Chennai: With the World Cup little over a year away, Brazil find themselves in a not-so-ideal situation. The five-time champions, often expected to cruise through the qualifiers, are huffing and puffing on their way to the football extravaganza.
The South American heavyweights are terribly low on morale after enduring their heaviest defeat in WC qualifying history, a 1-4 drubbing at the hands of bitter rivals and defending champions Argentina recently. Making matters worse, Brazil are without a head coach following the ouster of Dorival Jr and have gone back to square one.
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World Cup winners Dunga and Gilberto Silva, who know a thing or two about dazzling for Brazil on the global stage, remarked that the national federation should have finalised the manager for the World Cup a long time ago. “We have a lot of good coaches in Brazil, but here is the problem. We have one year to go for the WC and we are still looking for a coach. Postponing things might be the biggest problem. You start winning the World Cup off the field,” said Dunga, who is in Chennai for the Brazil Legends-India All Stars match and Football Plus summit.
The seasoned Carlo Ancelotti, currently under contract at La Liga giants Real Madrid, has been heavily linked with the Brazil top job. “Sometimes, people take decisions based on emotions. This is not the solution. Sometimes, we have to be in this kind of situation, which is very disappointing. We are going to look for a manager one year before the start of the competition. This makes the work of the players even harder (tougher). I hope that whoever they (federation) decide, we start to play well again,” said Gilberto.
Brazil have been let down by the indifferent international form of potential game-changers Vinicius Jr and Raphinha, players who have been delivering at club level.
On why they are struggling to replicate their club form playing for the country, Gilberto said: “There is a massive difference between club and country. In a club, you are there every day, training with your colleagues and coach. In the national team, you may have the opportunity to spend time with your colleagues and manager about six times a year. It is not enough. In the short time, the players have to do as much as they can to maintain a high level.”
The 2002 WC-winning member, who made the defensive midfielder’s position his own, added: “When you are in the national team of any country, there is massive pressure. When you are in Brazil, people do not understand how high the pressure is, how difficult it is to play under pressure. We, as supporters of the Brazil team, put pressure on everyone. We have been there, so we know the difficulties. We have to support them.”
Dunga stressed that patience is key when trying to create a world-beating unit, something that Brazil have not managed to construct over the last 20 years. “We have to understand how hard it is to be a champion. We had a very strong group and it takes time to build that. It takes time to build champions and legends,” said Dunga, a 1994 WC winner.
“Brazil struggled between 1970 and 1994, they did not win (the WC) for many years. Talent and technique are important, but only those are not enough to become a champion. It is important to have a ‘team’, which understands what discipline and sacrifice are. Sometimes, one shot is all that is there for us to win,” added Dunga, who also served as Brazil chief coach.
‘One defeat cannot define who Brazil are’
Gilberto emphasised that the recent thrashing against Argentina cannot be considered the end of the world for Brazil. “It does not matter when we win a couple of games. When we lose one game, it is a big story. While preparing for the 2010 World Cup, we beat Argentina 3-1. From time to time, these kinds of situations happen. One defeat cannot define what we are at the moment. We should have in mind what we are capable of,” said Gilberto.
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