Brazil: Tough present, tougher future

Brazil’s World Cup campaign ended as a horror show as they were handed out a seven goals thrashing by Germany

Humiliating defeats are part of sport folklore. In fact, such dramatic reverses are oft more remembered than cup wins and crowning moments. Brazil themselves knows how long it takes to wipe out bad memories in the sport, and to their sheer disappointment. The 2-1 loss of 1950 to tiny Uruguay in the final will no longer be remembered as their worst moment in football history anymore.

For a country quite obsessed with the beautiful game, the next morning would have been a nightmare they wouldn’t have wanted to see. The problem with such a big and unexpected loss is that by the next day it really gets in your face. TV channels, newspapers are one thing, but across the country, all the world cup signs, the billboards and banners, the flags, will all serve as reminders for what turned out to be a most painful experience, one that the host nation would never have expected.

Tougher on the host nation

And it is worse for the hosts, isn’t it? With two more matches to go, they must show a strong front, show their amazing spirit and love of the game, and realize that there’s really no place to hide. Yes, it’s just that much tougher for the hosts to suffer such an indignation.

Two Equal Teams, One Strange Result

A quick look at football world cup statistics show that Brazil and Germany have been by far two of the most successful teams consistently at World Cup Finals. Before the night at Belo Horizonte, Germany had won the World Cup three times to Brazil’s five; they’ve played the tournament 18 times to Brazil’s 20, and they’ve made the top three twelve times compared to Brazil’s nine. The Germans also had an overall goals scored tally of 216 compared to Brazil’s 220. There’s an amazing sense of equality to their respective records, and that makes Germany 7 – 1 Brazil even more surprising. If Spain’s 5 goals drubbing at the hands of Netherlands was a humiliating score for the current world champions, then this abject surrender of Brazil to Germany needs a whole lot more superlatives to describe. Spain was a one-time favourite that had a bad tournament, Brazil, meanwhile is an eternal title hopeful, a traditional favourite in every tournament,and that makes the result even more difficult to fathom.

So many questions that only time can answer

So where did it all go wrong? Was the Confederations Cup last year an eyewash? Was this team really poor? Were they aided in their world cup endeavor to get to the semi-finals? Was Neymar such a large factor that his team without him couldn’t understand the very game they play every day? Were the tactics really that poor? And if their quality was just so bad, then how did they get to the last 4 of this tournament? All these questions will need answering in the next few days, or months, and the heads of the game in Brazil will need a serious inquisition into what exactly transpired. Of course, some heads will roll, and they should as well as there is an obvious gap in the requirement and delivery of football in Brazil at the moment.

What next for Brazil?

So just where do they go from here? The fans have a tough task of putting on their brave masks and ensuring the tournament progresses unhampered and in good spirit, playing spoil sport will only hurt the nation more in the long term. After the dust has finally settled in Brazil, the governing body must take onus of the situation, and come up with a long term plan to reinvigorate the team, building it around a more meaningful set of players who look like they belong together. The Brazilian FA will need to plan more games for its national team, and for starters put all their efforts into a flawless qualifying campaign for the next edition.

Also, there may be a need to reinvent the wheel. A habit to gravitate towards winning ugly when required often results in winning that way only, and style is often replaced by substance. In Brazil’s context, it’s not about the five championships only, it’s about how they play as well, and that vital cog might be the solution to building the future. Failure can be a fairly bitter pill to swallow for teams used to success, but if it can be used as a stepping stone to retread the right direction and surmount expectations in the future, then the lessons will be truly learnt.

The path forward must not be forged simply by this one result, for this may be an aberration, a significant one, but one nonetheless. A strong and vibrant Brazil team is vital for the future world cups as well, the world of neutrals has always enjoyed the samba like football for many years now. The true strength of a man lies in rising from a fall, to scale greater heights, and I am sure it is every football fan’s wish that Brazil prove their true strength sooner, rather than later.