After Brazil reached the World Cup quarter-finals, I believe all Brazilian fans around the world share my feelings: it’s been 20 years, and it’s finally dawn.
Don’t think that abusing South Korea is nothing. Now the South Korean team is no longer Amon. Looking at today’s football, no team except Brazil can win so brutally, thoroughly and heartily against South Korea. France can’t, England can’t, and Argentina can’t, but Brazil, which vowed to win for Pele, who is seriously ill, can.
Being a Brazilian fan is a very unique experience. On the one hand, it is very cool. Every World Cup is a favorite to win the championship, and there are warm expectations every four years. On the other hand, it’s very painful, because Brazil always fails if it doesn’t win the World Cup, but winning the World Cup requires not only strength, but also various coincidences, so more often, Brazilian fans will end their mental journey of the World Cup in disappointment.
Brazil has not won the championship for 20 years. What happened to the Brazilian team in these 20 years? Let me give you a brief stroke.
In 2006, Brazil claimed to be the strongest in nearly 40 years. However, arrogant soldiers are bound to lose. Please go back to the iron coach Pereira, who can’t relax put in order’s tactical discipline. When Henry beat Brazil, Carlos, the world’s number one left-back, was tying his shoelaces. Let us remember this little bald head that makes people love and hate.
In 2010, Brazil, with dim stars but strong integrity, was the only team that ever beat Spain in the Confederations Cup. In the knockout against the Netherlands, it not only took the lead, but also completely controlled the situation. However, a guy named Melo suddenly went crazy, making an own goal before a red card. Let’s remember the name Melo.
In the 14th and 18th World Cups, Brazil really can’t do it. Neymar is the only one who makes waves in the attack line. In 2014, Neymar and Tiago were absent, and in 2018, the two main full-backs were absent. However, these are not the main reasons for being eliminated, because from beginning to end, the Brazilian team did not show the dominance that the champions should have. The midfielder who wore the No.10 jersey in the 14th World Cup was Oscar, the one who later joined the Super League. He was a typical diligent organizer at Chelsea, diligent? What is the difference between this and swearing? Let’s remember the name Oscar, the worst midfield organizer in Brazilian history. The striker arrow of the 18th World Cup is Jesus, the one who just retired due to injury. His retirement is definitely good for Brazil. He may be an excellent striker in other teams, but he can only be regarded as a loser in Brazil. Let us remember the name Jesus, the worst striker arrow in Brazilian history.
Brazil’s group match was 2 wins and 1 loss, and it didn’t sweep all the way, but why is Brazil considered the biggest favourite to win the championship? Because Brazil only played Serbia in the first game and South Korea in the fourth game, not only the top star Neymar was absent due to injury, but even other players left half their strength.
Playing Serbia, Brazil showed the ability to control the field, basically did not let Serbia have any strength to fight back, and finally defeated this potential dark horse in many people’s hearts 3-0; Facing South Korea in the first match of the knockout, it is an all-round display of offensive firepower. I can say responsibly that this Brazilian team is stronger than the champion team led by 3R in 2002. Brazil beat China 4-0, but now this Brazilian team only needs half time to beat South Korea 4-0. If it doesn’t take the initiative to stop, a bloody case may happen at any time.
How strong is this Brazilian team? So strong that they don’t need full-back assists anymore. As we all know, the Brazilian team has never lacked epic full-backs. At present, the main full-backs in Brazil are Danilo and Sandro, which are not the top players in the world and far from the ability of Carlos and Cafu. The substitutes behind them are Alves, who spent nearly forty years brushing data with soy sauce, and Telles, who went home because of injury. In recent decades, looking around the world, we have almost never seen such a "greedy" full-back. When Brazil played offensive football, these two full-backs never forgot their responsibilities as defenders, and they managed the defense wholeheartedly. Wang Shenchao and Wang Gang of the national football team were more active in attacking than Brazil.
Why do Brazilian full-backs seldom take part in the attack? Because of three words: no need. There are as many as nine strikers in Brazil this time. Except for Jesus and Richarlyson, the other seven have winger attributes, and even Richarlyson made his debut as a winger. The winger is almost the answer to the version of football in this era. Brazil has so many wingers and all of them are excellent. The last guy is Anthony, and Manchester United spent 100 million yuan to buy him. You said, why do you need a full-back assist?
In fact, Brazil has not won the championship for 20 years, largely because Brazil has been short of excellent attackers since Ronaldinho retired. I don’t know when Brazil’s most sought-after players in Europe are divided into three categories, the first category is goalkeepers, the second category is central defenders, and the third category is engineers’ midfielders who do dirty work. The homogenization of Brazil’s talents is similar to that of Spain and Germany, which can’t find a center, so they have been tossing the ball around in the middle and back court.
This phenomenon has a lot to do with the tactical changes brought about by the last 24-year World Cup in Brazil. During those 24 years, Brazilian attack experts emerged one after another, attacking beautifully and defending bean curd dregs. After learning from a painful experience, Brazil began to focus on cultivating defensive engineers and redefining tactical discipline.
Brazil won the championship in 1994 and in 2002, which are essentially the same. The first time was a big shovel with romario and Bei Beituo in front and dirty work behind it, and the last time was a big shovel with 3R in front and dirty work behind it. The reason why this match can be established is that the big shovel for doing dirty work in Brazil is different from that in other countries. The big shovel in other countries is a pure engineer, and all Brazilian players have excellent ball-throwing ability, ball control ability and organization ability. Brazil’s big shovel, which won the championship twice, is more capable of threading the needle than English epic midfielder Steven Gerrard, such as gilberto silva.
However, no matter how offensive and defensive the back is, it is absolutely impossible without the arrow of the front line. In recent ten years, except for Neymar, other attackers in Brazil are really bad. Until this World Cup cycle, Brazil finally ushered in a blowout of attacking talents. Today, the reserve of Brazilian attackers is second only to the quintet of Ronaldinho, Kaka, Robinho and Adriano in 2006. However, that Brazilian team was eliminated by France long ago. When it beat Ghana 3-0 in the first round of the knockout round, there was no whole, and the tactical content was extremely poor. Now the overall cohesion of the Brazilian team is extremely tight.
Of course, Brazil also has rivals in winning the World Cup. The strongest opponent this year is still France, which not only plays well, but also is the natural enemy of Brazil.
Since the 1980s, Brazil has been defeated by France in the World Cup, and fell to France in 1986, 1998 and 2006. The French team has a solid footwork, tight defense in the center and backcourt, and at the same time, there is no shortage of skills and attack experts at the foot, which really beats Brazil in style. However, due to the absence of Kantor and Bogba, the French team changed its attack route. Although Mbappé was in a state of explosion and Gleizman became an excellent organizer, Brazil really didn’t like this type of France, and the two sides were still 60% sure of playing Brazil.
Thankfully, after a lapse of 20 years, the World Cup has returned to Asia. As the only "football kingdom" in the world, Brazil has also seen the possibility of returning to the top. By the way, do you remember those names just now? Melo, Oscar and Jesus, if you are not an Arsenal fan this season, you may have forgotten these names again, because although these players once represented Brazil in the World Cup, they never shocked people from their achievements to their playing methods. Even if they wore Brazil’s bright yellow shirts, they would not leave too many memories in the hearts of fans.
Football fans support a team and want nothing more than two things: excellent results and beautiful games, which are exactly what Brazil must have at the same time when it wins the World Cup.
That’s why we can remember the gorgeous representatives of Brazil: Ronaldo with a lucky head, Ronaldinho who cheated the English goalkeeper Seaman, Roberto Carlos whose thigh circumference is thicker than anyone else, and of course, Brazil’s eukaryotic Neymar now;
That’s why, I will also remember those tough backbones of Brazil: Taffarel, who is not well known, Dunga, who is not handsome, and thiago silva, who is now an old and strong captain.
There is only one Brazilian team in the world, but Brazil has more than one kind of football content. In 2022, Brazil in Qatar may not present the world wave that Ronaldinho did at the beginning, but they will always have a wonderful volley side hook like Richarlyson, and at the same time defend their own goal with tough defense and tough confrontation.
So 20 years later, when the World Cup returns to Asia, we seem to see the excellent hope that the World Cup will return to Brazil. Especially when they pull out the banner of "Fight for Bailey", so that more people are willing to stand behind them. There is already a king in heaven, so let another one stay with us for a while on earth.
The World Cup needs Brazilian football, and the world needs Brazilian football more.
