Ricardo Teixeira, the president of CBF (Confederação Brasileira de Futebol, Brazil’s national soccer federation), said today in a business meeting with a new sponsor for the NT that "O que aconteceu em 2006 certamente não voltará a acontecer mais com a seleção." (What happened in 2006 certainly will not happen again with the national team.") http://esporte.uol.com.br/futebol/ultimas-noticias/2009/08/17/ult59u200701.jhtm
It would be interesting to hear what his mistakes were. Did he provide protection and preferential treatment for certain players ? Did it go as far as influencing the starting lineup ? One thing they did not learn was the circus allowed during preparation. After 98 everyone mentioned there were too many business and media obligations that ultimately affected the team's performance. I think Parreira mentioned the same thing about 2006.
Never liked the man, never will. Since 1994 we've done quite well on the int'l stage, but I credit him not; rather, I credit the coaches and players who brought those respective trophies home. I am frank when I say that a failure to win it in 2010 will not shock me. It hurts when we lost, but if Dunga's team falters, I don't see it falling without fighting. In 2006, the team didn't even fight. With Dunga, and we can say anything about Dunga's coaching resume (only now developing with Copa America 2007 and the current #1 position in WCQ) not matching Parreira's, I cannot see this team losing without giving its 110% on the field. And I truly do doubt that the pre-tournament prep will have anything like that "circus," although the team did have 20 days together in Germany. I don't think it was just the circus. Ronaldo was overweight, RC and Cafu were way past their prime, etc. We should've played the team that played vs. Japan from day one - but the egos wouldn't have allowed it.
I hate when Teixeira says disingenous stuff like that. He was the lead circusmaster who sold everything: Got paid $2 million by Weggis, Swizterland to use the town as a training base for the 2006 World Cup. Got Weggis to spend another $1.1 million to build a 5000-seat stadium for practice, an indoor training field, gym, and media center. The five-star hotel was provided for free. Every single one the 45,000 tickets to watch Brazil practice was sold at $18 each (I'm guilty of paying to watch Brazil practice, but they shouldn't allow it) The team’s press officer stood among 500 international journalists covering a practice, “we’re like the Beatles, only we have to score goals.” Then, of course, Teixeira didn't seem to object when people lined the road for miles selling caipirinhas and samba or when women invadeded the field grabbing players. It's even more annoying to hear him as the team returns from the invaluable Estonia game.
Yeah, Cool Rob has a nice summary there. He deserves some credit for 1994. He deserves a lot more criticism for 1998 and 2006. There's too much of a "ja ganhou" attitude after we have a title and a good stretch and not enough work towards ensuring that we don't rest on our laurels. It's nice to say :never again" but it seems to be a cycle with him. Lose, say never again, win and end up repeating previous mistakes because you think you're invincible. I'd much rather see consistency.
I think like cool rob said, a lto of the problem in the selecao has always been at least partially attributed to Teixeira. He's one of the dirtier hands in football. In 2006, I always had a sort of dread about some of the players who just weren't doing well, were out of form, and ultimately distracted altogether. It was embarassing to watch Ronaldo as he could barely lift his legs after running around for 20 minutes. The pre-tournament prep can't have the same distractions this time because the personalities for Brasil are much different than in 2006, adn Dunga's more disciplinarian than Perreira. Though I do expect them to have crummy warm-up matches with sides like Taiwan or Yemen this time. rolleyes:. Also, being in South Africa instead of "home", in Europe for some of the players, will also make this one a bit different. Basically I think it should be better for the players to focus on the football. But then again with Teixeira, there's no telling what meddling he'll do to disrupt harmony.