“Chiquinho, Chiquinho, Chiquinho,” shouted the Gas fans (Grêmio Atlético Sampaio) at the end of the game at Canarinho Stadium in Boa Vista, despite the 2-1 defeat of the home team for Manaus, last Saturday (24), by the Brazilian D Series.
More surprising than seeing a crowd shouting his coach’s name even in defeat is knowing his origin: Chiquinho is actually coach of São Raimundo, Gas rival in Roraimense football. The teams faced each other in last year’s state’s decision, with Gas winning 3-2.
It turns out that the Gas – the representative of Roraima, the state of the new president of CBF, Samir Xaud, in any category of the main national championship – is bad in the fourth and final division: after six rounds, is the penultimate of group A1.
The club then asked the opponent for Raimundo, who is in recess, without playing any tournament.
“The president of Gas called me right after a game of them there in Acre [derrota por 4 a 1 para o Independência] Asking if I released Chiquinho. I spoke to Chiquinho and, not working now, he thought it was good. Precisely to try to raise the gas in this competition to rank the federation more, you know? “, Said Sérgio Caranguejo, president of São Raimundo.
If Gas fails in the tournament, Roraima can fall into the ranking of CBF federations (24th between 27) and lose the only vacancy in Serie D; If it is well, the state can even reach a second place, dream of all ten federated clubs. Hence the loan of Chiquinho.
“It was an agreement between the two boards, to join forces. A partnership to fight not only for Gas, but for the football of Roraima. I am very happy that my idea was accepted by Sérgio Caranguejo and other directors of São Raimundo”, celebrates Gas President Jander Cavalcante.
It is as if, with the proportions, in any recess of Palmeiras, the club lent Abel Ferreira to Corinthians or Sao Paulo so that the opponent tried to improve in a tournament – and at the end of it Abel normally returned to Palestra Italy. Because it is part of the agreement that, at the end of the D Series, Chiquinho returns to his usual club, São Raimundo.
If on the one hand the loan sounds exotic, it must also be said that the borrow justifies the adventure. Chiquinho is not any technician. It is a legend in Roraimense football and, why not say, a rare advice in national football. It has been uninterrupted for 14 years leading the world, as São Raimundo is called by fans.
He is probably the longest coach of Brazilian football – it is found that, despite his lively performance on the field, Roraima accumulates superlative outside him, since Zeca, Samir’s father and president of the local federation, with almost 50 years of cartolage, is the leader for officially ahead of an entity in the country.
After the loan, Chiquinho will return because this is the desire/demand for the club’s highest authority. “He will only stop training São Raimundo if one day I leave. While I am president he will be the coach,” promises Sérgio Caranguejo, who is also a civil police officer and took over in 2011. Before, he was coach of the team, and had Chiquinho as a player.
In a symptom of local football difficulties, São Raimundo, although the largest state champion (12 titles), usually spends months without playing. You should only go back to the field now in 2026, by Roraimense.
In the first match under the command of Chiquinho, Gas got its first victory, 4-1 over Humaitá, from Acre. In the second, despite the defeat to Manaus, he played better in the first half and pleased the fans, to the point of being celebrated even in the defeat. And how did the coach feel when he heard his name shouted by the former rival fans, which is his?
“It’s good, because they managed to see what we think, the intensity we want in football,” says Chiquinho, 56, after a laugh. “But I need a little more time for these athletes to do what I want, the way I think: a lot of intensity when we have the ball. Always, always. I don’t give up it.”
It was with this style that, in São Raimundo, Chiquinho reached remarkable achievements, such as hitting Cuiabá (then in Series A) for the 2023 Brazil Cup and, this year, surpass Remo in the Green Cup and almost eliminate Grêmio for the Brazilian Cup (1 to 1 in normal time, with gauchos winning on penalties).
“If we face teams financially and technically superior, we have to cause discomfort. What is discomfort? Making them run back, that they have difficulties,” Chiquinho recipe. “They will always be favorites. From the moment we put to run back, put intensity, we cause discomfort. And then the victories will come.”
