Maringá is one of the biggest surprises among the finalists of the main state championships in the country. Even without currently being part of one of the four national divisions, the team from the interior disputes the title of the Paranaense Championship with the traditional Coritiba. Dogão (as the club is known) was overcome in the first game of the decision, at the Willie Davids stadium, in Maringá (PR), by 2 to 1, in a comeback, last Wednesday (30). This Sunday (3), at 4 pm (Brasilia time), Tricolor faces Coxa at Couto Pereira, in the capital, having to win by two goals or more to lift the cup in an unprecedented way. If they win by a goal, equaling the aggregate score, there will be a penalty shootout.
“The moment we live at the club is important. For me, it’s gratifying. For the city, too, which has the opportunity of a title that has not come for 45 years”, he told Brazil Agency coach Jorge Luiz Castilho, mentioning the last state conquest of a local team, Grêmio Maringá, in 1977, curiously about the same Coritiba.
Castilho himself is an important character in the trajectory of Maringá. He worked in the basic categories of the Municipality of Guarujá (SP), the city where he was born, arriving at the Paraná club in 2020, initially as an assistant coach. He took over the main team (which led the second division of Paraná) in the seventh round, after the departure of Beto Portella. The coach was runner-up, helping Dogão to return to the elite of the State.
In 2021, he again started the season as an assistant, becoming the interim coach in the fourth round, with the dismissal of Marcos Soares. Maringá left the tenth place and qualified for the quarterfinals in seventh place, falling in the quarterfinals to FC Cascavel (runner-up). With more than 61% of success in the two passages, the professional received, in 2022, the chance to direct the team since the beginning of the year.
“I was able to start the pre-season and helped with the assembly of the squad. We put together a strong cast, with brio, a lot of desire to win and professionals who are looking for a space in the sun. We have a young, committed team. Thank God, we are being crowned, reaching the final of the Campeonato Paranaense”, celebrated Buiu, as the 39-year-old coach is known.
It was in his homeland that Castilho did his first job as a coach. In 2014, he directed Associação Desportiva Guarujá (ADG), in the fourth division of the Paulista Championship, with a cast made up practically entirely of athletes from the city. Buiu was divided between running ADG and guarding a condominium in Enseada, a neighborhood where the largest beach in the municipality is located. In fact, on more than one occasion, the coach had to look for other occupations to supply the day to day in the midst of the lack of calendar in football.
“In 2020 I had access to the first division of Paraná, then I was unemployed for six months. I divided my time working as an Uber in Guarujá and with a little school in the social project I have. Whenever I had a security guard, I did it. In 2021, also [ficou sem emprego depois do Estadual]. I came to work in a parking lot in Santos [SP]like valet, security”, said the technician, who has two daughters.
The 2021 campaign assured Maringá places in the Copa do Brasil and in the Série D of the Brazilian Championship next year. The second half of 2022, however, as in the last two seasons, does not provide for competitions for the team. An eventual title this Sunday, therefore, could be crucial for Buiu’s future, on and off the field.
“I hope to have opportunities in the second half. Six months can be expensive. If you don’t have a place to work, I don’t see any problem. [de atuar em outras funções]. Every job is worthy. We need to take our sustenance home, I have no vanity about it”, concluded Castilho.
