WORLD CUP 2014 PROFILE: BRAZIL

The hosts, The most successful team in World Cup history. The neutral's favourite team. Brazil ARE football. Not Spain, not Germany, no.....BRAZIL ARE FOOTBALL. When Brazil win the World Cup, things are just right in the world. But, it's a whole new Brazil team that for the first time, are not going into this tournament with THE BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD. Scolari will argue though that what they lack in individual skill, they have in a strong collective. You can't spell TEAM with an I.

Gone are the days where the dude on the left was knocking around. Those were the days were teams were SCARED SHITLESS of Brazil. Teams knew that they had to figure out what to do with a killer like Ronaldo, or Romario or Pele. That was always the first order of business. But Brazil don't have that one player who can pretty much destroy an entire team on his own.

This is a problem. You can spout team all you want, you just can't denounce what makes a team work. EVERY TIME Brazil have won the World Cup, their SUPERSTAR player has shown up and has been a major reason as to why they won that cup.

If you WERE to choose one man who is supposed to be that Ronaldo or Romario...then it would have to be Neymar. He is the diamond, the one that has been given the mantle of THE MAN. But, unlike Ronaldo who was a RARE specimen even in 1998, I am not sure whether Neymar is old enough to take all the pressure.

Remember, Ronaldo could not cope with all that pressure in the 1998 Final, how the HELL will Neymar react if Brazil get to their Final and it's in THEIR OWN home country. Sorry, but that is way too much pressure for someone like Neymar to cope with. The problem is there is no older and wiser player that can divert that attention away from the Neymar kid. Problem.

Fred. Sorry, but you can't be a superstar and be called Fred. But, like it or not, Fred Flintstone is Brazil's striker. He is the one tasked with scoring those goals for his country. He is THAT STRIKER that we all much accept.

You may insult him because he does not play in Europe...but in that Confederations Cup, against the alleged best team in the world, Fred got TWO good goals and maybe told the world that he is just not some slouch that plays in his homeland. Flintstone will need to play at his highest possible level because if they meet Spain again, he won't find it as easy as he did cutting them to pieces.

Big Phil. The man with the plan. The man who delivered the 2002 World Cup to Brazil. Once Menezes was sacked, it seemed an unwise move after he had been doing so much work with the team for so many years. But after that Confederations Cup showing, it looked to be a bold but maybe the right decision.

Scolari knows what the directive is. Semis and getting to the Final is not good enough. LOSING in the Final would be a catastrophic failure. Brazil have TO WIN the World Cup. Nothing else will be acceptable by an expectant Brazilian public. And to do this, Scolari has done the wisest thing. I would argue for Dinho and Lucas, but Scolari has seen that Brazil no longer possess those superstars. Instead, it's about grouping together as a team, being tough, mean, direct, with some samba thrown in and using every ounce of energy from the crowd to collect that cup. NOTHING. ELSE. WILL. BE. ACCEPTABLE.


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