CHAPTER 66— "WHEN GENIUS WALKS THE PITCH"
Date: April–June 2023
Árman Azevedo — Age: 13
São Paulo FC — U-15
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They stopped pretending.
That was the first thing that changed.
By April 2023, every coach at São Paulo FC understood the truth, even if none of them said it out loud:
Árman Azevedo was not developing.
He was already finished.
The rest of the academy?
They were catching up to him.
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APRIL 2023 — THE LEAGUE REALIZES
The third month of the season didn't start with hype.
It started with fear.
Opposing teams arrived early now.
Warm-ups were longer.
Defensive drills doubled.
Not because of São Paulo.
Because of one boy.
> "Mark number 10."
"No—double him."
"No—cut his supply."
"No—drop deeper."
"No—pray."
Those were actual instructions overheard from the sidelines.
And none of them worked.
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MATCH — SÃO PAULO U-15 vs CORINTHIANS U-15
Venue: Cotia Training Complex
Attendance: Full stands, scouts mixed with parents
From the first touch, the difference was obscene.
Árman didn't dribble to beat players anymore.
He dribbled to humiliate spacing.
One step here.
One pause there.
A shoulder drop that froze three defenders at once.
The ball moved when he wanted it to move.
The game slowed when he wanted it slow.
12th minute
Raúlzinho passed backward under pressure.
Árman received with his back to goal.
Two defenders collapsed.
He didn't turn.
He waited.
The defenders panicked first.
One leaned.
One reached.
Árman rolled the ball once with his sole, slipped between them without accelerating, and suddenly the pitch opened like a broken dam.
A through ball followed.
Goal.
The crowd didn't scream.
They gasped.
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25th minute
Corner kick.
Árman stood outside the box.
Everyone knew the shot was coming.
They still couldn't stop it.
A half-volley, struck clean, low, violent.
Net ripple.
Goalkeeper didn't move.
2–0.
The Corinthians bench went silent.
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Before halftime
Árman stopped shooting.
That's when things got terrifying.
He began assisting instead.
Blind passes.
No-look diagonals.
Weighted balls so perfect teammates didn't even need to adjust stride.
By halftime:
Score: 4–0
Árman: 2 goals, 2 assists
Touches lost: 0
Zero.
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HALFTIME — NO ADJUSTMENT POSSIBLE
The opposing coach tried everything.
• Switched formations
• Assigned a shadow marker
• Dropped the backline
Nothing mattered.
Because Árman wasn't reacting to tactics.
He was anticipating intention.
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SECOND HALF — TOTAL CONTROL
The second half wasn't competitive.
It was educational.
Árman orchestrated.
He pointed teammates into space.
He slowed counters.
He accelerated presses.
At one point, he verbally corrected a teammate's positioning mid-play.
The teammate listened.
And scored.
Final Score: 7–1
Árman finished with:
• 3 goals
• 3 assists
• 100% pass completion in the final third
The match report didn't say Man of the Match.
It said:
> "Match decided by #10."
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MAY 2023 — RECORDS COLLAPSE
By May, statistics stopped sounding real.
From age 10 to 13 in U-15 competitions:
• Matches played: 97
• Goals: 812
• Assists: 231
• Hat-tricks: 41
• MVP awards: 68
• Trophies: Every domestic youth competition entered
Goal difference with Árman on the pitch?
+613
Without him?
+12
That gap was terrifying.
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TRAINING — THE GAP BECOMES OBVIOUS
Training sessions changed too.
Not because of coaches.
Because of players.
Older boys stopped trying to outplay him.
They tried to learn from him.
When Árman received the ball, everyone adjusted instinctively.
When he moved, the pitch reshaped itself.
One assistant coach said it plainly:
> "He doesn't play football.
Football happens around him."
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JUNE 2023 — THE WORLD KNOCKS
This time, scouts didn't sit in the open.
They stayed in cars.
They reviewed footage privately.
They requested entire match data sets, not highlights.
Clubs involved:
• FC Barcelona
• Real Madrid
• Manchester City
• Bayern Munich
• PSG
But they weren't asking if he was good enough.
They were asking:
> "How do we time this?"
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ÁRMAN HIMSELF
And through all of it?
Árman stayed the same.
Polite.
Calm.
Focused.
He didn't chase records.
He broke them by accident.
At home, he still finished homework first.
Still ate breakfast with his family.
Still said "Obrigado" to staff.
But on the pitch?
He was merciless.
Not cruel.
Inevitable.
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ENDING
By the end of June 2023, there was no debate left.
Árman Azevedo wasn't the future.
He was a problem the present couldn't solve.
And the football world had begun to understand something frightening:
He wasn't peaking.
He was just getting started.