Brazilians’ leonine roar which reverberated through Belo Horizonte at the outset of the FIFA semifinals on Tuesday gave way to an agonizing groan heard continents away. With shock and dismay, football crazy Brazilians watched their beloved Selecao collapse under a German onslaught.
Front page of Newspaper-July 9, 2014-Metro Brasília, published in Brasília, Brazil-(pic: newseum)
Mournful sighs that 200 million Brazilians collectively heaved, unable to come to terms with their worst ever defeat, were strong enough to form a hurricane sweeping across South America. There was nary a dry eye in the continent-sized Brazil on that fateful day. This must be a period of unofficial national mourning for that Latin American nation which lives and breathes football.
One person’s agony is another person’s ecstasy in sports. Even cripples must have danced in the streets of Germany, so to speak, on seeing their boys make mincemeat of the mighty Brazilians in a faraway land.
True, the Brazilians played without their injured superstar Neymar and suspended Captain Thiago Silva. (Regrettably, Colombian defender Juan Camilo Zuniga has got away with his aerial challenge that unfortunately ended Neymar’s tournament.) But, the fact remains that their substitutes are as good as or even better than the best players in most other teams. The German twister was so devastating that it is doubtful whether Brazilians even with all their best players in the contest would have been able to turn the tables on die Mannschaft. It was certainly not their day. Former defender turned Brazilian coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari admitted very candidly: “I don’t think it would have been different with Neymar.”
Brazilians apparently blundered by trying to go on the offensive too early in the game with their defence somewhat compromised. They may have thought attack was the best form of defence and wanted to do to Germany what they had done to Colombia in the quarterfinals—scoring a quick goal or two and fortifying their defence thereafter. They underestimated the opponents’ prowess and skills. The Germans seized the initiative. The inevitable happened; the Brazilian defence collapsed like a jerrybuilt flyover. It looked as if the much-publicised evil spell that a famous Brazilian voodoo priest had cast on the Germans had boomeranged.
Brazilians are known for their resilience. It may take months for them to overcome the shock, but they are bound to bounce back, work on their mistakes and get ready for the next FIFA World Cup in 2018, when most of the players in the present national squad are expected to play. There are far worse things in life than suffering a humiliating defeat in a World Cup semifinal however hurtful it may be in the short run.
Now that Brazil has been knocked out of the tournament President Dilma Rousseff, whose popularity ratings significantly improved ahead of the Oct. 05 elections, thanks to the mega football event, will have a hard time, justifying the USD 11-billion World Cup project. Her party’s attempt to bask in the reflected glory of Selecao came a cropper on Tuesday described as the darkest day in Brazil’s football history. Her rivals and civil society groups have torn into her for having spent so much of money which, they argue, could have been invested in education, health, transport and infrastructure while the economy is spluttering.
Devastated as he is, Selecao boss, Scolari, has shown true leadership. Without trotting out lame excuses for the crushing defeat, he has taken the full responsibility for it. He has had the courage to say, while thanking the Brazilian fans and apologising to them: “I am responsible for catastrophic result. I made the choices. I was responsible.” What a leader! Who can stop loving that man?
Courtesy: The Island