promoted to the senior squad there's an expectation or at least hope that they will lead the club to glory like neymar/robinho/pele did (gabigol, rodrygo, kaio jorge, marcos leonardo, angelo, deivid washington etc to name a few recently) theres also the fact that many of these players had to move from their home state at a very young age to join a top youth academy (our country is almost as big in size as europe) and many move again to a different continent in their teens
Hi my kid is 9 in USA. He's been at his club 3 years. What do you advise - should he try to play at a European academy in a few years? Or stay in the USA? Or South America/Mexico? (he doesn't speak Spanish or Portuguese)
Alfie this is one of your best videos.
This must be your best video yet. Congratulations, this is awesome!
Watching Brazil walk out holding hands in front of multicoloured mosaics at the Stade de France in the opening game of 1998, 7-year-old me understood that this "World Cup" thing was a bit different
Why?
33:19 "saudade" is not particular to Brazilian Portuguese whatsoever... it is also intrinsic to Portuguese culture overall
Man, another beautiful video as always, well done and well researched 👊👍
Loved the video. Laughed a lot at the pronunciation of saudade
And then their is Thiago silva playing at 39 in the strongest league in the world still performing. what an example he is. great video as always keep up the work!
A similar dynamic also affects the Brazil of cricket, Pakistan. They produce fast bowling prodigy after prodigy, and many flame out because of overwork, mismanagement and injury.
Hahaha......cricket
No one cares about Cricket
Don't ever mention cricket in a video about the beautiful game again, FUCK cricket
Brazil of cricket is Australia.
as a brazilian i love this channel, such an amazinng and informative channel.
Brazilian here, amazing video. Thanks for making it.
Alfie, you should someday make a video on Marcos and Rogerio Ceni, two of the best goalkeepers of the sport that the world barely saw play.
They were the 2 Goalkeepers in Brazil's 2002 winning squad
Marcos is a legendary goalkeeper by himself
And Ceni is the legendary goalkeeper that scored more than 131 goals (129 in FIFA Tournaments, excluding the state leagues we have every season start)
Both played their whole lives for their loved boyhood clubs until retirement, even while getting offers from all over Europe.
We all lived the same life. I remember going to Primary school early to watch the game just for Ronaldinho to have me in tears later
have to appreciate the effort you put in these videos
THIS VIDEO WAS COMPREHENSIVE!
I’m throughly impressed. As a Brazilian football fan you had me on the hook and I was impressed that you went waaaay beyond the cliches, without spoiling too much…
I had never even thought about the longevity of attacking players compared to defending players as well!
Suggestion: Why the Rio State Championship (Brazil) is considered so complicated by many.
Surprisingly, Brazil's crop of defenders both past and present age like fine wine.
From Inter and Bayern legend Lucio to players right now like Thiago SIlva and Marcelo who are approcahing their 40s.
Shoutout to Dante as well who has been very pivotal for Nice's position (1st btw) on the Ligue1 table and he's had an Acl tear and he is just "40".
What a great vid. Great analysis
I'm brazilian and work with Sports. As much as I like the channel, I clicked to see how wrong you'll get it, I confess. Especially because Brazil as a country and a sports market is very unique. But boy, I was wrong. Loved the content. Really fits what I saw first hand. Great work, mate!
As a Brazilian, I need to make some things clear. There isn't a single reason why many Brazilian talents end their journey in football early, quickly. There's a lack of structure during childhood, whether it's nutritional or psychological. The overwhelming majority of players come from extremely poor backgrounds, leading to a lack of proper nutrition and often an inadequate family context for healthy growth.
This causes many of them to grow into immature adults with the money they make. The video illustrates this point well. When they become wealthy, they only care about parties and fun. Take Neymar, for example. Every time he had an injury, instead of staying with the team for recovery, he always found an excuse to escape and go to parties while recovering. Even if you argue that this has little influence, well, it might be little, but it does influence.
Brazilians (myself included) are not raised to be far from family. Unlike the European history where people are accustomed to stories of navigators and adventurers going on journeys to other lands, in Brazil, we tend to stay very close to our families, creating another problem: adapting to a different environment.
Anyway, since the comment got lengthy, not that it's good or bad, that's not the point of my comment. It's just to provide a perspective from someone in the country.
Very interesting. Family is very important, but staying too close in the comfort zone inhibits growth.
I loved watching Ronaldo at Barcelona & Real Madrid.
Adriano's dad dying was devastating. It happened during his prime. His dad was the only one that stood by him.
As a brazilian, i can say that alfie was very careful and thoughtful. Thanks mate
The first World Cup I truly remember was Germany 06 and being on Bundesstraße watching Fance v Italy with the crowd
All true - when i was a young, up and coming, potential Brasilian superstar i was never rested - now my ankles crunch like a gravel driveway.
Great video Alfie.
Great content love the video 💯
The 1998 WC was the first one that i can remember and France beating Brazil 3-0 in the final with a below par Ronaldo who came back all guns blazing in 2022 as Brazil defeated Germany 2-0 in the final to win the tournament for the 5th time from an Irish perspective the tournament was overshadowed by the entire Saipan saga when Roy Keane was sent home from the tournament after falling out with the Republic of Ireland manager Mick Mccarthy and we ended up losing to Spain in the round of 16 on penalties who knows how far we might have gotten if Keane had been playing in the tournament it will just be one of those things that we will never know i guess
2002*, Ronaldo suffered a stroke before the 1998 WC Final, so it could explain his bad showing in the 3-0
@@queenzoroarkeven the first draft put in on the seat. The Brazilian team could, at least, only put him in field on the second half.
Ireland would've gotten robbed by South Korea in the Quaterfinalsb
cafu longevity was incredible
Well researched and produced article!
As a brazilian i can say thi is a great video of the topic and shows great understanding of the brazilian reality congratulations Alfie!
I can also help you with the pronunciation of brazilian names and words if you want😂
My first world cup was 94 i was also 6 i remember sitting on the couch with 5 of my cousins my nonna my mon and my zios and zia's and as a Italian Americans we're of course rooting for 🇮🇹 calcio was huge in our house and i remember crying when Baggio missed his penalty but in 06 we all got to celebrate but that 94 world cup was my first and it still brings back good memories and painful moments forza italia 💙
The first World Cup I remember was France 98 - I may have been 11 but England's absence at USA 94 meant that the tournament was overlooked by many in our country.
My first proper tournament was definitely Euro 96 though.
Same!
I made a decision to fully watch every minute of USA 94 despite my country not being there. I felt like I was only drifting in and out of football for italia 90.
Weird little aside though, I have zero memory of the Russian World Cup ?
@@mattjames6349 I think I was too young to have any decision on what was on TV. From my memory, the only time the WC came up was my Irish grandad talking about their tournament.
@@BOABModels I was 14 and we’d just got our first dog who used to fall asleep on my lap. So even if I wanted to I couldn’t go anywhere I couldn’t haha
You are incredible, love your videos ❤
Great video!
Most of the examples given tend to be attacking players.
Interestingly I notice a similar situation with Allblack and Springbok wingers in Rugby. They tend to have fairly short careers, particularly @ Test level. Early on they are lightening quick, athletic, agile and strong, but as they creep past 25, particularly with Pacific Islanders they're not as agile, their strong frames become just a bit too heavy, their speed decreases and they are soon replaced by younger versions of themselves
Despite playing for a few years on teams in my early youth, I never once watched the game on TV or live until I was a teenager and Becks came to USA. That was my first match ever watched on purpose. It didnt work, wasn't hooked. Took until being an adult and living in Europe to pick up the game so my first WC was 2014, well into my 20s.
First memory I have of watching football (now I’m Canadian and had peasant vision. Only the World Cup was really televised) was the 2006 final and the Zidane headbutt. Life changing stuff.
Very informative piece
Coming out of poverty in Brazilian slums….is different then being brought up in a council estate in England for example. They travel to europe for money. Family wealth. When they get it , they take their foot of the gas. They good for 10 years. Sign them when they in their teens or very early 20’s.
Hearing this reminds me of the American gridiron system in the US. The US, like Brasil, has a huge population and unfortunately a huge population of (mostly black/brown) poor. There has been a culture of college and high school teams getting poor kids early developing them and using them until they burnout at an early age never even reaching the professional league. Brasil is by far the largest footballing country and it doesn’t surprise me they give rise to world class players maybe if they all went to La Masia at age 10 like Messi they would be set up for long time success.
There are no poor people in the United States.
Tf is this “gridiron” you’re talking about🤨
"gridiron" is the original name of American Football.@@josehernandez9565
@@josehernandez9565 its the name for American football, as opposed to futbol or football.
@@ArnoSchmidt22 tell that to all our poor people
Adriano won the brazilian championship in 2009 with Flamengo. That was a monumental achievement by itself and one of the happiest days of my life.
I think about this all the time, needed this on Alf
For some reason the only Brazilian players that I can think of long lasting careers is defenders and goalkeepers? Marcelo Dani alves Thiago Silva etc. am I crazy?
not really. Romário, Edmundo, Rivaldo, Zé Roberto...
@@ArnoSchmidt22 that’s true what about in terms of the modern game can you think of anyone?
Cafu too
iam brazilian, i think they all burn out because they conquered titles and money very soon in life, and most of them grew up very poor and all those titles, wins and money make them belive they got it all now, so they lack motivation after that happen .injuries are also reasons for some of this downfalls. the sadest of them all for me is adriano, when he was at his best form he lost his father, so he didnt have a reason to continue so he just came back to brasil and retired.
Good analysis and conclusion
I normally do not comment on any video, but as a Brazillian watching this analysis, I cannot congratulate you enough on the dedication and research put into this. Really, amazing job!
Saudade is not particular to brasil pt, every Portuguese speaking country uses it and it has the same meaning
Rivaldo went on forever to be fair. Dropped down the levels but great player.
It's usually Brazilians that play for Barcelona, not just Brazilians, but a lot of foreign players that play for Barcelona leave to play for smaller teams and their career almost dead.
Alf you brought me right back there 😂 I also watched this cross legged on the floor in the assembly hall.
I think soon that will not be a problem, the mentality of the young talents that are coming is being shown to be different, especially having Neymar as their idol, they don’t wanna make the same mistakes as him. Just look at Vinicius, Rodrygo, even though they like to party, they are always training and evolving each season. And the new ones that aren’t in Europe yet like Endrick and Vitor Roque has the same mentality. Who knows, maybe we can finally see our top players play high level football till their late 30’s.