Brazil may be slaloming through their friendlies, winning 4-0 against New Zealand and looking every bit as irresistable and tipped for glory as any self-respecting favourite should. But while all is well in the south americans' camp, not everything points to them lifting the world cup in the Olimpiastadion come July 8. In fact, for the Brazillians to achieve what everybody has already assumed they would, they have a tricky piece of world cup history around which they must navigate. it's plagued teams like Brazil since as early as 1954. what is it, if not the curse of the favourites?
Yes, you can trace back to the mighty Magyar side of 1954, when Hungary was a world beater, boasting the most feared side in football, and legitimate superstars in Ferenc Puskas and Sandor Kocsis. As evidence of their dominance, the Hungarians had already ploughed through the earlier games defeating South Korea 9-0 and even West Germany 8-3 in what remains the Germans' most humiliating defeat at the top level. However, rain and sloppy preparations cost this memorable Hungarian side, and in the final, against the same West German side they had just trashed, they leaked a two-goal lead to lose 2-3.
World cup glory would never be theirs, nor would it ever be for the wonderful total football teams of Holland in the 1970s. Spanning an entire decade and two world cups, the original orange army sported stars like Cruyff, Neeskens and Naninga. In both world cups, they played scintilating football to defeat adversaries such as Brazil and Italy to reach the final. No one doubted that the dutch were the dominant force of the time, and they carried favourites tags into 1974 and 1978 tournaments. In both occassions, they would end up losing finalists.
Other European favourites have also since been felled: France in 1986, bouyed by a Euro 84 triumph and captained by a Michel Platini who could do no wrong, France played with swagger going into the tournament, and were duly lobbed with the favourites tag. They eventually went out to West Germany in the semi-finals. Just four years ago, you would remember the fate of the highly touted French team, who went to Korea/Japan having won back-to-back World Cup and Euro titles. Tipped for inevitable glory, France left after three games, no goals and the most embarrassing title defence in world cup history.
Fate would be even more cruel with Italy, who were favourites when they hosted the world cup in 1990 and again four years on in USA 94. In both tournaments, Italy would overcome stagefright in the first round to play dominant football, giving birth to true-blue Azzurri legends Toto Schilachi and Roberto Baggio along the way. But on both occassions, the mass hysteria and overflowing optimism that followed Italy ran dry in penalty shootouts - in one world cup to Argentina, in the other, to Brazil.
Brazil themselves are no strangers to the curse of being favourites. In 1982, guided by Tele Santana, Brazil brought to Spain a team full of attacking genius: Zico, Socrates, Falcao, Eder... surely here was a team with enough talent to rival the 1970 world cup winning heroes. And they did live up to it, playing beautiful attacking football under the ethos of always scoring more goals than the opponents. Their creaky backline, however, would be exploited to no repair by a certain Italian called Paolo Rossi, whose hattrick deprived one of the greatest Brazilian teams of world cup pride. This Brazil didn't even make it to the semis.
Again, in 1998, Ronaldo was the toast of the world - a man who was doing everything to perfection: scoring goals, making goals, running at defenders... Brazil were again blessed with a team born to attack: Rivaldo, Edmundo, Leonardo, Roberto Carlos, Denilson... these are just some of the names that carried on their necks the millstone of being favourites. But the world cup again, for the sixth time in a row, would have none of it. Brazil would be vanquished by a less-fancied France, and another world cup favourite had died.
Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Adriano, Kaka... the magic quartet. But we've heard stories like these before. If the rate at which world cup favourites fail to win was transported into the realities of our mundane life, such as friends who frequently let us down, we would have given up talking about Brazil a long time ago. But along with the world cup comes romance, drama and the quest for glory. Everybody wants to see a great tournament, and what is a great narrative if it doesn't have a great hero? But heroes fall in this cruel tournament. They fall too often.
It is true that the last time a favourite won the world cup, it was Brazil. it is also true that the last time a non-European team won in Europe was Brazil, so if anyone has the backbone to break the millstones of tradition, it is Brazil. But if you think everyone else is written off just because Brazil looks too strong to lose, think again. The world cup is not about teams looking too good to lose. It's about teams who do lose, in spite of how good they look.
Follow the links for other stories in the series.
Case for Europe
Case for Underdogs
[get this widget]
0 comments:
Post a Comment