Football Previews
Whether a football season or not in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach outside the iconic Maracana Stadium is meant to be fun, but last Saturday evening it wasn’t.
A mammoth crowd – following the 2014 World Cup’s third-place play-off between the Netherlands and Brazil – witnessed the Dutch add to the hosts’ humiliation with a 3-0 beating to raise the tally in the Selecao’s last two matches of the World Cup on home soil to a shocking 10-1 after an earlier 7-1 trouncing by eventual World Champions Germany.
The two consecutive heavy defeats to European hands make it the first time in 74 years that the South American soccer giants have lost back-to-back home games.
This has prompted calls for change to the Samba Boys’ style of play – which has been accused of failing to adapt to changing dynamics in world soccer and often revolves around a star player – from various quarters in a nation that has long been associated with football prestige and splendor.
Sunday’s World Cup final that pitted La Albiceleste against subsequent champions Germany was another painful experience in this year’s global soccer championship for Brazilian fans who had hoped that their team would be featuring in the last game, and maybe even lift the trophy for a record sixth time.
It is rare to find Brazilian soccer fans – whose soccer zeal is known the world over – leave a match that their country features in before the final whistle, but Saturday’s outing against the Dutch saw part of the monstrous crowd at the Copacabana Beach walk away in disappointment for a second time in a row.
Many were disappointed – and angry – that Luiz Felipe Scolari’s men did very little to salvage their pride as they had promised they would after being heavily wounded at the hands of the Germans.
How much humiliation and shame can Brazilian fans stomach? The 7-1 drubbing by Germany will live on in their infamy for a long time. It has already set off some national football soul-searching in sections of the Brazilian society.
So, what can the Brazilian soccer fraternity – from the players, the coaches, the national soccer federation CBF to the national leadership and the general public – do to ensure the five-time world champions are back to where the world has always seen them football-wise in the shortest time possible? Time will tell but one thing is for sure, Brazil will be competing at the highest level for many a decade to come.
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