Thank you That's exactly my point, as if we could easily blame the weakest link (Serrgnho) but forgot that he was selected as default ... and he did what he can/ For me I would blame on Santana could not pick right player for his formation! Serginho had 2goals+1ass/4games and that was not horrible per se For example, at WC 2002, Scolari picked Edilson and Luisao as strikers with the big gamble on Ronaldo's form as an X factor. LUCKILY, Ronaldo came back on time, otherwise who will be to blame? Edilson or Scolari?
He played 5 games .. not 4. I am not sure what point you are trying to make. We don't care if he was the only option, he was still one of the weak links in the team. That point still remains. Everybody in the mid and offense played fantastic from an attacking point of view...except for him.
I don't agree at all that we had a weak defense in 82. When people point out their 'poor' performance all they remember is the 'frango' that Valdir Perez took against USSR (which can happen to any goalie in the world - remember the ones Yashin took in Chile in 62) and the fact that Junior was 'sleeping' in Rossi's 3rd goal (what due to the erratic circumstances of the play was an injustice): what really unbalanced Brazil (tactically & psychologically) in the rest of the game was a midfielder's - Toninho's Cerezzo - ridiculous blunder in the 2nd (?) Italian goal. From then on the game became open - and Brazil's favouritism went to space.
That was the 2nd goal...That was a huge blunder,already by the age of six the coaches tell you never to play a ball lateral to the center of your own defense. Same happen to Jesper Olsen in WC 1986 in the 2nd round,fabulous playing Denmark never really recover from that blunder and got crushed by Spain with 5-1.
After a short reflection, I really don't blame Serginho. Yes, you all are right when you say he was the weakest link up front in that team and that he made terrible mistakes, but who really cared? We had the rest of the team to compensate (and the goalscoring player list says that). Also, I don't think we had many alternative options available: Careca was injured; I don't know why Reinaldo was not called (if there was any reason); the only option was Roberto Dinamite. But let's not forget that Serginho was playing regularly for Brazil right before the WC and as I can remember, he was not that bad, he was a respected striker for São Paulo at that time.
I've been watching some of the 1982 WC again recently and just to go back over this, Serginho was not the problem . If a team scores two goals in a game when they only need a draw they should not lose. Serginho scored a couple of decent goals in the tournament. Look at France in 1998, Guivarch did not even score a single goal.
I believe Reinaldo was injured as well. Roberto Dinamite has a fabulous goalscoringrecord in the Brasilian league,probably he was out of form or not loved by Santana coz he didnt even change him for Serginho but choose instead for mid Paulo Isidoro and put Socratres infront...(in the game Italy) Seems Brasil have often times bad luck in the history of WC. WC82 Zico-Careca WC86 Careca-Zico WC90 Careca-Romario WC98 Ronaldo-Romario the second name in the list above from the attacking (dream)couple was either injured or not yet fully recovered from a previous injury...
It's fruitless trying to blame either Serginho, or Cerezzo, or the defense, or Perez or Telê. What happened was a fatality against a highly motivated Italian team. That's bound to happen with anybody in an eliminatory round. Had Brazil tied Italy and we'd be 6 times WCs now. Period.
Looking again at your statement ... seriously speaking ... I'd have to disagree. All of Italy's goals can really be attributed to bad coverage or screwup on the defense (2nd goal). The defense is definitely a big part of the blame.
First goal ... IMO bad coverage by Junior. Rossi was right in front of him unmarked and he saw the play way too late. Third goal ... with all of our 11 players in the box there is no way Rossi should have been open. Poor defensive organization off the corner. If that goal would have been a shot that was deflected ... that would have been a fatality.
As far as Serginho, his ability was way below the level of the rest of his teamates. The two goals he scored against New Zealand and Argentina were tap-ins. He was a decent poacher (though he missed several very easy chances) but nothing else. Brazil vs. New Zealand minute 2:00 [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D8Q5SP5v5s"]YouTube- Copa 1982: Brasil 4x0 Nova Zelândia[/ame] Brazil vs. Argentina minute 0:34 [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5xH-wiyxPI"]YouTube- Brazil Argentina World Cup 82[/ame] Also note that in Brazil´s first goal against Argentina which rebounded off Eder´s free kick, Zico (who was behind Serginho) reached the ball before him, and most likely would not have been a goal if it was left up to just Serginho. Reinaldo, who for some strange reason wasn´t called up by Santana, was a much more complete forward. Reinaldo goal 4:19 Brazil Bolivia WC Qualifier [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLTo9kWgec0"]YouTube- Eliminatórias Copa 1982: Brasil 2x1 Bolívia (1981)[/ame] Reinaldo cuts through defense 0:23 Brazil Venezuela WC Qualifier [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qu-PAc3_Wc"]YouTube- Eliminatórias Copa 1982: Brasil 5x0 Venezuela (1981)[/ame] This warm-up game against Germany shows just how advanced Brazil´s technical level was. It was mainly their lack of a world-class finisher that did them in. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF6EU8vBmkA"]YouTube- Amistoso 1982: Brasil 1x0 Alemanha Ocidental[/ame]
You mean Giancarlo Antognoni? He was ok in this game. Had a goal disallowed for offside. Made a couple of other good chances. It was his cross hat forced the corner for Italy's third goal.
IYO... Besides without specific footage embedded in your post it's hard to visualize your assumedly subjective assertion. It's easy to say: see what I mean? It's all there... In both goals you mention (1st & 3rd) in that sector of the field we should expect to see Oscar & Luisinho, not Junior who was alone... Besides the team was still cold. Cerezzo blunder instead definitely was the capital sin in a key moment of the game. Which disestabilized Brazil for good that day. It happened when Brazil had already tied & had control of the game. In that all critics agree & it's not even necessary a clip for it.
Kingkong ... you like to disagree for the sake of disagreeing. The second goal was by FAR the biggest screw up. No question. The first goal was tricky ... I agree. But Junior should have covered Oscar or luisinho when the play switched to the left. Oscar/Luisinho was covering Rossi and Rossi drifted to the right where you can clearly see Junior was a couple of meters away. He reacted late...being cold or not. Also keep in mind ... we tied the game after the Cerezo screw up. We were just fine with that result. And I don't need to tell you we had 11 players in our box on that corner where Rossi was wide open in front of the goal to score the winner.
You follow me in the forum for years just to object to my posts (I don't mind) & I'm the one who disagrees for the sake of? ... Are you sure it ain't the other way around? ... I remember the game very well. Not only the team but also the Brz audience and even whoever watched the game on TV - even in spite of Falcão masterfully tying the game for the 2nd time - got totally insecure after the 2nd goal. The blunder was too blatant & let Brazil's unsuspected wounds that day exposed & the team's imperfections showed up - the Italians just thanked & laughed. The third goal was just a consequence.
Yes ,poor organisation. Junior should have moved up together with his defense ! Thats what I meaned with he was 'sleeping'. Normaly the other defenders have to follow the CB (Oscar) who organise the defense when he moved forward. Rossi should have been off-side by the 3th goal... I believe Reinaldo was injuried,but Im not sure ,have to check that out... The lack of a decent striker and the blundering defense were the reasons (IMO)that Brasil1982 failed to reach the (semi)finale.
The only true fact is that there was disorganization and poor defending in the 3rd goal. In a corner kick situation with 10 Brazilians in the box against 5 Italians, there shouldn't be any Italian player wide open, on-sides right in front of the goal. Whether the poor coverage was due to the team being "insecure" after Cerezzo's blunder, jlack of concentration due to over-confidence, or just plain bad defensive organization, is all hypothetical. It was their luck that the kick went straight to Rossi's foot.
The more you want a football clash to be a chess game, the less you prove you understand it. We are dealing here with with the most dramatic last moments of an already nerve-shattering game, in which the quickness of a stray ball hindered anybody to take a cold & logical decision: not even Paolo Rossi expected that ball to be deflected in his direction. The desperate posture there for the 22 players was: Lord help us - what happens, happens. And all that desperation had just one cause: favourite Telê Santana's midfielder Toninho Cerezzo's...blunder.