Because Brazil will wake up and remember it ‘didn’t want this World Cup’, not ahead of schools, hospitals, roads and anti-corruption purges; because there will be riots again, I’m anticipating a sudden wave of sympathy for those involved in the 7-1 humiliation against Germany.
Not me. Brazil treated me well enough when I was still at the World Cup, I respect their contribution to the gradual development of the Champions League (which is huge in terms of skill and attacking philosophy) – I respect the passion of their fans. I’d love to see an exciting, intelligent, adept Pentacampeon again.
But this group of players has been led by what I’d consider to be a footballing bruiser – a win at all costs Visigoth or Vandal.
Felipe Scolari won last summer’s Confederations Cup with a policy of fire and brimstone. Sleight of hand wasn’t sufficient for him to disguise either his team’s or, more importantly his own, deficiencies.
In that Confederations Cup final, his side sought out Andrés Iniesta and bundled him over, kicked him, tripped him. The libertarian approach of the Dutch referee that day was disgraceful. Nearly 30 Brazilian fouls and not a yellow card.
‘Speechless’ reads the headline in German newspaper ‘Bild’
Brazil won via power, pace, conviction and athleticism. Nothing wrong with those elements. Nor could anyone deny that they deserved to win. But their deficiencies were there to see – just as they had been against Japan and Uruguay.
Scolari had time to re-think, time to watch the development of Miranda and Filipe Luis at Atletico or Coutinho at Liverpool. Time to develop his philosophy. He chose not to.
Instead, he opted for hurricane-speed, knuckle-duster football – very little adoration of the ball or possession and fouling as an integrated tactic.
The BBC’s Brazilian correspondent Tim Vickery reports Scolari’s view that: “Well played, normal football in certain situations obliges a player to commit a foul – a push, some shirt pulling, use of the shoulder, fouls that don’t give the opponents the chance to organise an attack.”
That couldn’t have been more obvious over the last two tournaments. In fact, in Tolkien terms it became ‘his precious’. It devoured him.
Brazil, across the Confeds and the World Cup, have had 20 players booked in 11 games. During their matches against Chile and Columbia there were well over 100 fouls, the bulk committed by Brazil who, in particular, tried to muscle James Rodríguez out of the match.
Don’t mention Zuniga and Neymar. That was outright thuggery. The World Cup lost a star but while the Colombian did wrong it in no way justifies the Brazilian thuggery. The LA Times called it ‘Brazil’s goonish tactics…’
If you don’t see a correlation that against Germany, Brazil committed only 11 fouls and suddenly weren’t competitive, didn’t know what to do, then I do.
While the majority of other nations showed a clear-cut philosophy, based on quick, intelligent, athletic passing movements – the beauty of terrific technique at high speed – Scolari was exposed as a man who didn’t know any other way to utilise a relatively talented squad but to rely on height, power, muscularity and tactical fouling.
His blessing, just as he was utterly blessed with some world-class talents in 2002, was that Neymar is a self-created genius on the ball. Not Scolari’s work – just a footballing gem.
The beauty of what happened in the semi-final was that a long term, aesthetically pleasing, highly developed, intelligent and technical style utterly exposed the bluff and bluster of the Brazilian idea.
What we saw was the product of years of work by Joachim Löw and, initially, Jurgen Klinsmann plus the youth developers of the Bundesliga promoting the best of the Spanish school blended with the best of the German footballing DNA.
Scolari’s blue-collar belligerence was made to look slow, antiquated and dull by German wit, intelligence and speed of reaction.
Scolari’s press officer has been suspended for three games for striking Chile’s Mauricio Pinilla at half-time in the quarter-final and, despite all the favourable refereeing his team received, Scolari has been briefing ‘elite’ (ie sycophantic) Brazilian press about how FIFA’s ‘against’ Brazil and wanted them not to win.
Football thuggishness, managerial lowest common denominator. Grubby, denigratory to Brazil’s mighty history – detrimental to the game in general.
Perhaps this humiliation will nudge Brazil back to what they are capable of – leading the football way instead of dragging it back to a medieval past.
“We aren’t lagging behind tactically,” Scolari claimed post match – saying that Germany had only five chances and scored all five in the first half, that Brazil had been better up until the first goal.
I beg to differ. Football won just as much as Germany did on Tuesday night.
Playground bullies, whenever they get punched back, are usually shown up for what they are. Deutschland Deutschland über Scolari, I say.
Graham. 09.07.14
