Brazzil
World Cup
June/July 2002
BRA5IL
As the Italian referee, Pierluigi Collina, blew the final whistle, signaling the end of regulation time in Japan's Yokohama stadium, millions of delirious fans around the world cried, hugged and danced, simultaneously letting out a sigh of collective relief while they watched Brazil win its fifth World Cup soccer championship. Brazil had just clinched a 2-0 victory over Germany in a much anticipated final match.
Brazil's team captain, Cafu hoisted up the FIFA World Cup trophy, cradling it like an infant in his hands. As he did so, he seemed to fulfill the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of practically every Brazilian and many a non-Brazilian, who looked at this moment with an indescribable joy. It was not just a victory for Brazil, but really for the whole game. While fireworks exploded in the background, Cafu and his teammates had every reason to be ecstatic. Putting behind them a ghost from the past, in the form of the unfortunate loss in the 1998 World Cup to France, they had rightfully claimed their stake as the greatest soccer playing nation in the world.
This June 30, Brazilians became penta campeões, five time champions. Hundreds of millions of people, in every time zone gathered around their television sets, many bursting into a sort of impromptu global party, tuning into the most watched sporting event on the planet, (an estimated more than 1.5 billion people watched the final game live)
With emotions running high in Brazil, crowds spilled into the streets, beaches and city centers to join in the euphoria that would sweep every part of this great nation for at least the next few days. During the final match, churches postponed masses, businesses remained shuttered, and traffic virtually ceased to exist as the entire country came to a standstill, glued to watch their team play thousands of miles away, in the first World Cup championships to be held on Asia soil. For ninety minutes, the world witnessed Brazil's original and unique way of playing soccer, jogo bonito, the beautiful game!
The victory couldn't have been sweeter as it also marked a milestone in soccer history. Brazil is the only nation in the world to win the FIFA World Cup championship five times. These include wins in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and now 2002.
The Beginning
The World Cup's origin goes back to 1904, to the formation of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), when European football associations from France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland banded loosely together to create a transnational football body. FIFA would hold the first World Cup competition in 1930, in Montevideo, Uruguay. The aim of the competition was to determine the best soccer playing nation in the world. Only four European teams played in the first competition. The lack of convenient mass transportation and other logistical hurdles made the first few decades of the FIFA World Cup a narrow affair. Brazil it the only country that participated in every single World Cup since its beginning.
Played every four years since then (except during World War II), today the FIFA World Cup has become a truly global championship, with qualifying matches starting as early as two years before the actual month of the final competition. As weaker teams are eliminated in a league format, the final group selection (groups determine how teams are paired up in the opening matches of the competition) is greeted with much interest in practically every corner on the earth.
The 2002 Games
In the 2002 competition Brazil found itself in a group nested with Costa Rica, Turkey and China. With an "easy" group selection, Brazil was expected to at least make it to the next knockout stage of the competition, which is after the league stage. Not much was expected beyond that point. To say Brazil has come a long way would be an understatement. After almost being eliminated in the qualifying round, Brazil went through dozens of players and four coaches before deciding on the final player and coach selection, which would represent it at the 2002 FIFA World Cup being jointly hosted by Korea and Japan.
Their first opening match brought forth an average performance against Turkey, which was considered a reasonably strong European contender. After this initially hiccup, Brazil went on to finish at the top of their group, as subsequent wins over China and Costa Rica came more easily. A 2-0 win over Belgium in the knockout stage, saw Brazil pitted against England in the quarter-finals. England, another much touted team in this competition, could not hold up against the relentless Brazilian onslaught and despite conceding a goal early on in the game, due to a tragic error by a Brazilian defender, Brazil recovered to win 2-1.
In the semi-finals Brazil faced Turkey again. However this time around, the Brazilians were more prepared and even a spirited Turkish fight would not hold as Brazil emerged victorious to meet Germany in the final. It was the first ever match up between the two giants. Germany is a three time World Cup winner against Brazil's four previous wins (excluding 2002).
The Three Rs
If there were three names, which dismantled an opponent's defenses in the 2002 championship, they would have to be Brazilian strikers Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho. The triangular offense they created managed to evade and eventually defeat every team that Brazil would play. Their combination of both individual skill and a synchronized effort, allowed Brazil to channel a lethal attack from which most opponents could not recover.
Ronaldo would score eight goals in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, earning him the Golden Boot award (given to the highest goal scorer in the tournament). Affectionately called the "phenomenon", comparisons between Ronaldo and Pelé (the Brazilian considered to be the best soccer player to have ever played the game) abound, and probably will continue to be made in the future.
Ronaldinho, another forward, proved his mettle in the game against England, when a free kick he made 35 yards from the goal, snaked its way over the English goalkeeper and gave Brazil the lead. He would prove to be crucial in Brazil's front-flanked strategy. Rivaldo, the third person in the three-man Brazilian offense, had his own share of goals which tallied five when the competition ended in Yokohama.
In the month that the competition was held, each of the three men would become household names, and the subject of numerous coffee shop conversations everywhere. Collectively, called the three Rs, they worked effectively to break down defenses previously thought to be unbeatable.
The 2002 Final
In the final match, after a goal-less first half against a resilient German defense and several near misses, the Brazilians seemed to concede control of the ball to the German side much of the time. However, in the 67th minute, Ronaldo put the team ahead, with a quick shot into the net off a deflection, from the German goalkeeper, Kahn. Twelve minutes later, a pass from the right forward confused the German defense, when Rivaldo faked a shot at goal. Instead he simply skipped over the ball. The ball now found its way to Ronaldo, who skillfully kicked it past the goalkeeper and found the net. Germany's fate was sealed and the Brazilians never looked back.
Brazil, is probably the only country in the world where the actions of the national soccer coach are scrutinized more than its leading political leaders. Brazil's samba-style soccer, has endeared it to fans around the world. It includes a graceful handling of the ball, using quick short passes, punctuated with sudden unexpected flashes of individual brilliance.
When the current coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, was selected for the Brazilian squad he knew he had his work cut out. With an uncompromising Brazilian press, he went into the competition knowing all too well the team's shortcomings. What he did have on his side was that he was not coaching just any team. This was Brazil. In the vast country, which samba calls home, soccer is more than a game. It's a part of the national psyche and identity. (Pelé often jokes that Brazilian children first learn to use their legs with a ball, before they learn to use them to walk)
Scolari, repeatedly had one comment for the Brazilian press as his team inched their way to the final. He used only one word. "Believe!"
Maybe now they just will.
As Henry Winter wrote in Great Britain's Sports Telegraph: "The No 9 with the panther's instincts enchanted all of Brazil by sweeping them to a fifth World Cup. He gained the gratitude of the watching world for making the closing night of this Oriental drama so fascinating and for showing that skill and adventure have a role to play on a stage dominated by coaches' strategies.(…)
That is why Brazil's triumph is so important. Their people cherish this trophy and they do it great honor by chasing it with such wit and enterprise. That is why Ronaldo cried, why their players knelt in prayer offering up thanks for this magical moment, why Rio convulsed into an early carnival. As long as there is life in Brazilian football, the world's game will reign. If Germany had prevailed, the face of football would have carried a look of frustration, not elation."
Benjamin D'Souza ( benjamin_dsouza1@yahoo.com), is a writer who lives and works in Toronto, Canada. His interests include traveling and Latin America.