The club that was formed the day the Titanic went down has finally been relegated. Santos suffered a traumatic last round of the Brazilian Championship. In a night full of ebbs and flows, they ended up being overtaken by Bahia and Vasco da Gama and finished in one of the dreaded last four positions. And this happened in the first season after the death of Pele, whose mausoleum overlooks the club’s Vila Belmiro stadium. The timing, then, was cruel indeed. But this was a matter of time, and the only surprise is that people are surprised. Because Santos was always a miracle.
Every other major club in Brazil is based in one of the giant state capitals. Santos is an exception. The city is a port that, on a good day, is about an hour’s drive down the hill from the metropolis of Sao Paulo. The population of Santos does not get
