The phase of the disappointment at large over the Brazil failure is over. The analysis has begun.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter joins in the debate:

“Ronaldinho didn’t have the room to play, ask his trainer,” said Blatter.

“He had too many players around him who want to be like him or think they are as good. The system didn’t work. It’s the first rule of football, like chess, that some should run and defend while others make the play.”

Spot on. A lot of people have jumped at the throat of Ronaldinho for being disappointing. Ronaldinho has been brilliant for Barcelona in the last couple of years. So how did he fail to show his magic this time?

A reason pointed out - Ronaldinho being the marked man. However, that holds true when Ronaldinho plays for Barcelona as well - even more so as he is much more dangerous than the players around him at Barca compared to Brazil. So that is definitely not the reason for his failure.

The difference between the teams - Barca has Eto’o while Brazil had Ronaldo and Adriano. Barcelona had Deco while Brazil had x,y and z. Ronaldinho is the perfect at creating chances. If you have a finisher who can utilise those chances, you score a lot of goals. Brazil didn’t seem to be working with a plan. Every one was a star but the team cohesion wasn’t there.

So every one wanted to create the chance and not leave it to 1 or 2 players. We have the issue of team selection as well. We have the issue of team selection as well. I would have played younger talents a lot more as I wrote here.

In the Brazilian interview, Victor had stated:

…from what I’ve seen with my own eyes, this the best team (or collection of players) ever, with a once in a generation player in Ronaldinho. And, from what I’ve read and heard in history, this team, talentwise, is up there with the all-time greats.

For me, that is the bigger reason for the disappointment over the Brazil failure more than because I am a Brazilian fan. The team had so much talent. The coaches are applauded when their teams win. So it won’t be extremist to say that the Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira missed quite a few tricks this world cup.

All the greats have had at least 1 great world cup. Many thought 2006 would be that for Ronaldinho. It wasn’t to be. 2010? It will be one of the many fascinating things to look out for four years down the line.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 8th, 2006 at 6:17 pm and is filed under Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.