World Cup Thrashing Exposed Identity Crisis of Brazilian Football

12/10/2014 - 09h21

In the infamous 7-1 thrashing of Brazil in the semifinal of this year's World Cup, Germany's first goal came from a corner kick which reached Thomas Müller, completely unmarked on the six-yard line, without a single defender getting a head to the ball.

Miroslav Klose scored the second, one-on-one with Júlio César. Klose saw his first effort saved, but kept his cool to slot the rebound beyond César. No Brazilian defender even attempted to challenge the striker.

In the most crushing defeat in the history of the "seleção", it became painfully clear that Brazilian football has lost its way.

"We don't know who we are anymore, nor what our style is," says the Flamengo manager, Vanderlei Luxemburgo. He recalls the styles of the great Brazilian sides of the past, with their quick passing, discipline, dribbling and one-twos.

He refers also to Barcelona under Pep Guardiola, who destroyed Santos 4-0 in the 2011 World Club Cup. "Barça play how Brazil used to play," he says.

All the assessments after the World Cup have highlighted errors in the training of players and coaches, the influence of businessmen in club youth teams and the lack of formal training courses.

But Dunga replaced Luiz Felipe Scolari just 14 days after the defeat to Germany, without the necessary analysis or debate over what happened.

In contrast, on November 20, 1985, Holland were knocked out by Belgium in the qualifiers for the World Cup of 1986. On December 16, the Dutch manager Rinus Michels held a debate amongst the technical staff.

Upon realizing the level of discord amongst those present, Johan Cruyff carried out an intense study of Holland's problems. Three years later, the Dutch were European champions.

"The biggest problem with the Brazilian players is their lack of tactical training," says Shakhtar Donetsk manager Mircea Lucescu.

In recent years, Lucescu has bought more Brazilian players than any other manager in Europe - the Ukrainian side have 13 on their books currently.

"When they get here, they need a year of adaptation to better understand the game," he says. "Everybody knows how to play here," says Kaká. "Our problem is a lack of organization."

Due to make his debut shortly in American Major League Soccer, the ex-São Paulo player says he wasn't surprised with the state of Brazilian football after 11 years in Europe.

However, Alex, formerly of Coritiba, was taken aback by the lack of technical ability. "I don't know if it's because we're losing talented young players in a way we weren't back in the 90s," he says.

Before Neymar's transfer to Barcelona in May 2013, former Brazilian striker Ronaldo and former coach Carlos Alberto Parreira both argued that he needed to leave Santos and play in Europe in order to develop.

The dilemma is that if young Brazilians leave for Europe early in their career, they won't absorb the traditional characteristics of Brazilian football. If they leave later on, however, they will have less contact with more modern training methods.

Brazilian coaches reject the accusation that their methods are out-of-date. Here, improvisation reigns supreme.

"I organize my own training sessions," says Cristóvão Borges, of Fluminense. "I look methods up in books and videos on the internet." Effort depends on the individual.

Three years ago, the Luso-Canadian coach Marc Santos left Brazil, complaining about the lack of opportunities for foreigners.

A friend of the Zenit St. Petersburg coach André Villas-Boas, Santos was asked if it was true that the Portuguese thought that Brazilian football was bad.

"No! In Europe, the teams have togetherness, which protects the more average players. There, the average players look good. In Brazil, where the teams are less compact, they look bad."

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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