December 2012, Kawasaki. A fairly-unknown striker first steps up to the training centre of Frontale. His name is Anderson Patric Aguiar Oliveira and he hasn’t showed a great scoring-rate in Brazil, yet Japanese clubs more than often tend to sign Brazilian players without knowing how much effective they will be for their new clubs.
Late May 2018, Hiroshima. We’re five years later and that striker is now committed to something else. With a LeBron James shirt on him and his son whistling a tune, Patric is trying to write in Japanese. He’s so into Japan that he’s trying to become a full Japanese citizen, even advocating a possible call-up for the Samurai Blue. How did we get that far?
https://twitter.com/patricaguiar/status/1001821833006583811
Lost in translation
We know how Brazilian players often finish to end up a big tour of their clubs, trying to find a way to emerge into their football scenario. Born in 1987 in Macapá (in the far Northern part of Brazil), Patric wore the shirt of several teams, only to find solid success with Vila Nova, to which he was loaned by Vasco de Gama. When he came back from the loan, he signed for Atlético Clube Goianiense, but he didn’t find the net as much with his previous club.
So Patric decided to try the great jump: coming to Japan. At that time, Kawasaki Frontale were new to play attractive football under manager Yahiro Kazama and 2013 season will start the legend of Yoshito Okubo, recycled as no. 9 under a new system and on his way to own the all-time record of goals in J1. At that time, though, the experiment had still to settle and Patric was used as back-up for Yu Kobayashi.
After just three goals in 13 games, Patric realized that there was no space for him with Okubo and under Kazama. So, he opted to move to another Japanese club, Ventforet Kofu, who played opposite style of football than Kawasaki. They heavily relied on counter-attacks and having a strong no. 9 was useful for the Yamanashi-based club. It worked: six goals in 18 games, Kofu avoiding relegation for another year and Hiroshi Jofuku – yeah, the same man who found him back at Hiroshima! – shaping up his defensive 3-4-2-1 on the Brazilian striker.
Yet, his next destination would have been in the South.
The Gamba-connection
Patric returns to Brazil, convinced that he can score as much in his home country. Yet, his move to Fortaleza didn’t work as he maybe thought and so another return to Japan is seen as a good move. Salgueiro Atlético Clube – which still today, for some reasons, have the rights of his performances – buy him and then loan him to Gamba Osaka. Kenta Hasegawa’s side just came back to J1 League after a solid promotion, but they aren’t shining: in fact, before the 2014 World Cup break, Gamba suffer a tough 3-0 loss in Tokyo and they’re in relegation zone (16th).
It’s not an exaggeration saying that 2014 treble wouldn’t have been possible without Patric.
After the J. League returns, Gamba Osaka field for the first time Usami and Patric, together. After the two exchanged each other against Ventforet Kofu, the Brazilian striker finds the net against Shimizu S-Pulse. It goes even better away at Vissel Kobe, when both Patric and Usami score a brace. The incredible and improbable run towards the title has just begun. And it’s not like a newly-promoted team winning the league isn’t crazy (it happened with Kashiwa Reysol in 2011), but doing that from standing 16th mid-season… is impossible. But not for Gamba.
And it’s not only that, because even in cups things go smoothly. Patric is decisive in the J. League Cup final against Sanfrecce Hiroshima, where a Brazilian brace puts Gamba in contention before Omori finishes the job. And what about the Emperor’s Cup, where Patric scores both in semi-final and in the final against Montedio Yamagata? 15 goals in 27 games grant him another season in Japan.
Things are running well even for 2015 season, when Gamba Osaka almost reach AFC Champions League final (Paulinho’s hand still to be seen), almost win the J. League Championship and lift another two trophies. While Japanese Super Cup is a formality, Emperor’s Cup is decided by a brace of Patric, who – at this point – has an amazing record in the finals played (6 goals in 6 games).
Hiroshima unchained
But there’s one problem in the horizon: Hasegawa’s cycle – after achieving so much – is probably at its end. Instead of thinking about change, Gamba head quarters stick with Hasegawa and the results are even pretty evident now. The club is on the verge on relegation in 2018 and the previous two years weren’t exactly exciting (4th in 2016, 9th in 2017 and two terrible Asian campaigns).
The same goes for Patric, who suffers a terrible ligament injury in October 2016 and struggles to come back at the same level witnessed before. Of course, the faults aren’t only on him, but even before the injury he scores just two goals in 20 games, with even players like Shun Nagasawa shining in his place.
Maybe it’s not the injury. Maybe Patric needs a change of team to shine again. And that’s what happens both to him and another historical Gamba player like Daiki Niwa: both are loaned to Sanfrecce Hiroshima in Summer 2017. And that’s the key-move to get the groove back.
In fact, Sanfrecce Hiroshima are in a dreadful situation. 2015 magic is over, Hajime Moriyasu has resigned some weeks before and Jan Jönsson is the new manager. The goal? Just avoiding relegation, which would be a surprising ending even for a bad version of Sanfrecce in that year. But the job wasn’t easy, since Sanfrecce shaped themselves in a Moriyasu-way of football for so many years.
Yet, just like Gamba couldn’t win the treble without Patric, the same goes for Sanfrecce regarding their chances of avoiding relegation. The no. 39 scored just four goals in 15 games, but those goals were crucial: first he assisted two goals and scored one at Jubilo Iwata, then his other three goals were worth five points in the table. And since Sanfrecce concluded 15th on the table – just one point above relegated Ventforet Kofu –, those goals guaranteed another year in J1.
A booming 2018: the title-race, the MVP run and Japanese citizenship
Adapting to Japanese life was never a question for Patric. Already in late 2015, he obtained a Japanese driver license. He opted to stay everytime he could and with Sanfrecce Hiroshima wasn’t any different. Despite Salgueiro kept the his football rights, Patric saw renewed his loan to Sanfrecce for 2018 season. And he couldn’t make a better decision than this one, since Hiroshi Jofuku was the man chosen to succeed to Jönsson, who signed for Shimizu S-Pulse.
Sanfrecce haven’t changed that much if not among forwards: Masato Kudo isn’t the player he used to be at Reysol, Teerasil Dangda was a question mark and Daiki Watari shone in Tokushima, but J1 is a different thing. Yet, Patric rose to force the hand on Jofuku and he’s playing a little like he used to be in Kofu, but with another striker alongside him – mostly Dangda, rarely Kudo or the newly-arrived Berisha – and a no. 8 behind them (Shibasaki or Kawabe). Wada and Kashiwa always found the Brazilian striker with a cross for his good headers.
So the same team which almost got relegated three months before… flew away from the others in the first matchdays of 2018 season. And Patric seems transformed: 23 goals in 28 games and his best season-ever isn’t remotely finished. Not only that, because former Gamba-striker started all J1 matches but one and played them all until now. Who would have thought of Sanfrecce Hiroshima as a legit title-contender?
But now? Now Patric wants more. While he could end in the seasonal Top XI for the 2nd time after 2014, the Brazilian striker wants to be even more involved into the Japanese culture. He’s learning to write with kanji and hiratana; he wore a Japan’s shirt during the World Cup and he pushed the team also as much as Brazil; in general, he’s a happy example how integration could and should work.
We forgot too many times in this epoque how integration is a resource, not a weakness. Not even a racist attack by an Urawa Reds’ supporter stopped his determination to learn more about Japan and so – already in January 2016 – he declared that, yes, his dream is to play for Samurai Blue.
He wouldn’t be the first Brazilian to do that: Ruy Ramos, Wagner Lopes, Alex and Tulio are excellent examples. Plus, what Japan lacked at the last World Cup was a prolific centre-forward: while Muto, Kobayashi and Kanazaki are interesting profiles and Osako did a good job in Russia, Samurai Blue don’t have a profile like Patric.
And in the end, just like Marshall Eriksen said once in a “How I Met Your Mother” episode: “I used think family was a right, but it’s a privilege, it needs to be earned”. And Patric is surely working hard to gain this right, which though we may label as a dream for the striker.
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