THERE was a mantle of greatness thrust on this Brazil team long before they set out to Germany in search of what they call the “Hexa”, their sixth world title.
However, the fallout from their second disappointing performance, a 2-0 victory over Australia on Sunday, shows that they are struggling to make this mantle fit.
Carlos Alberto Parreira, the coach, said after the match that his side have to “aspire” to the kind of teamwork with which Argentina created their wonder goal against Serbia and Montenegro. However, mention of Argentina serves only to rile the very men he wants to emulate them.
“Everyone is speaking a lot about Argentina,” an acid Roberto Carlos responded after the game. “Brazil is Brazil and we will play our football all the way to the final. I don’t want to win 6-0. Brazil never did that. Brazil wins competitions, not 6-0 games.”
“We have to set individuality aside and play collectively,” was the more precise demand of Parreira. “That hasn’t happened yet.” Indeed it has not, and criticism from back in Brazil suggests that he is very much the reason why.
Advertisement
Parreira remains a paradox here, an essentially conservative man flirting with a liberal brand of football, but too inflexible to make the alterations to help the football to flow. There is a plethora of alternatives sitting on his star-studded bench and his extraordinary hesitancy in turning to them explains why the newspaper, Lance, had a cartoon of him yesterday as a snail with the words “Way to the Hexa” written on his shell.
Most critics still want Ronaldo’s head on a plate, even though he showed improvement from his previous outing. Roberto Carlos sought instead to blame the Australian opposition. “It is difficult when we want to play football but the opponents do not,” he said, neatly disregarding the fact that they have laid down a blueprint for any future opposition.
“When they gather everybody at the back, the game ends up being ugly, that’s why it looks like Brazil aren’t in good shape.”
But it worked — almost — for the Socceroos. “I don’t feel that any of them really hurt us or got the better of us on the day,” was how Lucas Neill, the Australia and Blackburn Rovers defender, saw it. “You could possibly say we dented a reputation or two.”
As for Ronaldo, he has broken his duck — not in scoring but in talking to the media. After the Croatia game, he was ticked off for swerving the press. Then last Friday, he told a press officer to listen for the sound of cameras as he walked past them, simulated vomiting as the cameras whirred into life and then walked off laughing.
Advertisement
After Sunday’s match, he made a point by running the gauntlet past the press not once but twice. “Patience,” he said calmly, “the goal will come in the next match.” But when a Spanish journalist asked about his weight and fitness, he called him “stupid” and refused to answer.
Robinho, who is seen by many as the cure for Brazil’s ills, says he is “ready to be called in Ronaldo’s place”. But he, too, has not managed to float above the stresses of the yellow-and-green goldfish bowl. In a fit of frustration with an Argentine TV crew last week, he belted a ball at them, missed and smacked a Brazilian photographer instead.
The good news is that the Seleção is being followed around Germany by nuns from the convent of the Carmelite Sisters of the Holy Spirit, who are singing hymns, chanting psalms and praying for deliverance of goals. As to who is going to score them, though, they have no answers either.