Brazil’s got talent, not team
Eduardo Vargas and Alexis Sanchez dealt the latest blow. It was another night of pain for Brazil as they lost to Chile in their opening World Cup qualifier. However, July 9, 2014 was when they had reached their lowest, when the Selecao lost 7-1 to Germany in the World Cup semi final at Estadio Mineirao.
It cost Luiz Felipe Scolari his job and Dunga was brought back to take charge of the team as Brazilian football sought to redeem itself. Fifteen months down the line, nothing seems to have changed. The great football nation still produces exceptional talents like Neymar, but the whole has ceased to be greater than the sum of its parts.
The decline is hurting the legend. Pele had been the face of Brazilian football when it ruled the world. They had Garrincha, Didi, Vava, but Pele was the jewel in the crown. Later, Tostao, Rivelino, Jairzinho and Carlos Alberto emerged to form the ‘dream team’ that had the world in awe at the 1970 World Cup. Pele was still there, in his prime.
That seems like light years away. Brazil have long since been knocked off their perch and Pele blames it on lack of cohesion.
“The team game is missing. We have some of the best players in Brazil but unfortunately we don’t play as a team. We didn’t have much time to prepare the team before the World Cup. You have to have the players together for a longer time to prepare better but that wasn’t possible. Nowadays top Brazilian players go to Europe and the impresarios (managers/agents) decide for them if they would be playing for the club or country. Presently we have a lot of problems in different positions on the field,” said the three-time World Cup winner while addressing the media at a five-star hotel in south Kolkata on Monday. I hope Neymar wins a trophy for Brazil, and he hails from Santos, the club I used to play for. My son Edinho was the one who trained him, so I feel proud and happy. He has a good future. Neymar, he could be one of the best players now, at the moment, no doubt,” he added.
This is his second visit to Kolkata. When he came as a New York Cosmos player in 1977, Sourav Ganguly was four years old. The former India cricket captain shared the stage with the ‘giant’ of Brazil and asked him about the way forward for Indian football.
“You’ve to develop base. Build the infrastructure and then send the young players abroad for exposure. This is the only way forward.”A question, asking for a comparison between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo was along familiar lines. “(A) Lot of people compare Messi with Ronaldo. But they’re different kind of players. Ronaldo is more of a centre-forward. Messi plays deeper (as No. 10). But both are fantastic and I would love to have them in my team. But I must say, over the last 10 years, Messi is the best,” said the 74-year-old.
Who was the best player of his generation then? “People don’t take much notice of the defenders. To me the best was Bobby Moore.” The late West Ham and England centre-half had led his country to the 1966 World Cup triumph. The next World Cup in Mexico, however, presented a more memorable moment, when the two greats cancelled each other and then exchanged shirts after the game. Pele ended up on the winning side in a narrow 1-0 victory.
Pele remains the most exalted footballer on the planet and he has little doubts that he would have been equally successful in the modern era. “Modern-day football is tough, but yes I would have still achieved the same feat that I had so many years back. Footballers are born. God gave me the gift to play football.” Strangely, the organisers didn’t allow him to take questions on the FIFA corruption crisis. At a time when Sepp Blatter, the head of world football’s governing body, along with his UEFA counterpart Michel Platini, is facing a 90-day provisional suspension, Pele’s views mattered. He could only say he has no intention to become the FIFA president.
