Showing posts with label Brazilian football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brazilian football. Show all posts
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Tears in Brazilian Football
In the spirit of the holidays, and the deep feelings and reflective moments specific to the season, "Bringing Back the Beautiful Game" will feature at least two articles on tears in Brazilian football by Christmas. Whether they be tears of joy, or tears of sadness, we will examine at least a couple of occasions on which the Selecao and its teammates have been moved to tears in various moments. Part of our mission in this blog is to reflect on the passions within the game and football's ability to transport fans, players and coaches to moving emotional states that are linked to powerful and beautiful actions. In an August 31, 2010 article, I wrote about Pele seeing his father cry for the first time after Brazil's shock defeat to Uruguay on July 16, 1950 in the World Cup final. The upcoming articles will shift their focus to tears specific to players or coaches. Suggestions for articles on the topic of tears are wholly welcome, so do send them our way. Thanks so much.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Neymar's Choice to Stay at Santos Inspires Hope for the Beautiful Game
Santos forward Neymar’s decision to snub Chelsea in favor of staying at his Brazilian club Santos signals that something new is afoot in world football. European clubs have traditionally had their choice of South American football players because of higher salaries and increased international publicity. But in this case, Santos successfully contested Chelsea's bid by raising Neymar’s compensation through a combination of increased salary and merchandising deals estimated at $1.2 million, annually. Neymar’s decision was considered a victory for Brazilian soccer because it allows him to develop his technical skills in a familiar environment that rewards player creativity, freedom and guile. The decision is also likely to encourage other Brazilian players to ply their craft in Brazil instead of venturing to Europe before their abilities have been more completely realized. Pele, Mario Zagallo and Brazil coach Mano Menezes all advised Neymar to stay at Santos, almost uniformly claiming that Neymar does not have the muscular physique required to flourish in Europe at the tender age of 18, amongst other reasons. Staying at Santos also allows Neymar to continue playing alongside the attacking midfielder Paulo Henrique Ganso in what many feel could become a partnership that will be replicated and feared in international football.
Speaking of the week's dramatic negotiations between Chelsea and Santos, Santos president Luis Alvaro remarked: "We've built a different possibility. We no longer accept the idea that we're an underdeveloped nation always at the mercy of the powerful European clubs." Neymar’s choice is likely to allow him to develop his dribbling and creative style of play as well as provide Brazil coach Mano Menezes with a powerful Santos platform to feed directly into the Selecao. More importantly, the Neymar-Chelsea-Santos drama reveals the power of South American football to resist the pressures of European capital to appropriate promising technical ability into drab but effective goal scoring machines. In recent years, European clubs have stifled the creative development of many promising South American players such as Robinho, Adriano and Juan Roman Riquelme, so Neymar's independent decision to remain in Brazil marks a small but important victory for attacking, creative and spectacular football.
Speaking of the week's dramatic negotiations between Chelsea and Santos, Santos president Luis Alvaro remarked: "We've built a different possibility. We no longer accept the idea that we're an underdeveloped nation always at the mercy of the powerful European clubs." Neymar’s choice is likely to allow him to develop his dribbling and creative style of play as well as provide Brazil coach Mano Menezes with a powerful Santos platform to feed directly into the Selecao. More importantly, the Neymar-Chelsea-Santos drama reveals the power of South American football to resist the pressures of European capital to appropriate promising technical ability into drab but effective goal scoring machines. In recent years, European clubs have stifled the creative development of many promising South American players such as Robinho, Adriano and Juan Roman Riquelme, so Neymar's independent decision to remain in Brazil marks a small but important victory for attacking, creative and spectacular football.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Goodbye Kaka?
The obvious question raised by Brazil's stunning performance against the USA on August 10 concerns the place of Kaka in the national team. Kaka plays the attacking, creative midfielder role recently taken up by the 20 year old, Paulo Henrique Ganso. Ganso has a long way to go to earn a permanent place in the 10 number shirt at the center of the Brazilian midfield, but on the other hand, Kaka has never really found his footing in Brazil's gold and blue. For Brazil, his principal claim to fame was orchestrating their comeback against the USA from a 2-0 deficit in South Africa 2009 at the Confederations Cup and earning the Golden Ball Award for the tournament's best player. And then there's the extraordinary statistic that, with the exception of the July 2, 2010 match against the Netherlands, Brazil have never lost when he and Robinho have played together for the national team.
To be fair, Kaka has displayed occasional moments of brilliance for Brazil. In 2005, he scored one of his trademark, curling strikes on goal from outside the box in Brazil's 4-1 Confederations Cup final match victory against Argentina. A year later, once again against Argentina, Kaka picked up the ball in his own half, and outran Lionel Messi for the rest of the pitch to score Brazil's third goal. But at the World Cup, Kaka has not failed to disappoint fans either in 2006 or 2010. For sure, he scored against a left footed rocket into the top corner of the net against Croatia in their opening game. And he set up Ronaldo for his 15th World Cup goal against Ghana with a magnificent through ball that allowed the Brazilian striker to break the offside trap, side-step the keeper and tuck the ball into the back of the net. But in both the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, Kaka failed to take control of the Brazilian midfield in the vein of Alessandro Rivaldo's work in 1998 and 2002 or, Socrates in 1982 and 1986.
Kaka's 2010 World Cup performance may have much to do with groin and knee injuries sustained most fully in the 2009-2010 season at Real Madrid. Dr. Marc Martens, the physician who performed his August 5 arthroscropic knee surgery, claimed Kaka could have jeopardized his career by playing in the 2010 World Cup, Kaka has denied his doctor's claims, stating that he exaggerated the gravity of his injuries. Regardless, Kaka has pledged to regain his form as the best player in the world. In an interview with the Spanish newspaper Marca, he commented: "I will be the best in the world again. Today it's difficult to say this, but I think I'm going to be successful with Real Madrid," he said. "I had the operation to be No. 1 again."
One thing we know, for sure, about Kaka is that he is fighter. In 2000, at the age of 18, he suffered a spinal injury as a result of faulty jump off a diving board into a swimming pool. Faced with the possibility of paralysis in both his legs, he made a miraculous recovery within a year and established himself as a young sensation for Sao Paolo in the ensuing two years before moving to Milan and ultimately winning the Balloon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year Awards in 2007.
Can Kaka regain his place at the heart of the Brazilian midfield? Does Mano envision a future for him alongside Ganso, with perhaps only one defensive midfielder instead of two? Will Ganso demonstrate the ability to compete at the international level? Only time will tell. For now, though, all football fans should pray for Kaka's recovery and take heart from the related story of Ronaldo's inspirational return from career threatening knee injuries, only to subsequently lead the Brazilian football team to victory at the 2002 World Cup by scoring 8 goals.
To be fair, Kaka has displayed occasional moments of brilliance for Brazil. In 2005, he scored one of his trademark, curling strikes on goal from outside the box in Brazil's 4-1 Confederations Cup final match victory against Argentina. A year later, once again against Argentina, Kaka picked up the ball in his own half, and outran Lionel Messi for the rest of the pitch to score Brazil's third goal. But at the World Cup, Kaka has not failed to disappoint fans either in 2006 or 2010. For sure, he scored against a left footed rocket into the top corner of the net against Croatia in their opening game. And he set up Ronaldo for his 15th World Cup goal against Ghana with a magnificent through ball that allowed the Brazilian striker to break the offside trap, side-step the keeper and tuck the ball into the back of the net. But in both the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, Kaka failed to take control of the Brazilian midfield in the vein of Alessandro Rivaldo's work in 1998 and 2002 or, Socrates in 1982 and 1986.
Kaka's 2010 World Cup performance may have much to do with groin and knee injuries sustained most fully in the 2009-2010 season at Real Madrid. Dr. Marc Martens, the physician who performed his August 5 arthroscropic knee surgery, claimed Kaka could have jeopardized his career by playing in the 2010 World Cup, Kaka has denied his doctor's claims, stating that he exaggerated the gravity of his injuries. Regardless, Kaka has pledged to regain his form as the best player in the world. In an interview with the Spanish newspaper Marca, he commented: "I will be the best in the world again. Today it's difficult to say this, but I think I'm going to be successful with Real Madrid," he said. "I had the operation to be No. 1 again."
One thing we know, for sure, about Kaka is that he is fighter. In 2000, at the age of 18, he suffered a spinal injury as a result of faulty jump off a diving board into a swimming pool. Faced with the possibility of paralysis in both his legs, he made a miraculous recovery within a year and established himself as a young sensation for Sao Paolo in the ensuing two years before moving to Milan and ultimately winning the Balloon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year Awards in 2007.
Can Kaka regain his place at the heart of the Brazilian midfield? Does Mano envision a future for him alongside Ganso, with perhaps only one defensive midfielder instead of two? Will Ganso demonstrate the ability to compete at the international level? Only time will tell. For now, though, all football fans should pray for Kaka's recovery and take heart from the related story of Ronaldo's inspirational return from career threatening knee injuries, only to subsequently lead the Brazilian football team to victory at the 2002 World Cup by scoring 8 goals.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Mano's Dilemma About the Brazil Number 10 Jersey
One of the intriguing questions raised by Mano Menezes's (Mano) roster for the upcoming Brazil v. USA friendly is the question of who will wear the famed number 10 jersey given Kaka's absence from the squad. In the last 20 years, the Brazilian number 10 jersey has traditionally been worn by a creative midfielder or playmaker who can also score goals. Alessandro Rivaldo wore the number 10 jersey at both the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, Ronaldinho did so in 2006 and Kaka wore the Brazilian number 10 shirt in South Africa 2010. Rai, another creative midfielder and younger brother of the legendary player Socrates, wore the number 10 shirt at the 1990 World Cup in the era before it had been designated for a pure striker such as Zico in 1982 and 1986. But the bottom line is, anytime you give the number 10 shirt to a Brazilian player, watch out.
Mano's squad leaves plenty of room for speculation, however, given that his midfield selection contains no players from Dunga's World Cup team with the exception of the 23 year old Ramires. Ramires has hardly earned the right to wear the number 10 shirt but the same could be said about any of the other midfielders, especially since the young sensation Paulo Henrique Ganso has yet to earn his first international cap.
One obvious choice would be to give the number 10 shirt to Robinho, and leave the number 9 shirt--traditionally reserved for a pure striker--to Alexander Pato. Part of this decision will depend on how Mano plans to play Robinho given that it's not yet clear whether Robinho will play the role of the lone striker or an attacking midfielder behind Pato, Andre or Neymar. Another option, for Mano, would be to return the number 10 shirt to a pure striker as a signal that the torch from Dunga has indeed been passed, and that Brazilian football under his direction has anchored its vision in the attacking, creative spirit of the Zico era of the early to mid 1980s.
Mano's squad leaves plenty of room for speculation, however, given that his midfield selection contains no players from Dunga's World Cup team with the exception of the 23 year old Ramires. Ramires has hardly earned the right to wear the number 10 shirt but the same could be said about any of the other midfielders, especially since the young sensation Paulo Henrique Ganso has yet to earn his first international cap.
One obvious choice would be to give the number 10 shirt to Robinho, and leave the number 9 shirt--traditionally reserved for a pure striker--to Alexander Pato. Part of this decision will depend on how Mano plans to play Robinho given that it's not yet clear whether Robinho will play the role of the lone striker or an attacking midfielder behind Pato, Andre or Neymar. Another option, for Mano, would be to return the number 10 shirt to a pure striker as a signal that the torch from Dunga has indeed been passed, and that Brazilian football under his direction has anchored its vision in the attacking, creative spirit of the Zico era of the early to mid 1980s.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Carlos Dunga's letter of resignation to Ricardo Teixeira: July 5, 2010
Carlos Dunga wrote an extraordinary resignation letter to Ricardo Teixeira, President of the Confederation of Brazilian Football (CBF), on July 5, just three days after Brazil's elimination from the South Africa 2010 World Cup by the Netherlands in a 2-1 quarterfinal defeat. Before the World Cup, Dunga had said that he would resign from his coaching duties for the national team whether Brazil won the World Cup or otherwise. In various moments, he complained that the media pressure was intense, vicious and unrelenting. But his letter to Ricardo Teixeira reveals a change of heart as he recounts an impressive list of accomplishments and then notes: "I can only abide by your decision, because, like it or not, it is not my place to question it." Dunga's resignation letter indirectly refers to completing the mission that he began and concurrently reveals his love of the players and their fight, determination and commitment to the Brazilian national football team.
The full text of the translated letter, as published by Globoesporte, is below:
July 5, 2010
Dear Mr. President,
Respectfully, I come to you, first, to renew my thanks for your trust and autonomy, which, without doubt, allowed me, for the four years of services to the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), to develop, alongside the other members of the technical committee, my attributions and inherent functions of the job of coach of the Brazilian national team.
Sadly, the title of the 2010 World Cup was not conquered, but you can be assured by me, my loyal assistant Jorginho, all the other competent and dedicated professionals without exception, and mainly, the untiring and valuable 90 players that have served the national team during the preparation period, especially the 23 that have participated in the campaign in South Africa, that there was no lack of drive, donation, work, dedication and commitment in search of the title, in symphony with the goals previously set by you.
Evidently, since the beginning, by occasion of my signing, it was not, and it could not be assured the sixth world title. First, because of the challenge. Second, because of the complexity of the mission. The title, if possible, was the final objective to be reached by me and the members of the technical committee. With dignity, courage, patriotism, respect, passion, transparency and, mainly, obedience to your determinations, everyone, without exception, worked for that goal. In this sense, without doubt, the mistakes of the past were corrected.
We have renewed the squad of the Brazilian national team, restored our respect and fundamentally, restored the respect for the Brazilian national team and by extension, to the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). The recent polls with the public opinion, the results obtained by the sponsors and, notably, the titles in the pitch, without doubt, confirm this affirmation. In this period, under my command, the Brazilian national team broke many taboos, some of them, if you allow me to remember, lasted for long years, and were overcome in the first phase of the World Cup, and the South American qualifiers.
Now, as it was always the behaviour adopted by me, I can only abide by your decision, because right or not, it is not my place to question it, in the measure that this is the practice adopted in football for a long time, considering that life goes on, the commitments are many and the interests varied and complex. In this sense, offering you the needed tranquility, I hope and trust that I am contributing for you to start your new strategies, with the goal of preparing the Brazilian national team to compete and, if possible, to win the World Cup 2014, which will be held in our country.
Limited to the above, I renew my vows of esteem, respect and consideration, taking the chance to, once more, thank you for the trust and support in me and wishing full success in the command of our Brazilian national team.
Sincerely,
Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri- Dunga
The full text of the translated letter, as published by Globoesporte, is below:
July 5, 2010
Dear Mr. President,
Respectfully, I come to you, first, to renew my thanks for your trust and autonomy, which, without doubt, allowed me, for the four years of services to the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), to develop, alongside the other members of the technical committee, my attributions and inherent functions of the job of coach of the Brazilian national team.
Sadly, the title of the 2010 World Cup was not conquered, but you can be assured by me, my loyal assistant Jorginho, all the other competent and dedicated professionals without exception, and mainly, the untiring and valuable 90 players that have served the national team during the preparation period, especially the 23 that have participated in the campaign in South Africa, that there was no lack of drive, donation, work, dedication and commitment in search of the title, in symphony with the goals previously set by you.
Evidently, since the beginning, by occasion of my signing, it was not, and it could not be assured the sixth world title. First, because of the challenge. Second, because of the complexity of the mission. The title, if possible, was the final objective to be reached by me and the members of the technical committee. With dignity, courage, patriotism, respect, passion, transparency and, mainly, obedience to your determinations, everyone, without exception, worked for that goal. In this sense, without doubt, the mistakes of the past were corrected.
We have renewed the squad of the Brazilian national team, restored our respect and fundamentally, restored the respect for the Brazilian national team and by extension, to the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). The recent polls with the public opinion, the results obtained by the sponsors and, notably, the titles in the pitch, without doubt, confirm this affirmation. In this period, under my command, the Brazilian national team broke many taboos, some of them, if you allow me to remember, lasted for long years, and were overcome in the first phase of the World Cup, and the South American qualifiers.
Now, as it was always the behaviour adopted by me, I can only abide by your decision, because right or not, it is not my place to question it, in the measure that this is the practice adopted in football for a long time, considering that life goes on, the commitments are many and the interests varied and complex. In this sense, offering you the needed tranquility, I hope and trust that I am contributing for you to start your new strategies, with the goal of preparing the Brazilian national team to compete and, if possible, to win the World Cup 2014, which will be held in our country.
Limited to the above, I renew my vows of esteem, respect and consideration, taking the chance to, once more, thank you for the trust and support in me and wishing full success in the command of our Brazilian national team.
Sincerely,
Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri- Dunga
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