Soccer: From lowest ebb to triumph in less than a year

YOKOHAMA - The talent of Brazil's players and coach spoke louder than the bungling of the directors as the South Americans won a record fifth World Cup.

When Brazil set off for the tournament in early May aboard a plane laden with 140kg of the players' favourite black beans, many were predicting an early return home.

Chaotic administration, an unprecedented series of bad results and injury problems with key players Rivaldo and Ronaldo had left Brazil at one of the lowest ebbs in their history.

Luiz Felipe Scolari had become the team's fourth coach in only nine months when he took over in June last year.

Defeats against Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Chile, among others, threatened to destroy Brazil's proud record as the only country to have taken part in every World Cup.

They went out of the Sydney Olympics to nine-man Cameroon and even lost to Honduras and Australia at the Copa America and Confederations Cup respectively.

Off the field, a congressional investigation into the game produced a devastating report that accused Brazilian Football Confederation president Ricardo Teixeira of a string of irregularities.

But Teixeira, a member of Fifa's executive committee, has survived attempts to oust him.

As a result, Brazil began the tournament as outsiders while their arch-rivals Argentina and defending champions France were touted as favourites.

The pundits, however, failed to count on the talent of Scolari and his players, plus the surprising recovery of Ronaldo and Rivaldo.

Ronaldo went into the tournament surrounded by doubts after his 2 1/2 years of injury misery, during which he had two knee operations and was then plagued by muscular problems as he tried to make his comeback.

But, though lacking the explosive acceleration that terrorised defences in his heyday, he shrugged off his problems and re-emerged as a force in the game with eight goals in seven games, including the two that won the final against Germany.

Rivaldo was another doubt, not only because he missed the end of the Spanish season with a knee injury, but also because for the previous two years he had been repeatedly accused of saving his best for Barcelona.

Instead, the player who at one stage threatened to end his international career after being jeered during a game in Sao Paulo, turned into one of the players of the tournament with a goal in each of Brazil's first five games.

"I played 14 games with the No 10 shirt, a shirt that lots of great players have worn, and I'm sure that in the future lots of people will remember Rivaldo," he said.

Other players to shine included captain Cafu, who became the first man to play in three finals, and unassuming midfielder Gilberto Silva.

Only two years ago, Cafu was accused of turning his back on the team when he decided to take a holiday rather than stay with the squad after he had been suspended for a game.

By the end of the World Cup, however, Scolari was praising him as an example of selflessness and dedication.

Gilberto Silva had only five full appearances when he stepped into the void left by the last-minute injury to battling captain Emerson, yet was never overawed and became Brazil's most consistent player.

As for Scolari, the man known as Big Phil repeatedly confounded his critics.

His decisions to stand by his controversial 3-5-2 formation and to exclude veteran striker Romario in the name of team spirit - despite enormous popular pressure - were both vindicated by Brazil's progress.

Accused of practising anti-football before the tournament, he sent Brazil into their opening game against Turkey with one of the most attacking formations they had fielded in a World Cup game since 1986.

Later criticised for leaving his defence vulnerable, Scolari responded superbly after his team were reduced to 10 men in their quarter-final against England.

His players shut up shop, kept possession, made time pass and never appeared threatened as they held out for a 2-1 win.

Scolari, who admitted that his first three months in charge had been "hell," took time to settle in before picking up the pieces left by his predecessors.

Brazil's turn in fortunes began in the friendly against Yugoslavia last March.

Ronaldo made his comeback and Scolari, still searching for his ideal starting line-up, experimented with the "Three R" trio in attack that was to prove an enormous success at the finals.

By the time Brazil beat Malaysia 4-0 in their last friendly before the competition, they had extended their unbeaten run to seven games and, for the first time in three years, Brazilians could name the team off the top of their heads.

- REUTERS

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