Some hopes are unshakeable – Brazil started badly and yet everybody believed it is ‘just the first match, you will see real Brazil in the next’. Yugoslavia played well; Brazil was slow, unimaginative and spakless. A 0-0 tie, a surprize, a disappointment… and Brazil was still considered the unquestionable favorite in Group 2.
Doubts emerged during the second match against Scotland: the Scots played better, Brazil was a pale shadow of itself. The team was particularly bland in attack – Rivelino and Jairzinho were to be the biggest stars of the torunament, right? They were invisible… sluggish… useless… There was a strong sense of players been straight-jacketed by tactics. Either that, or the stars were plainly not on form. It was unbelievable. Another 0-0 tie… this team can’t vene score a goal.
Jordan high above Luis Pereira – Brazil was dwarfed by the Scots and were lucky to escape a loss. World champions? Football magicians? The picture truly represents the actual level of Brazil…
But aura of Brazil was still holding… against lowly Zaire the magicians would find their true game. And then you will see… To be sure of jumping to the second round Brazil needed to win with more than 2 goals difference. A joke… Zaire just lost 0-9 to Yugoslavia, so what’s the problem? A big one, it turned out… Brazil was frustrated, continued to struggle – and this time it was not against decent European team, but against guys obviously ignorant of the game. Brazil won 3-0, but it was painful match wothout a trace of joy – and without joy, without a trace of magical football.
Rivelino scores against Zaire and nobody is even happy. Frustration ruled the day… Brazil had a good chance of missing the second round. There was something fundamentally wrong with the team.
At the end Brazil finished second in the group on better goal difference. The team was utter disappointment and barely qualified for the second round. And yet expectations did not die – still it was pontificated that we were going to see ‘the real Brazil’. In the next match. After all, not everybody was a mediocrity: Mario Marinho Peres, Francisco Marinho Chagas, and Paulo Cesar Carpegiani catched the eye. Particularly the left full back Francisco Marinho, who played energetically and entirely in the modern way. None of those players was heard of before. The doubters pointed out that two of the three were defensemen and the team was focused on Rivelino, not on Carpegiani…
Francisco Marinho Peres – perhaps the best player of Brazil and one of the stars of the finals. And perhaps the most unlucky one…
Doubts emerged during the second match against Scotland: the Scots played better, Brazil was a pale shadow of itself. The team was particularly bland in attack – Rivelino and Jairzinho were to be the biggest stars of the torunament, right? They were invisible… sluggish… useless… There was a strong sense of players been straight-jacketed by tactics. Either that, or the stars were plainly not on form. It was unbelievable. Another 0-0 tie… this team can’t vene score a goal.
Jordan high above Luis Pereira – Brazil was dwarfed by the Scots and were lucky to escape a loss. World champions? Football magicians? The picture truly represents the actual level of Brazil…
But aura of Brazil was still holding… against lowly Zaire the magicians would find their true game. And then you will see… To be sure of jumping to the second round Brazil needed to win with more than 2 goals difference. A joke… Zaire just lost 0-9 to Yugoslavia, so what’s the problem? A big one, it turned out… Brazil was frustrated, continued to struggle – and this time it was not against decent European team, but against guys obviously ignorant of the game. Brazil won 3-0, but it was painful match wothout a trace of joy – and without joy, without a trace of magical football.
Rivelino scores against Zaire and nobody is even happy. Frustration ruled the day… Brazil had a good chance of missing the second round. There was something fundamentally wrong with the team.
At the end Brazil finished second in the group on better goal difference. The team was utter disappointment and barely qualified for the second round. And yet expectations did not die – still it was pontificated that we were going to see ‘the real Brazil’. In the next match. After all, not everybody was a mediocrity: Mario Marinho Peres, Francisco Marinho Chagas, and Paulo Cesar Carpegiani catched the eye. Particularly the left full back Francisco Marinho, who played energetically and entirely in the modern way. None of those players was heard of before. The doubters pointed out that two of the three were defensemen and the team was focused on Rivelino, not on Carpegiani…
Francisco Marinho Peres – perhaps the best player of Brazil and one of the stars of the finals. And perhaps the most unlucky one…
