It's just my impression, not revisionist history. PVC, Juca Kfouri, Tostão, Mauricio Teixera, Paulo Beting, Torero, and other important journalists all selected him in their "teams". Esporte Espetacular did a story on him yesterday after a long blackout. Despite the dissapointment in the superleague, he has been absolutely decisive for Fener and has ridiculous stats this season. Fener wouldn't have even have come close without him. One of his goals was voted the second most beautiful in the CL. I entertained (until today) the notion that reality could inflence Parreira. This was exacerbated by recent statements indicating movement in the direction of concrete facts. This was my mistake.
I like Juninho. His passing ability is not as good as Alex's but between him and Ricardinho, there is no comparison. I hope to see him as a starter by the end of the cup.
Actually as Copa America proved, That would give you two midfielders who you could mark out of a match by choking the midfield. Thats what Argentina did. They stuffed the midfield, and didnt give him any time on the ball, or any chance to even recieve it at times. Just throwing out stuff to discuss about.
Wasnt comparing them directly as players, but more like what they bring to the team that is different.
That's what I am saying. In the Copa America, we played a 4-3-1-2. Alex in a 4-2-2-2 alongside Ronaldinho (or Kaka), or in a 4-2-1-3 would be much harder to annul. You can't mark Ronaldinho, Alex and Kaka at the same time. The "1" is the weak link in the 4-3-1-2.
I can respect this opinion, and it's impossible for players to show well in every single match they play. My point though was that there were certain aspects of his game that I dont think fit into Parreira's ideas for the selecao. I 100% disagree though with the take on Kaka, but won't really get into that. True. IMO a good national coach should select the best players that fits into the system that he believes will lead the team to victory. I do think that Alex is a better player than Ricardinho, and the problem I have would be if Parreira thought this yet went with him anyways because he was afraid of backlash in Brasil about not bringing any domestic players (people can claim Rogerio Ceni, but he probably won't play & isn't a field player). Juninho Pernambuca is a different player from Alex, and one that Parreira obviously has faith in. He also did well in his role with Brasil and had a good year with Lyon. I think that for Alex to have made this team over Ricardinho, he would've had to have had an amazing year not just in the Turkish league, but in Europe as well. He would've had to have had the type of year/performance that would make it absolutely impossible to overlook him. It's a shame that he didn't make it and it might not be fair, but then again loads of things aren't fair - in Germany, Marcelinho fans have been crying foul for years.
I think it was easy to see Alex was on the outside looking in when he wasn't in the Russia friendly (Ricardinho was). Also, he had come off the bench a few times while Ricardinho started.
Actually, Kaka has been an excellent selecao player the last couple of years. Certain people on this board seem to be the only ones who don't appreciate how good a player he is. I would stick to Ricardinho because if you try to make this about Juninho or Kaka, you are gonna start to lose even people like me who worship Alex and strongly believe he deserved to be in the squad.
I think a lot of the hatred for Alex emanating from Palmeiras fans has to do with the way he left the team. I remember being absolutely gutted when he left. I am sure a lot of fans still hold that against him. You can bet the same with Vagner Love, should he ever return to Brazil and suit up for Corinthians. I don't mind Alex now. I think he's a phenomenal player and you tried your hardest. The fact is that the midfield is so crowded and Parreira calls up the players he's familiar with and who played well under him. Looking at this from a coach's perspective, you cant complain. Obviously, from a fan or media viewpoint, it's very different. Ultimately, I dont think the non call-up of either Alex or Baptista will hurt us. We have plenty of depth as it is, and if anything, our failures will likely come on the defensive end of the ball...but at least we dont have Roque Junior to screw up!
Agreed. I am not going to compare Alex and Kaka (I've done so in the past and you can look there to see who I think is better) either because they are different sorts of players and would both be starters on my team. The main point is that one of the greatest players of this generation, mostly likely will not get an opportunity to play in a WC, esp not in his prime. A tragedy.
Alex didnt even play well in the Copa America. Him along with some other players, like Mancini, Vagner Love, and Luis Fabiano, are still paying the price for their play in that tournament, and subsequent moves to questionable teams. If anything, Brazil won the Copa America because of Adriano and a fluke last-gasp pass from Diego. As for Juninho, I dont think Alex is better than him. They are on par in my opinion, but Juninho is the one who hass won championships in a better league...and is arguably the most lethal free kicker in the world. And on top of that, I'd say that Juninho is more of your typical two-way midfielder...he can play volante if needed, whereas Alex can't exactly do this. Parreira is a complicated guy. He dumped Rai in 94 after one bad game, and Rai, along with Bebeto and Romario, were our biggest stars on that team. Call it rash, but it worked out well in 94 for us.
Don't get me wrong, I am not arguing that Kaka does not deserve a place in the World Cup squad, though I insist that he has under-performed in the Selecao. I said Alex contributed more than Kaka because of Ales's crucial role in the Copa America. Kaka can certainly provide something which Alex lacks, which is pace. I think this is why Kaka's performance is so important. His pace helps a lot if Brasil want to break down stubborn defense. I still remember watching Milan play Fenerbache at home last September. I said to myself after that match, 'I am now convinced that Kaka should start for Brasil instead of Alex, because Kaka's pace can really make the difference'. Though I would argue that in terms of vision and the ability to dictate the rhythm of a game, Alex is a better player.
Someone mentioned that in the last 3 WCs, someone has always been injured between the callup and the start of the cup (leading to a replacement). I wonder if that will happen, and I especially wonder whether it will be someone whom Alex could replace.
If Parreira lost faith in Alex in the Copa America, why did Alex play in the next three qualifiers (came on in the 2nd half twice, and started once). I think he is paying the price for underperforming when he started against Columbia on 13 Oct 2004. He was dropped for the next match against Ecudaor. Who was called up instead? Ricardinho. Alex then didn't play in any qualifiers until the last two matches, when Brasil had alrady secured a place in Germany.
You are absolutely correct. The turning point for Alex was that Colombia game. I remember listening to a radio interview with Parreira at the end of 2004. It was a kind of "State Of The Union." The interviewer just rattled off names of all sorts of players and Parreira offered a thought on each guy. Parreira went out of his way to be positive on every guy, with one notable exception. He was very harsh when it came to Alex. I don't remeber the exact words but it was something to the affect of: "Alex just doesn't know how to impose his will on games. He is too passive, etc..." I remember there was a thread here about the interview at the time and everyone agreed Alex was in big trouble. I've never felt good about his chances ever since.
I dont think the comparison between the two is quite on par. Although I wasnt around in 78, it seems to me that that team didnt lack defense. What it lacked was offense, which is why our tie with Argentina cost us the World Cup...or the fact that we didnt demolish Peru by a sufficient scoreline. But, with that being said, I feel that Falcao on that team wouldve been good. I dont know enough about the team or its players to really make a definitive judgment. Howeverm, to compare them, you assume that Brazil will be at a tremendous loss this time around. I think most people, with the exception of die-hard Alex fans, beg to differ. I just dont see any room for Alex on this current team, especially when you consider the amount of midfielders we have on this team. I'd say that 3 of our 4 starters, with the exception of Gilberto Silva, would likely play all 90 minutes. Although you disagree, I dont want Ronaldo to be up front alone, even if he has support from wingers. Ronaldinho, even on Barcelona, is given a free role. He doesnt play on a wing. He goes where he wants to go, so I'm not sure about your formation with Robinho and Ronaldinho as wingers. In fact, I would prefer to have 3 defensive midfielders. I still think this team will be heavily exploited against counter-attacking teams. I cant imagine if we had a midfield of Baptista/Alex, Kaka, and Ronaldinho, with our fowards.
He played, but he didnt start, as you say, except in one game. Copa America was an experiment. Parreira liked some players and didnt like others. None of us are in his mind, so I can only assume that Alex wasnt the right fit for team he wanted. Basiclly what we are seeing here is a product of our immense depth. This is just like the late 60s with Ademir da Guia. He was phenomenal and played on one of the best teams in Brazil, but he never got called up because we had Gerson (I beleive) in his place. As for Ricardinho, he played a good game against Croatia. I'm sure that was taken into consideration when he was subsequently called up later on in qualifying.
You want proof that it is personal? Why did Ricardo get number 20? (20 being the number of Alex's shirt at Fener). It could be conincidence, but it could be an extra little poke in the eye.
I'll go with coincidence. Seriously. The numbers for the reserves are all in order of position (except for 22 which is traditionally a goalkeeper).
They sold tons of Robinho "18" shirts, then gave him a different number. Also... Zagallo is really into this numerology and other such supersticious nonsense. The number choices were deliberate.
Yes, and Cicinho is number 13, Zagallo's lucky number. So? 18 is a d-mid (like I said, the reserves run in order) So again, why would Robinho be 18? Robinho was 18 when 18 players dressed. In other words, when 18 was the last available number. Take a deep breath redshift and just apply occam's razor.
Like I said. It's certainly possible that it was a coincidence. I conceeded that in the first post. I am just pointing out that Zagallo takes numbers very seriously. The fact that Ricardinho got the 20, and other behaviors/actions make me think that there is some personal animosity in the mix here. That is just my opinion.