World Cup rant: The Brazil Love Affair

I am getting sick and tired of sports journalists crying into their cups/glasses/assorted beverage receptacles over the departure of Brazil from the World Cup. With Brazil's elimination, it seems that that the tournament has lost its chance to have a star illuminate the canvas, as Pele and Maradona once did. Apparently, the absence of a Latin American team in the semi-finals meant that "the party has suddenly gone flat", as one commentator pontificated in today's TODAY paper.

Sorry, but have these people been watching the same tournament as us? Sure, it would have been great it Ronaldinho & Co. had stuck around, but only if they had been playing the way they do for their clubs. Patently, they were not. Brazil were underperforming, and in the 5 matches they played in this World Cup, they came nowhere close to exciting the senses or sending the neutral spectator into raptures.

Enough with this idolatry of a team which is far lesser than the sum of its parts. As a football lover, I wanted Brazil's famed quartet to make our hearts sing and our pulses quicken. On the rare occasion, they almost did but never has so much promise delivered so little. The exit of this Brazil team playing with this little inspiration is NOT a great tragedy. The tournament would not be the poorer for it.

This bemoaning of Brazil's loss detracts from the tournament's true unfortunate casualty - Argentina. This was the team that showed the flair of Latin American football, the sheer joy of movement, the gasp-inducing feats of deft touches, delicate flicks and of course, the ubiquitous back-heel. In the end, they were stymied when they reverted against type (and instinct), but their collective World Cup display had won them fans, or at least indifference from traditional Argentina-haters. This year's Brazil might not have lost fans, but certainly did not convert the neutral.

Let us not forget that there is one semi-finalist that played as we would have liked Brazil to have played. I speak of Brazil's conqueror - France. Sure, we lost Brazil and with them, the potential for pyrotechnics from the three R's, Adriano and Kaka. But in losing Brazil, we got France and the pyrotechnics have already been on full display from their resident magician, Zidane.

To those Brazil-blinkered journalists, is Zidane's virtuosity somewhat lessened by not being South American? If Ronaldinho had played as Zidane had in the last 2 matches, I have a feeling these same journalists would be hailing his contribution as being on par with Maradona's 1986 heroics. Surely a great performance is a great performance, whichever country the player is from?

If there is a school of thought that South Americans have a genetic birth-right denied to others, well, there will be a Brazillian in the semi-finals. Portugal's Deco was born in Brazil and even spots the trademark single moniker. Big Phil Scolari, Portugal's coach is of course Brazillian, and some of his essential Brazillian-ness might rub of on the team. Heck, at the risk of dredging up ugly colonial history, let me point out that Portugal settled Brazil ages ago and a great many Brazillian footballers probably have some Portuguese genes in them.

If people need the Brazillian ideal in order to wax rhapsodic over the "People's Game", Portugal is the ready-made stand-in. For me, what I mourn is not Brazil's exit, but the fact that the Brazil that we hoped to see simply did not turn up. Of the eight quarterfinalists, Brazil put up the 2nd worst performance (only second to Ukraine who were hopelessly outclassed). There was no injustice in their exit; only the most churlish would deny that France outplayed them comprehensively and were not only more tactically sound, but also more attractive on the eye. To me, that is the ultimate indictment of this Brazillian team; that they were ultimately rather dull.

But no duller than journalists who resort to the cliches of South Americans as romantic artists and Europeans as pragmatic artisans. The last great "artistic" Brazillian team was the one in WC 1982. They were superlatively entertaining and did not win the title. Since then, Brazil has been hard-nosed, professional and as pragmatic as any German team. As a corollary, Europe has had its share of entertaining teams that played beautiful football - primarily the Dutch teams in the Cruyff days and more recently in 1998 (their quarter-final against Argentina, to me, remains a World Cup classic), and of course, the free-flowing France of the golden generation. To stick doggedly to the LatAm-Europe dichotomy is just plain LAZY journalism.

Rant over. Next - football commentators and the Dread of Dead-Air.