footballspectator

Adriano and Fred gave Brazil a 2-0 victory in a tense match in Munich, but once again the fluid flowing football that we all expected from Brazil did not materialise. The seleçao were slow and ponderous - no one wanted to run. In addition, they seemed intimidated by the physical approach of the Australians. So what about Ronaldo, aka “Fatinho”? Well he contributed much more in this game than against Croatia, but his performance was still poor. He started brightly with a neat flick setting up Kaka who volleyed narrowly wide but his lack of speed and fitness was exposed when he swung wildly at a pass from Ronaldinho and embarrassingly missed the ball.

The Australians were well organised, often with 11 men behind the ball in the first half. Indeed they held out until the 49th minute when Fatinho, unnecessarily surrounded by three players decided what we all knew already - he was not going to run - and instead passed to Adriano who finished well from the edge of the box. Cue wild celebrations to commemorate the birth of his son.

Australia now needed to open up and they did. Brazil’s defending was once more not the best and last ditch tackles from Ze Roberto and Juan denied substitute Harry Kewell. Kewell’s best chance came when Dida fumbled a cross but he fired wide of an open goal. Brazil improved following the introduction of Robinho who again carried more threat than Fatinho and it was from his shot, which came off a post that Fred finally made the points safe.

Brazil’s first two matches seem to indicate what we all feared. The players believed they only had to turn up to win and so failed to prepare properly. Their preparations resembled more of a circus than serious training. Of the famed “Quarteto” only Kaka has performed. Based on reputation and talent Brazil are among the favourites, but on form they are nowhere near.

According to the Brazilian press Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira paid a special visit to Ronaldo’s hotel room a couple of days after his statuesque performance against Croatia and tried to “motivate” him by telling him that he had to improve in today’s match against Australia or he would be benched. We find this report surprising for a couple of reasons:

1. Ronaldo was actually in his room after training and not out clubbing; and
2. Does Parreira think that Ronaldo minds sitting on the bench? Sitting down is what he wants to do!

A better tactic would have been to tell him that unless he improves, he will be confined to his room without food after matches. Maybe then we would see the real O Fenomeno make a reappearance.

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.

Holding midfielder Edmilson has been cut from Brazil’s World Cup squad due to a knee injury. Edmilson will be replaced by attacking midfielder Mineiro who scored the winner for Sao Paulo in the Toyota Cup final against Liverpool in Tokyo in December. Mineiro admitted to being frustrated by not being in the original selection but felt disappointed for Edmilson.

Argentinean’s have their revenge for Guarana Antartica’s advert featuring Maradona in a Brazil shirt (see posting on 16 May). Mastercard have released an advert featuring Carlos Tevez, with the catch phrase “Knowing that the best player in Brazilian football is Argentinean - priceless”. We await the Brazilian response with anticipation..

The media frenzy surrounding Theo Walcott’s inclusion in the England squad is understandable. Sven Goran Eriksson admits to never having seen him play and on relying on Arsene Wenger’s recommendation in selecting him.
Brazil’s World Cup squad at USA 1994 also included a 17 year old phenomenon - Ronaldo, although he did not play.

There are two major differences between Ronaldo’s selection then and Walcott’s selection now. First Ronaldo had already experienced top level action, having scored 58 goals in 60 games for Cruzeiro of Belo Horizonte before being selected. Walcott scored 5 goals in 12 starts this season for Championship strugglers Southampton before joining Arsenal for an intial £5 million, where to date he has only played for the reserves. Second, Brazil had a fully fit partnership of Romario and Bebeto leading the line with plenty of goals in back-up forwards Viola, Paulo Sergio and Muller. England’s two first choice forwards Rooney and Owen are either injured or recovering and Peter Crouch is hardly prolific. With such strength in depth, Brazil could afford to bring a young player with bags of potential along for the experience. It’s doubtful whether England can.

If Wenger believes that Walcott is ready to handle arguably the most pressurised competition in football and carry the hopes of a nation on his young shoulders, then why hasn’t he thought him ready to handle the Premiership or the Champions League? If he is ready, may be he should be given a run out in Wednesday’s final against Barcelona?

As for Sven, he has little to lose in selecting Walcott. If the gamble pays off, he will be hailed as a genius. If it does not, he is leaving his job after the World Cup and so will not have to face the stinging criticism of the notoriously fickle English tabloids.