Saturday, June 16, 2018

Post 1986, Brazil’s football philosophy is in a confused state


MOSCOW: As the most popular football side in the world, Brazil always excite us.

Even the media admire them -- more than 200 newspaper journalists and 100 photographers are registered for tomorrow’s Brazil versus Switzerland game.

At the Rostov Arena, children have welcomed the Brazilians to the city, with their paintings spread around the city. Such is the love and affection that they’ve been enjoying since ages.

Everybody loves the Selecao, but off late Brazil doesn’t resemble the teams of 70s and 80s. The attacking flair, which won them millions of hearts across the globe, is now a thing of the past.

The team’s current style is not even a sequel of what Tele Santana had produced at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups and as school children, we were thrilled to watch Socrates-Zico-Elder-Falcao indulge their love of feints, tricks and back heels.

The free-flowing approach has been replaced by a more cautious one ever since their players started playing in the gruelling European leagues.

No wonder their football philosophy is in a confused state. Just like any Hollywood classics, those golden days of Samba can’t be re-created but, at least, Brazilian coaches can draw inspiration from Santana.

The drubbing against Germany at home four years back is still fresh in our mind. Yet, everybody expect them to bounce back in the World Cup and impress their fans with subtle skills added with searing pace.

“The work we have done elevates the expectations, but also brings us peace. I’m very happy about the level of performance we have showed so far. I hope we can now reproduce this under pressure,” said Brazil coach Tite on Saturday.

Sounds all fine, but as we’ve seen, Brazil is now a shadow of their own glorious past.

The team’s talismanic forward Neymar recently underwent a surgery and returned to action couple of days ago in a pre-tournament friendly.

The Paris-Saint Germain star also scored a goal, but still we aren’t convinced till he strikes the ball hard against the Swiss.

“Neymar is still not 100 per cent, but he is very privileged physically. The level he has displayed in his sprints in high velocity has been impressive. But still he has something to gain. It should happen sooner rather than later, hopefully,” added Tite.

Back in 2013, Switzerland won 1-0 in Basel. Only four Brazilian starters from that friendly match are here in Rostov: Thiago Silva, Marcelo, Paulinho and Neymar.

We’ll have to wait till tomorrow to see if Neymar unleashes his power to avenge their five-year-old defeat.

But, good luck Selecao! www.khelupdates.com



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