Soccer: Brazil risk the unthinkable

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari says this month's World Cup qualifier against Paraguay is the most important of his career.

Brazil are in danger of losing their proud record as the only country ever to have played at every World Cup, and Scolari clearly realises that, with five matches to go and his side fading fast, his head is on the block.

"This is the first time the national team has been in this bad situation and, although I have had other important moments with club teams, this is the most important game of my life and my career.

"I don't want to be the coach who missed the cup."

Brazil are fourth in their group, from which the top four qualify and the fifth get another chance in a play-off against Oceania winners Australia. But recent defeats to Ecuador, Uruguay, Australia and Honduras have shown that Brazil are declining rather than improving. They have used 54 players in this campaign, and Scolari is coach No 4.

The game against Paraguay on Thursday next week is the first of Brazil's remaining three home matches and Scolari knows it is imperative to pick up three points.

The Brazilians are ahead of fifth-placed Uruguay only on goal difference and are two points ahead of sixth-placed Colombia. Uruguay's next match is away to minnows Venezuela while Colombia are expected to pick up three points from their game at home to Peru.

"I don't care how badly we play against Paraguay as long as we win," said Scolari, who as a club coach publicly encouraged his players to commit more fouls.

Scolari has been in charge for five games, which have yielded three losses and two victories. Brazil were also sensationally knocked out of the Copa America after losing to Honduras.

The coach, never afraid to speak his mind, ended a tense news conference by lambasting his critics.

"It's very easy to talk. But with some of these people, it seems that they suck a lemon first thing in the morning and the taste stays in their mouth for the rest of the day."

But the reality is that the world has moved on since the golden age of Brazilian football, which effectively ended with Carlos Alberto's magnificent goal that rounded off a 4-1 win over Italy in the 1970 final.

In those days, making it to the World Cup was a mere formality; either because Brazil had won the previous tournament and were through automatically as holders, or because, as in 1970, they made the campaign a victory parade, winning all their games along the way.

Between 1958 and 1970 Brazil won three out of four World Cups. All they have to show for the subsequent decades is a win on penalties in 1994, following an uninspiring 120 minutes against Italy.

In their heyday Brazil were usually the fittest of all teams. They were also more tactically astute than most of their opponents, the fruit of intense work carried out on the training grounds in the 1940s and 50s.

However, the world has since moved on. The signs have been there for some time. Brazil had difficulty qualifying for the 1994 World Cup, leaving it to the last game to seal their place. Now, with the one big group format, there are more away games to be played, and the risk of defeat is consequently higher.

The marathon format has done much to bring about a levelling of standards in South America. The regular competition previously denied to teams such as Ecuador has helped them progress, while Brazil stood still. A surfeit of success spoiled the supporters and spread complacency throughout their game. Winning came to be seen as natural, almost preordained, rather than the end product of a process.

It is a tendency which the Nike millions have done nothing to diminish. Rather, Brazil have become the victims of their sponsor's success in marketing them as an unbeatable galaxy of stars. But for neutral observers who followed their run-up to France 98, the surprise was not that they came so dramatically unstuck in the final. More surprising was that they managed to get so far.

- INDEPENDENT