Brazil in the World Cup 2006 - Germany

Interview with Parreira

Issamu — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 14:06:00 +0000

Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira gave an interview after the match (it looks like this is a protocol determined by FIFA, rather than an spontaneous attitude of Parreira).

A few of Parreira's declarations:
"I have no regrettings. Over these past four years, everything went very good. In the World Cup, we played five matches, and won four".
"We dealt well with the favoritism. The players were not mercenaries and didn't show apathy. France played better. They scored a goal after a free kick; otherwise, the match would be 0 x 0.".
"These players are pure talent, they play in several positions; working with them is complicated, it takes a lot of time and a lot of patience".
"It was hard to live with this Big Brother (constant scrutinizing by the jornalists). But I and the players had a professional behavior, we are all very experienced, we were not affected by this".
"We did what was possible. We had little time, few matches".
"I was not prepared for this moment. I never prepare to lose, only to win".
"This is not time to hunt witches. Let's look back at what we did, there is plenty of good things".

Is it unbelievable? A blog put the actual interview online; check out the entry of July 2nd 2006 of this blog.

Brazil team faces hostily

Issamu — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 13:41:00 +0000

The Brazilian team faced some hostility yesterday, when leaving the hotel in Germany; several Brazilians were near the bus, shouting at the players.

Today, a few players arrived in Brazil.
In São Paulo, most of them preferred to leave the aiport through a back door. One of the few who faced the crowd was Cafu (in a quick interview, he said that "experience can win a Cup, as France is showing"), and Brazilians made it very clear how unhappy they were (to Cafu, shouting was "it's time to retire").
In Rio, the most expected was Parreira, but he also preferred to use a back door to escape the crowd and the journalists.

In contrast, in Argentina, the players were warmed welcomed back home.

Brazil lost to France

Issamu — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 01:14:00 +0000

It wasn't a surprise.

A few people were forecasting the defeat before the Cup; read the note of May 24th: Brazil is ready for failure.

Then, in the first two matches, Brazil had to struggle much to beat Croatia and Australia. The team played much better against Japan, when Parreira demoted the stars of old (Cafu, Roberto Carlos, Emerson) and went with the new, motivated, players (Cicinho, Juninho, Robinho); but Parreira said that "experience matters; to play beautiful is to win".
Parreira returned the old team against Gana; the team played very bad, but won by 3 x 0, and Parreira was happy.

Then, came the French. Unlike Croatians, Australians, Japanese and Ghanians, the French didn't flinch. They had won Brazil in 1986 and 1998. They knew that Ronaldo, ex-Phenomenon, is fat, Ronaldinho is constrained from doing the same as in Barcelona, Cafu and Roberto Carlos are aged.

Parreira made two changes. He put Gilberto Silva in place of Emerson, who was recovering from an injury. And he put Juninho instead of Adriano; Juninho, strong, swift, had been claimed by all in Brazil; Adriano had been slow in the other matches, but much because his partner was the even slower Ronaldo.
Parreira said that Brazil played well the first fifteen minutes; what he means is that, starting from the 15th minute of the first half, only France played. Zidane had all freedom he wanted; along with his talent, he commanded the French team to a overwhelming dominance over Brazil.

The first half finished 0 x 0. It was clear that it was a matter of time before France scored. What did Parreira do? Nothing.
At 12' of second half, Henry scored. Brazilian Television showed that, when Zidane prepared to cross the ball into the area, Roberto Carlos was near Henry; when Zidaned kicked and Henry ran towards the ball, Roberto Carlos preferred to stay still outside the area, arranging his socks !!!!

Then, Parreira changed. Fist, he took out Juninho and put Adriano !?!? The team needed speed, and he added slowness.
Fifteen minutes before the end, Parreira did what Brazilians were asking: put Cicinho and Robinho. The team got noticeable better; indeed, only in the final minutes did Brazil manage to shoot against the French goal.
It was too late, though. Actually, Brazilians knew that if the match lasted longer, France would probably score more.

Brazilians miss Felipão

Issamu — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 11:47:00 +0000

Portugal won Holland, in the penalties shoot outs. The match had eight yellow cards and two yellow cards, the highest number ever in the History of World Cups.

The Portuguese team doesn't have many stars. Figo is still the best, but a little older; Cristiano Ronaldo is the best promise; Brazilian Deco is efficient in the midfield.
There seems to be a big difference from the current Portugal team to the others in recent past: the strenght of will. The players give more, dispute each play, run till the end.

Certainly, much of this is due to the coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, known as Felipão (Big Phil). Felipão was the Brazilian coach in the 2002 Cup. Felipão had seven winnings in a row in 2002, and had four more so far in 2006, setting a new record.

Felipão is doing with Portugal the same that he did in Brazil. Felipão hardly had chances to have an excellent set of players to work with; he was Brazilian champion with Grêmio, Palmeiras and Cruzeiro, always with but a few above average players, but always imposing his philosophy: get the most motivated players, have them to play seriously, give all they can, fight till the end.

To compare: this is NOT the philosophy of Parreira and Zagalo, and has never been. NOt that they encourage players to not fight, but they think that individual talent of players, associated with their ingenuous tactics, are enough to win.
Cafu and Roberto Carlos are known to be old and unmotivated, but, as they were useful in the past, they think they have a secure place in the team. Ronaldo is overweighted and slow, but, as he wants to score more goals to surpass Pelé, there he goes with the team.

It won't surprise me if Portugal and Felipão go farther into the Cup than Brazil and Parreira.

Brazil beats Ghana

Issamu — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 23:21:00 +0000

Brazil won Ghana today by 3 x 0.

Still, the team did not convince many Brazilians that they are capable of winning the Cup.
Parreira started the match with the same eleven players that started playing against Croatia and Australia: Dida, Cafu, Lucio, Juan, Roberto Carlos, Emerson, Kaká, Ze Roberto, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Adriano.
It looks like Parreira, differently from the vast majority of Brazilians, didn't like the team which started against Japan, which included younger (and more motivated) Cicinho, Gilberto, Gilberto Silva, Juninho and Robinho.

The team was fortunate to score a goal early, at 5', in a quick counter attack with Ronaldo.
Then, during 40 minutes, Ghana dominated the game. They easily controlled the actions, and lost many chances to score. At 45', Adriano scored again.
In the second half, Brazil kept playing Very Slowly. TV Globo replayed the third goal a few times, showing that it took more than 20 passes and longer than one minute for the ball to reach Zé Roberto, who scored; Globo says that this is an evidence of how well the team coordinates passes, but I say this shows how incompetent the team is to reach the adversary's goal quickly.

At the end of the game, Parreira, not surprisingly, was satisfied: "to play beautiful is to win, and we won". Part of the media agrees with him.

Ronaldo was very happy, because now, with 15 goals, he is the player with most goals in a World Cup; he surpasses Gerd Muller, who had 14.
Also, Cafu was very happy, because now he is the Brazilian player with most participations in World Cups.

Brazil will play next against France.
Brazil loose to France in 1986 and in 2002.

The most watched woman in Brazil

Issamu — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 23:17:00 +0000

The name of this woman is Fatima Bernardes.
She is anchor-woman of Jornal Nacional, the most watched News Program of Brazilian TV, which airs around 8 pm in TV Globo; her husband, William Boner, is the anchor of the same News program.

Besides being very intelligent and talented, Fatima is nice and has a huge empathy. In 2002, Fatima was invited to be a "guest commentator" of the World Cup, and it so ended up that she was the one who most pleased TV Globo audience; despite not being an specialist, she had the ability to express what Brazilian fans were feeling.

This time, Fatima was sent to Germany from the beginning, to follow the Brazilian team. She appears every night in prime time, speaking about the most important events of the day in Germany.

She is, for sure, the most watched Brazilian woman during the World Cup.

Brazil beats Japan

Issamu — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 15:18:00 +0000

Brazil won Japan yesterday by 4 x 1.
The Japanese team scored first. Ronaldo scored his first goal in the Cup at the last minute of first half; Juninho, Gilberto and Ronaldo again scored in the second half.

The Brazilian team changed five players from the first two matches. Cafu out, Cicinho in; Roberto Carlos out, Gilberto in; Emerson out, Gilberto Silva in; Zé Roberto out, Juninho in; Adriano out, Robinho in.

It is a general consensus that the team played much better.
Cafu, Roberto Carlos and Emerson are the oldest players in the team.
For some time now, Cicinho (who now plays in Real Madrid) has been outperforming Cafu.
Gilberto was still a little unknown, but he performed better than Roberto Carlos (Roberto Carlos has the most powerful shots of Brazil, but it is been long since his last goal; Gilberto entered and scored).
Emerson is known for his physical force.
Zé Roberto had been doing OK, but the problem here is that Juninho has been one of the best players in training, and was also one of the best in the match against Japan. If there is one unanimity about who should enter the team, that's Juninho (just to remember: before Juninho arrived in Lyon, five years ago, the Olympique had never been French champion; since his arrival, Olympique has been the champion for five years in a row now).

Robinho had entered the first two matches, and improved the team performance. It is becoming a growing consensus that Ronaldo and Adriano don't play well together, as they have similar roles.
Thanks to his fundamental participations in past Cups, Brazilian still give much credit to Ronaldo, despite his recent bad performances.

End of mistery: Ronaldo IS overweighted

Issamu — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 15:01:00 +0000

The weight of Ronaldo has been causing some disputes, which included even the Brazilian President of the Republic. Everyone says (and sees) that Ronaldo is overweighted, he gets upset, he denies it, he says he will respond in the field, blah, blah,...

The one who could confirm or deny the overweight of Ronaldo is the doctor of the Brazilian team.
Every player has a medical/physical profile, which includes, of course, weight. All players were submitted to medical exams in Switzerland, before the team started the preparation.

The problem is that the doctors had never unveiled the weights of the players.

Yesterday, doctor Runco confirmed: Ronaldo arrived in Switzerland with a weight of 95 kg; his ideal weight is 90 kg.
So, indeed, Ronaldo is overweighted, and he was overweighted while playing the two first matches of the Brazilian team.

The good news: after the intensive physical programme, Ronaldo now is weighting 90.5 kg; so, he is only 0.5 kg above his ideal weight.

"..., then, you charge the President of drinking too much"

Brazil beats Australia

Issamu — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 15:24:00 +0000

Brazil won Australia yesterday by 2 x 0.
Again, nobody in Brazil was enthusiastic over the victory. Most say that Ronaldo played a bit better than the first match, but the team is still very far from being convincing.

Again, Robinho entered in the second half, replacing Ronaldo, and the team started to play much better. A consensus is forming in Brazil that Ronaldo and Adriano occupy the same areas of the field, and when one leaves, the other has more room to perform.
More and more the influential media talks about Robinho replacing Ronaldo, or even Juninho replacing Ronaldo.

A good suprise was Fred. He entered the game five minutes before the end (replacing Adriano) and scored the second goal; in an interview, he said he feels blessed by God. Fred scored a goal in the first match after transferring to Cruzeiro, then scored in the first match with Olympique, and now scored a goal in the fist match in a World Cup.

Brazil beats New Zealand

Issamu — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 05:35:00 +0000

No surprises.
Brazil won New Zealand by 4 x 0, in the last friendly match before the Cup begins.
Read what BBC wrote about the match.

The team which started the match should be also the team to start playing against Croatia: Dida, Cafu, Lucio, Juan, Roberto Carlos, Emerson, Ze Roberto, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Adriano.

Ronaldo's feet with blisters. Nike's image is hurt.

Issamu — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 17:26:00 +0000

In the match against New Zealand, Ronaldo left the field before the end of the game because of blisters on his left feet.

The doctors already said that the blisters do not worry. Ronaldo also said he is not worried. With current medicine, blisters are easily healed.

The most preoccupied party with the blisters is Nike. It is known that the blisters are caused by the new Ronaldo's shoes. And it is not a good marketing for Nike to read that their ultra-hiper-modern football shoes are causing blisters to one of the most watched players in the world.

In the 2002 World Cup, in the final match against Germany, the world watched Edmilson, who had his jersey torn by a German, take almost five minutes to put on a new jersey. That happened because Nike had invented a revolutionary two-layer shirt, which supposedly would absorb better the sweat; the problem is that putting such a shirt on takes a special technique.
After that Cup, Nike abandoned that idea, and now the Brazilian team wears a single-layer uniform.

Brazil arrives in Germany

Issamu — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 17:15:00 +0000

Brazil arrived in Germany.

Until the match with Japan, on June 22n, the Brazilian team will be based in the Kempinski Hotel, in the city of Koenigstein (German for Royal Stone), near Frankfurt. After the June 22nd, the team will move, depending on where they are going to play next.

Differently from the staying in Weggis, when the trainings were all opened, and there was a frequent contact between the team and the population, the staying in Koenistein should be more reserved.
Access to the trainings will be restricted. By determination of FIFA, at least one training shall be opened to the public.

Update June 10th. Brazilian television showed a report about a secondary school in Koenigstein, which happens to be the only place with a view of the field where the Brazilian team is training; a few teachers and students are the only ones to watch the trainings.

The Repercussion

Issamu — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 16:49:00 +0000

Brazilians were unanimous: the team was not up to expectations.
In interviews, coach Parreira and other players said that, after the first match, the team should improve.
Two players, Kaká and Adriano, hinted that the team was better with Robinho in place of Ronaldo.

An online survey by O Globo showed that more than 60% of Brazilian fans want Robinho instead of Ronaldo. On Wednesday, after the match against Croatia, Ronaldo felt dizziness and was taken to a hospital; the doctors suspected of sinusite and gastritis, but exams showed nothing.

The pressure is on Parreira, to substitute Ronaldo.
In the 1994 World Cup, Parreira faced a similar problem.
He had a preference for Raí, the player who led São Paulo FC into becoming the World Champion in 1992 and 1993. Raí had bad performances in the first three matches, against Russia, Cameron and Sweden; everyone asked Parreira to substitute him, but he insisted. In the first match of second stage, against USA, Raí was replaced by Mazinho, who played until the end of that Cup.

Ronaldo has more credentials than Raí had. Ronaldo scored 12 goals in World Cups, and he needs only 3 more to set a new record.
However, today Brazil has more options to replace Ronaldo (than we had to replace Raí). Parreira can simply took Ronaldo out and put Robinho in; then, Adriano would be the center-forward, and Robinho would be closer to Ronaldinho and Kaká. Or, as many are asking, Parreira could play with Juninho Pernambucano, who has been one of the best performers in the trainings; in such case, Ronaldo is out, Zé Roberto would be advanced a bit, and Juninho would do what Zé Roberto is doing today.

But it looks that, against Australia, Parreira will continue giving support to Ronaldo.

Brazil beats Croatia

Issamu — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 22:27:00 +0000

Brazil was confident, but everyone knew Croatia would be a tough match. The match was tight mostly because Croatia has a goog team. Back in 2002, Brazil had also a difficult first match against Turkey, and the Turkish finished the Cup in 3rd place.

Ronaldo played very bad. Brazilian commentators are over respectful to Ronaldo, remembering that he had recent problems with blisters on his feet, and still is not fully recovered. Coach Parreira already said that Ronaldo will start playing the next match, against Australia on Sunday.
But the thruth is that the team was much better with Robinho. Adriano and Ronaldo occupy the same zones, and when one of them doesn't move around fast, the other also lacks room. By removing Ronaldo, Adriano gets deeper inside the goal area, and Robinho occupies the zone between the goal area and the midfield.
Online surveys indicate that Brazilian fans want Robinho instead of Ronaldo.

The team was saved by Kaká, who starts to confirm the forecasts that he will be the best Brazilian player in the World Cup.

I think that the result was excellent, the best possible for Brazil.
Had the team won by 3x0 or 4x0, few would see how slow the entire team is, when just one player doesn't move.
The victory by 1x0 gave Brazil the three points, and, yet, showed that the way ahead will be very tough.

Japan x Australia

Issamu — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 22:05:00 +0000

This was the first match in the group of Brazil.
To me, the worst match so far in the Cup.
The Brazilian media considered Japan to be the favorite for this match. Players like Nakata and Nakamura are somewhat famous, Japan had a good performance in the last Cup, Japan is coached by Zico, Japan had some good results recently (such as the tie with Germany, two weeks ago).
Australia, on the other hand, had participated of only one World Cup (1974), and had not even scored a goal.

Both teams showed an absolute lack of individual skills.
Brazilians are even more confident now.