Bosso unveil new coach

Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
HIGHLANDERS yesterday unveiled Baltemar Jose De Oliveira Brito as their new head coach at the club offices, filling the vacancy left after Mandla Mpofu was sacked a fortnight ago.

Brito, who turns 71 today, will be in charge of the team until December 2023 and brought his own assistant coach Antonio Joao Martins Leao Torres from Portugal, who is also his interpreter as his English is limited.

Highlanders said they will provide further details on the rest of his backroom staff in due course.

Brito, a Brazilian native, also holds Portuguese citizenship and boasts of a Uefa Pro coaching licence.

The club would, however, not state if Brito and Torres had secured work permits ahead of tomorrow’s Castle Lager Premier Soccer League tie against Harare City at Barbourfields Stadium.

Highlanders’ secretary-general Morgen “Gazza” Dube was unconvincing in his response when asked if the two coaches will be in the dugout for the league match.

“I can safely say the gentlemen are here and all the necessary arrangements and documentation are in place. They are at work right now. They started working the moment they arrived in the office,” said Dube.

Asked if they had been cleared by Zifa, Dube said: “We have employed the two gentlemen, all stakeholders are aware and as I have already alluded to, they have started work. These guys have been appointed by Highlanders starting today.”

Brito said he was here to awaken the giant in Highlanders and he was pleased to be in Zimbabwe coaching a team of its calibre.

“It’s a pleasure and I am proud to be part of Highlanders as head coach. I hope to find the team strong and with character. I want to put the club where it belongs; that is in first position on the league table. We can only archive this by working hard because ours is not a long contract,” said Brito.

“The club has been sick as it has not won the league title since 2006. For a club with such history and supporters not winning means it is sick and we are here to help the club get better and awaken this sleeping giant.”

He said he was still learning local football.

“I have seen some games, but we are still in the process of watching games and collecting information to try and learn more. Sometimes finding information is not easy, but going deep with information about the championship is not easy. But now we are here and the club trusts us to do this project together,” said Brito.
Brito is a nomadic coach, with a history of short spells in his previous appointments.

He started his coaching career at Portuguese second tier side Varzim SC as a player-coach in the 1987/88 season.

He then went on to take charge of AC Macedo Cavaleiros in the same country from 1989 to 1994.

He returned for a second spell in charge of Cavaleiros from 1998 to 1999 before moving to CRPP Barrosas as assistant manager from 1999 to 2000.

Brito first rubbed shoulders with José Mourinho at União de Leiria in the Portugal Primeira Liga, forming part of a backroom quartet, which included fitness coach Rui Faria, goalkeeping coach Silvino Louro and chief scout André Villas-Boas, from 2001 to 2002.

They all moved with Mourinho to FC Porto in the 2002/2003 season in the same roles and won the Primeira Liga and Uefa Champions League.

When Mourinho left for Chelsea in the English Premiership in July 2004, Brito went with him as assistant and there they won back-to-back league titles in their first and second seasons in the English game.

Among Brito’s responsibilities at Chelsea was audio-visual work that helped prepare the team for matches.

When Mourinho was fired in September 2007, Brito parted ways with the Special One and returned to Portugal where he became manager of Second Division team Belenenses in June 2010.

He, however, left the club before the season had started after only one month in charge.

He went on to manage Al-Ittihad Tripoli in Libya in the 2010/2011 season and Al-Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates the following season.

Brito returned to his native Brazil and briefly managed Grêmio Osasco in 2013.

He was on the move again, returning for a second spell with Libyan side Al-Ittihad Tripoli from May 2013 to 2014.

From February 2015 to May 2015, he was assistant manager at Tunisian giants Esperance Tunis before joining Greece Super League 1 side AEK Athens from October 2016 to January 2017.

His last known coaching job before resurfacing at Highlanders yesterday was as coach of Union Titus Petange of Luxembourg from January 2018 to December of the same year.

Brito joins a legion of Bosso’s foreign coaches that started in 1983 when Scotsman Bobby Clark arrived in the City of Kings to take charge of the country’s oldest club.

Although Clark is credited with presenting the likes of Willard Khumalo a platform to shine as a schoolboy alongside other youngsters Madinda Ndlovu, Netsai Moyo, Dumisani Nyoni and the late Mercedes Sibanda, among others, it is the late Eddie May, the Bosso faithful reverence as the only foreign coach to lead them to a league title.

May led Bosso to back-to-back PSL titles in 2001 and 2002.

Other foreign coaches that took charge of Bosso with varying fortunes are the late Dick Chama, Mohamed Fathi, Kelvin Kaindu, Elroy Akbay and Pieter de Jongh. Mark Harrison only oversaw one game in March 2020 before

Covid-19 struck and sporting activities were frozen for almost two years.

PSL fixtures
Today: Herentals College vs ZPC Kariba (National Sports Stadium),
Bulawayo City vs Black Rhinos (BF),
Cranborne Bullets vs FC Platinum (Sakubva)
Tomorrow: Caps United vs Dynamos (National Sports Stadium),
Highlanders vs Harare City (BF),
Manica Diamonds vs Tenax CS (Sakubva),
Triangle vs Chicken Inn (Gibbo)
Whawha vs Ngezi Platinum (Ascot)
— @innocentskizoe

Article Source: The Chronicle