wco81 wrote:Neymar tore his ACL in WC qualifying.
It's been over 20 years since Brazil won a WC. In fact they've not even made the final game since 2002 when they beat Germany 2-0.
That has to be a big deal over there, the biggest nation(in population) of the traditional football powers.
They've obviously produced great players since then, at least in club football.
But I guess 2014 had to be a nadir for the Brazilian National Team, being housed while hosting the WC.
They should still be contenders in 2026 when US hosts. Brazil won in 1994 when US last hosted.
Neymar will be over 34 then, so maybe his last chance. Maybe he will be able to do what Messi did last year, get the elusive cup late in his career.
Friendly reminder that Brazil has been through a similar drought before: 1970 --> 1994.
The last great brazilian team was the 2006 WC version. It didn't win then due to off-court problems.
Since then, the talent pool has really, REALLY dried out. Every now and then there appears a star, but in terms of having a consistent, top to bottom team, a full-on generation of great players, it's been lacking for a long time now.
Think about it: if you go back in time and put Neymar in the 2002 team, he would play alongside many other greats. Now he's basically playing by himself, in terms of the greatness of the other players. For example, a guy like Casimiro, who's highly regarded today, would hardly be a starter in previous teams. And don't even get me started on the midfielders, strikers, etc...
Our current crop of "number 9" players is far and away the very worst this country has ever seen. Gabriel Jesus, Gabigol, Richarlison, etc.
I just saw this argument in a podcast recently and I agree with it: when you had a classic, great Brazil team, you usually had 4 to 6 greats playing together at any time during their existence (1950-2006). And the other top teams in the world had like 1 to 4 per team. Now basically every team has 1 to 3, Brazil included. It has become more of an even field.
We have a few prospects coming up, like Endrick (Palmeiras, been sold to Real Madrid, will report next year I think), Vitor Roque (Athletico Paranaense, sold to Barcelona, ditto), both 18. And a few others.
Also there have been reports that Carlo Ancellotti (Real Madrid manager) has signed to coach Brazil's team in the next WC, but due to his obligations at Real, will only report next year. A great coach at the helm will surely improve our chances.
Another argument that is made nowadays is that the brazilian players, more and more, are exported at such a young age to foreign countries that they basically forget the "magic" aka "joga bonito" (improvisation skills, I shall say) that made brazilian futebol so well-known, distinguished and feared, as they learn the more european-focused "tactical futebol" and never look back.
Moreover, as a futebol fan for more than 35 years, what I see nowadays is that futebol has become very robotic. The emphasis on keeping the ball (keeping the possession) has really dragged the dynamic of the game down. In the past decades we had more of a "up and down" kind of game, fast attacks, consistent searching for goals. Now it's more of a "don't let the other team get the ball, pass to the side and only attack when you're very assured" kind of mentality. It's hard for me to explain it in english, hope you understand it.
Now I'd like to comment on a couple more things:
First, the feeling I get is that most of the brazilian population has cared LESS about futebol than in the past. That's what I get from talking to friends, workers, what I saw during the last 2 World Cups, etc.
Every Brazil WC game, in the country, is a holiday. Nobody works. Everything stops. You hear a lot of noise in the streets, in the bars, get togethers, fireworks happening, etc. Now in the latest WC there was a substantial decrease in the noise, and that was not only my impression, many people talked about that. I think that's a reflection of the 7-1 loss from 2014. People really lost that "mistique" (spl?) from the futebol team. People don't care as much nowadays. A lot from that could be that the typical brazilian doesn't identify with the players as much, as all of them go abroad to play and most never come back, so that feeling of seeing them live in the stadiums is gone. I could also say, though, that a lot of people desingaged from the "bread and circus" mentality when our country has been going through so much trouble, corruption, etc (that's for another day...).
Now my other point is, in the past, national teams were the absolute best at what you could get from a talent standpoint. When you had, let's say, a Germany x Italy match, you had multiple all-timers and stars on the field, it was a rare event, everybody tried to watch it. Now, the talent pool in futebol has become so concentrated, that if you pick the best 5 or 6 clubs in the world, they have a better roster than ALL the national teams. Think about it! For example, in the past, the Barcelona team would beat the Spanish team easily, Bayern Munich would beat the Germany team, and so on... that's unimaginable to me. And, as those teams play many times a year, and play each other many times as well, people won't get so excited to watch the national teams when they take part in competition, and also the quality of the games itself won't be as high.