Sunday, 4 July 2010
8th: BRAZIL
I never subscribed to this 'Brazil are going to win it, Brazil are favourites' line of enquiry. Cruyff summed it up well - they've lost their magic. Their players, the majority of whom play their club football in Europe, are no better than the best of Europe. They play like a European team - that's the way Dunga likes it. Flair has been sacrificed for function. No longer do Brazil have that wow factor. Sure they have some skilful players. But the loss of Elano was felt, the misfiring of Kaka kounted against them. Robinho showed everything that was missing from his time at Manchester City. But why leave out Adriano? Ronaldinho? These guys could have still done a job. Could have opened up a defence. Could have stopped the exit being this early. Could.