The team lacks someone who, in bad times, puts the ball under their arm, talks and calms the team down.
Didi did this when, in the 1958 World Cup final, after conceding 1-0 to the Swedish hosts, he caught the ball in the back of the net and, as he took it to find another outlet, he warned the group on the way that he hadn’t gone there to lose.
Obviously, we don’t have anyone like him in midfield, nor as a leader who puts the house in order.
Anyone who saw the Brazilian team become world champions at the age of 8 is unhappy.
Even more so, she saw herself become a two-time champion at 12, three-times at 20, four-times at 44 and five-times at 52.
In Tokyo, the game against South Korea in Seoul was repeated as a farce.
A reasonable first half, not comparable to the great one against the South Koreans, and a disastrous second half against the Japanese, who did not let their guard down, on the contrary, even though they lost 2-0.
They went for their first victory against the Brazilians in 14 games — and took advantage of the regrettable performance of Cruzeiro defender Fabrício Bruno and less, but not so much, of Corinthians goalkeeper Hugo Sousa.
Fabrício delivered the first goal as a gift and cut against the Brazilian net in the second.
Hugo accepted the third ball over him and almost scored the fourth himself. It’s incredible that Cláudio Taffarel, the national team’s former goalkeeper and goalkeeper coach, doesn’t realize that the Corinthians player isn’t ready for such responsibility, unless he’s called up just to take penalties.
Fabrício Bruno can still be forgiven and perhaps even should, so as not to implant the terror typical of environments in which it is forbidden to make mistakes. Hugo needs to mature.
One must take into account the fact that only three starters in Seoul started the game in Tokyo, in addition to Luiz Henrique’s disappointing performance. That’s what tests are for.
What becomes increasingly clear, and perhaps not even Carlo Ancelotti can resolve, is the time wasted by the CBF since the end of the World Cup in Qatar.
Of the few who were saved in the Japanese tsunami, alongside Paulo Henrique, Vasco’s right-back, and Bruno Guimarães, Newcastle’s midfielder, Casemiro once again appeared to say the obvious, as he has done so many times: blackouts are expensive, whether in friendlies or in the America’s or World Cups.
There is a clear observation, recurring over the last two decades, that when a wave of optimism emerges, a storm soon follows to drown the fans in their sorrows.
Is it serious to lose your unbeaten record to Japan?
It is and it isn’t.
Yes, because the team’s past is increasingly in the past. It’s not, because even for Honduras the team lost in a Copa América and won the World Cup afterwards, exactly in Japan.
On the other hand, denying that defeat serves to encourage disrespect for hopscotch is playing the ostrich.
After all, in the not too distant past, being Japanese in football was a joke.
If it is obvious that everyone evolved on Planeta Bola, it is beyond unpleasant to project a future in which someone says we are Brazilians in the game.
Being upset with a two-goal lead hadn’t happened in 85 years, as Luís Curro researched.
Respect is good and we like it, but we need to give ourselves respect.
With the CBF above all?
Tsk, tsk, tsk…
LINK PRESENT: Did you like this text? Subscribers can access seven free accesses from any link per day. Just click the blue F below.
