Brazil stutter to victory against Croatia as “Fatinho” debate continues
Kaká scored a brilliant goal in the 44th minute and was Brazil’s best player as they struggled to beat Croatia. The Selecao were slow and lethargic with rumours of late night partying gaining considerable weight following on the basis of this performance. Ronaldo was the main culprit. He looked fat and was too lazy to run. He expected all passes to be played precisely to his feet otherwise he was not interested. When he was eventually substituted he seemed very eager to get off the pitch, probably in a hurry to get to a basket of hotdogs which awaited him on the bench…His replacement Robinho did more in his first five minutes than Ronaldo did in the whole match.
In defence, Brazil were incredibly suspect and must be thankful that the Croatians either chose the wrong option or shot straight at Dida otherwise they could well have been defeated.
So are they the best team in the tournament? Well, before Germany 2006 began, my belief was that the tournament was their’s to lose and that complacency was their biggest worry. Today’s performance showed just how complacent their preparations had been. Friendlies against New Zealand, Fluminese’s 2nd team and Lucerne did not provide the Brazilians with a stiff enough challenge. They’ll need to pull their socks up quickly (and drop Ronaldo) because Italy or the Czech Republic will not be as generous as Croatia in the knock-out stages.
