Fall Brazil 2014
by rick olivares pic by ueslei marcelino/reuters
Fall or autumn in Brazil happens around March of
every year. Unfortunately, it feels that way now for the world’s fifth most
populous country.
Thesackrace.com, a football website dedicated to
tracking managerial movements worldwide wrote this: “Brazil are now at a very
important juncture in their history with the next appointment absolutely
crucial bearing in mind what is coming up for them over the next four years.”
“Brazil will demand a successful team playing an attractive
brand of football, any new manager taking charge will be under immense pressure
from the start and will need to start winning games immediately.”
True, right?
Incredibly, that was written in 2010 after being sent
off by the Dutch in the quarterfinals of South Africa, 2-1, wherein embattled
coach, Dunga, resigned.
Dunga changed the way the Selecao played, fitting in
a more defensive brand of football that was contrary to the traditional
free-flowing and attractive style they espoused all through the years. Dunga,
who captained Brazil’s 1994 World Cup winning side defiantly said that he
believes that it doesn’t matter what the style of play is as long as the team
goes home a winner.”
Unfortunately, he couldn’t back it up as Brazil was
sent packing.
And four years earlier when they were also sent
crashing out of the tournament with a 1-nil quarterfinals loss to France, it
must have galled Brazilians everywhere that Les Bleus’ midfielder Zinedine
Zidane repeatedly danced around the Selecao playing and dominating the game
with a lot of flair that he seemed more Brazilian than the native Brazilians.
In the wake of the national disaster that befell
Brazil in this World Cup, the aforementioned statement stings like a prophecy
with painful validity.
Ronaldo’s World Cup scoring record has been broken.
They were humbled by one of the worst and most
unlikely of scores.
The home team suffered its first home loss since 1975
and first back-to-back losses since 1940.
Even worse, karma has come back to bite them in a
manner Luis Suarez could not have dreamed of.
The home team has been the beneficiary of spotty
calls against opponents while receiving leniency when they shouldn’t. Against
Colombia, they paid the ultimate price as Neymar was injured by a reckless
tackle and captain Thiago Silva was cautioned for a poor foul.
In the battle for third place, while much was
previously made about Silva’s absence, he disproved any argument of his
steadfastness on defense when he dragged down Arjen Robben on a clear breakaway
although outside the box. It should have been a red card instead of a yellow
and it should have been a free kick rather than a penalty kick.
The referee pointed to the penalty spot and whatever
air of support the fans had for their team evaporated as soon as Robin Van
Persie scored to make it 1-nil.
The defensive reputations of Silva and Luiz so
sterling prior to the quarterfinals are now in tatters. I actually wonder what
shape Luiz will be in when he heads over to Paris in a few days to join his new
club, Paris St. Germain.
The mantle of invincibility and the fear that gripped
opponents even before they stepped on the pitch against the team of one-name
wunderkinds has now disappeared.
I wonder if this is karma for all the perfidy of
former Confederacao Brasileira de Futbol (CBF) President Ricadro Teixeira who
was named in a Swiss prosecutor’s report of pocketing more than $41 million in
bribes for World Cup marketing rights.
Brazil football legend Romario told the New York
Times in 2013 (on the eve of the World Cup year) that Teixeira has been “directly
a part of everything that has been evil in Brazilian football for the last 10
years.”
Teixeira, who lambasted his foes in
Brazilian football and media in a profanity-laced tirade in piaui, a local magazine, eventually
resigned amidst the public scandal and following a public campaign to oust him
that gained traction on the social media site, Twitter (#foraricardoteixeira).
Romario reacted with glee – as did the
public – when Teixeira resigned – “we are extirpating a cancer from Brazil
football” he remarked. “Now we need a thorough clean up of the CBF.”
With the way this World Cup ended for
the home side, it looks like they will need more than a cleanup.
If the Selecao went home from South Africa in search
of a coach who can bring back their traditional style of play, now they are in
search of their soul.
As painful as it is, maybe this is what’s best for
Brazilian football that is in its nadir.
Because like Germany in 2000, they get to build it up
again – the right way. And in this most chilling of Brazilian footballing
seasons, spring will eventually come.
Rick , Brazil was overhyped heading into the 2014 World Cup primarily because they were the host nation and partly also to the "over-marketing of Neymar" as the new hero of Brazilian football! In the early stages of the Cup , they were just lucky and partly benefited from dubious calls ( and non-calls) of refs who were just intimidated by the over zealous home crowd. There was no such thing as their formidable defensive line anchored on T Silva and David Luiz, the team was just lucky to be in their home turf coupled with media hype in Brazil! In the end , when they played on on games that mattered most , whether they had Neymar or not, they were a team not destined for greatness!
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