The 50s, 60s and 70s were periods of enchantment with football because of the great stars, the great teams and the playful and offensive way of playing. Pelé’s Santos, Garrincha’s Botafogo, Di Stéfano’s Real Madrid, Eusébio’s Benfica and the Dutch teams of 1974 and Brazil of 58, 62 and 70 fascinated the football world.
After the defeat of the exceptional Brazilian team in the 82 World Cup, full of stars, and the progressive evolution of sports science, there was a huge appreciation of game strategy, tactical discipline and pragmatism.
During the 80s and 90s, football became more defensive, ugly and boring, even with many stars. The great Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, at that time, wrote that “football is a sad journey from pleasure to duty”.
During the 2002 World Cup, won by Brazil, I spoke to German journalists at the World Cup press center and they said that the German team was the worst in the country’s history. Even so, she was runner-up. Brazil, despite repeating the flawed strategy, had three great stars (Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo).
After the 2002 World Cup, there was a consensus, especially in Europe, that football needed to evolve, be more pleasurable and enchanting, as only then would it win over the public. Years later, Barcelona, led by Guardiola, with many stars, such as Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets and Ronaldinho, followed by Messi, revolutionized football with a game with a lot of passing, beautiful and efficient.
Guardiola was inspired by the Dutchman Cruyff, who had been coach and player at Barcelona and who, in turn, had drunk from the source of Rinus Michels, coach of the unforgettable Dutch team of 1974. Spain, following Barcelona’s model, enchanted everyone and became world champion in 2010 and European champion in 2008 and 2012. From then on, most Europeans began to adopt the Spanish style, preserving the particularities of each country.
In recent years, more and more, we have seen intense, compact football around the world, with a lot of pressure on recovering the ball and alternating short exchanges of passes to control the ball with quick transitions from defense to attack. Brazilian football has stagnated, without keeping up with developments, one of the reasons for the loss of the last five world titles, from 2006 to 2022. This has been slowly changing.
There are also other serious problems. And I congratulate Cruzeiro’s coach, Leonardo Jardim, for his harsh criticism of the terrible pitches, the referees and the calendar, which should change next year. Abel Ferreira has been saying the same thing for years. The technical poor training of the referees reached unbearable levels, aggravated by the bellicose and irresponsible behavior of the players during matches. Most coaches don’t seem to guide athletes.
I fear that in the future history will tell us that, in the past, there was a football country that had a king, Pelé, many stars and that played beautiful and fascinating football. The world stopped to watch Brazil play.
However, due to incompetence, disorganization and many other factors, football in the country became worse or equal to that of others. The future is not destiny. The future has to be built.
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