Brazilian Summer Round-up: Transfer Debacles and the Olympic Journey

Well Hello everyone long time no see from the Brazil blog, but that pretty much happens when you’re an international blogger, a few WC qualifying games here and then nothing going down on the international front , but alas all us national football fans can rejoice by the up and coming Olympic games. The football maybe be amateurish at times, but the Olympics is a way for Fans of our respective nations to know who the new up and coming generation will be (Brazil really need this) too strengthen and shape our squad for WC2010. But before we analyse and scrutinise Dopey Dunga and the crop of players going to the Olympics, firstly let’s talk about the transfers and situations of our players going into this Olympics and up and coming season.

Ronaldinho and the AC Milan Story

On everyone’s mind this summer is Ronaldinho. Thank goodness his transfer debacle to AC Milan finnaly ended and went through because at Barca he was either going to commit suicide (jokes jokes), maybe retire our even more disappointing keep playing that lethargic and un-magical football I have seen for the past two and a half years. His Transfer to AC Milan can now begin the third and final part of his career, (Hopefully this can be the return of the King!!!) and bring back this magician. This season will tell if the world player of the year is back, or maybe that his time has come and he may be another player (Yes Ronaldo Luiz Nizario) who lost his love for the game he brought ‘Alegre’ to. These Olympics should tell us also if that smile is permanently back, because my god did he want to play in Beijing, a good signal of intent in my opinion, as he trained in Brazil for this opportunity, even managing to get Ricardo ‘Money Man’ Texiera to put him into the squad against Dunga’s wishes (this also could be a marketing ploy). For Milan his declarations have also been promising and his signal of intent gave us his smile too look at again, plus his letter to Barca fans and his revelations about ‘the worst period of his life’ at the Nou Camp (it happened with Maradona, Drugs and hepatitis, Rivaldo, nearly with Ronaldo, oh and Kluviert too I think. These bastards do have a track record with career mess ups) recently really did show he desperately needed a new start and phase in his life. All I could do is say good luck to Ronaldinho make me happy again and do it at one of the most prestigious clubs in the world. (Bit ageing, but if you have Paolo Maldini who cares!!!!! True legend, plus that tasty Brazilian trio with him Kaka and Pato)

Other news

Other Brazilians who have been on the move is Jo to Manchester City from the deep cold money rich kingdom of Moscow. Players such as Adriano, Robinho and Kaka could be on moves, (for me highly unlikely) Adriano looks to have settled in well and it could be a matter of time since the emperor could be back to his best as Mourinho’s appointment at Inter has brought Adriano’s sole back from the dead. Robinho seems increasingly edgy in Madrid thanks to the Cristiano ‘the fake’ Ronaldo’s transfer debacle all summer, which has edged him closer to Filepao at Chelsea. I think some of this anguish could have been caused by bad agenting and a mix of bad signals by Madrid. (Apparently using him as a middle man) in my opinion I think he should stay at Madrid, as at one point last season he was on fire with goals and assists, but on the other hand the Premiership could do something which could propel him to his full potential, bulk up the scrawny bastard, plus with a Brazilian coach at Chelsea this could be the perfect time. Hmmmm, watch out for this one but I think he will stay at Madrid. Kaka on the other hand has been subject to some bizarre offers of 80 million euros and so forth. These strange bids if one can believe can only be made by one nutter club and that is Chelsea. In my opinion Kaka is not going anywhere he is the big reason Italian football if coming up from their last 3 dark years and Milan won’t sell now as they have the ultimate Brazilian attack assembled with the coming of Dinho.

Olympic Front

Now that the transfers are out of the way the Olympics can be solely discussed. Dunga who has become coach of the Olympic squad as well (big disappointment, watch the senior team) will lead our boys into the tournament in which Brazil has never won. (With this coach I think this will happen again) the squad assembled for the Olympics are;

GOALKEEPERS
Diego Alves (Almería)
Renan (Internacional)
SIDEBACKS
Rafinha (Schalke)
Ilsinho (Shakhtar Donetsk)
Marcelo (Real Madrid)
DEFENDERS
Breno (Bayern de Munique)
Alex Silva (São Paulo)
Thiago Silva (Fluminense)
MIDFIELDERS
Anderson (Manchester United)
Lucas (Liverpool)
Ronaldinho Gaúcho (Barcelona)
Diego (Werder Bremen)
Hernanes (São Paulo)
Thiago Neves (Fluminense)

Ramires (Cruziero)
FORWARDS
Alexandre Pato (Milan)
Jô (Manchester City)
Rafael Sobis (Bétis)

Originally scheduled to take part was Robinho, but the Gringo’s at Madrid nearly took him to court, and promised him a lucrative (contract) to fake injury to not go to the Olympics. So Robinho did what he was told. Pretty shameless really, Robinho if you’re reading, go look at Leo Messi and see what it means to play for your country. I won’t be so harsh on him because he played the Copa America and so forth but Robinho sold out this time, maybe at this moment he needs to get his career sorted, but isn’t their any better than playing for Brazil to show your love for the game, you tell me.

Diego and Rafinha from the Bundesliga were more respectful of their call-ups and went AWOL from their clubs. That’s what it should take when the mother land call’s, now boys some vintage performances. (Diego that was for you) So with all these problems plus and idiot for a coach Brazil embark on their quest for Olympic gold.

On the friendly matches we got to see the line-up Brazil would try to implement. Against the Singapore side Brazil played with Breno, Alex Silva as centre backs, Rafinha and Marcelo as Laterals, the Volantes of Hernanes and Lucas, the two attacking midfielders of Anderson and Diego and Ronaldinho sitting deep and Pato playing as a striker. Brazil easily won which was easy to predict, Ronaldinho set up a nice goal for Diego, scored himself but looked tired, a little un-fit, but played with joy and clearly wanted to play for the team, pulling the strings with nice threw balls and inter-play. It was good to see but the opposition wasn’t a huge test. All in all the squad was only together for a short period and with Dunga as coach they were obviously disorganised. The midfield players were running into each other more often than not, with very little width in the middle of the pitch caused the team to build up deeper in the Brazilian half of the field in order to get away from the congestion in midfield. Against Vietnam the same thing was present as the match was similar in the manner in which the first friendly was played. The main positives were Ronaldinho who did play well but was having to play constantly with his back to the goal as a pure striker would meaning his creative burts and flashes were being fluttered out by tight defence around the box and num nut Diego and a very lost Anderson causing the midfield to become a too tight. Thiago Neves was another positive for me as he was the only other player who tried to provide width for the team and really penetrating towards the goal. His directness against Singapore should there frailties by giving Jo an easy header, plus his blasting finish gives Brazil an outside threat (anyone watch the Libertadores, how good was this guy???), and in my opinion he should’ve been starting for Brazil.

Brazil 1 Belgium 0

So onto the real challenge, the carrinha’s first opponents would be Belgium. The line-up was the same as the friendly matches, with Ronaldinho operating sort of in and around the inside-left position. Brazil as we have come to expect with Dunga were extremely poor and extremely disorganised. Anderson was an absolute joke to watch out there constantly ruining moves, he didn’t know where to play on the field or how to create space for movement. Sorry but the player at Gremio I can hardly remember, too much time in Europe at a young age has caused him to lose his Brazilian magic. Maybe he can still be a great player but not yet. Diego was another painful player to watch, he was also lost on were to play in midfield. For me the main problem was everybody was trying to play down the middle causing for the type of football in which I like to call ‘needle in the haystack’ One complete mess up in passing or one miss timed pass can lead to the attack to breakdown or each pass needs to be put through like a surgeons incision, and with a Dunga team this happens quite frequently! By having two clueless attackers in midfield the midfield core of Lucas and Hernanes couldn’t do what they do best, break from midfield and playmake for the team. Much of Brazil’s passing happened in their own field which was harmless to the Belgium teams sweeping counter attack. Belgium didn’t pose much of a threat, but were well organised in holding the Brazilian teams disorganised line. Ronaldinho started the first half slow and looked to try and play himself into the game, his partner Pato in attack was having a bad day, playing alone and too forward to cause a true threat or drop back to run at people. Marcelo at left back was the only true incision Brazil had going forward for the whole game. In the second half the match was pretty much more of the same, but only this time Ronaldinho started playing a little more like Ronaldinho. He was picking the ball up moving balls it into the box and looking for his team mates, by picking up the ball on the left wing making him more comfortable. He even managed one fancy old school R10 trick in the mix of that, still no way vintage no way better but a sign of things to come? Maybe. Pato was having a bad day as were the rest of the shambles of the Brazil team. The referring by the officials was close to illegal, with an array of cards and then the sending off of Kompany for no reason. This ultimately allowed Brazil to take the initiative and the break from midfield from Hernanes allowed Brazil to be Brazil for about 5 seconds. His goal was a well crafted effort with brilliant skill with a blistering finish. There still was more time for the referee to send of another Belgium player off to reduce them to 9 men. But the clash was a poor one, with Dunga again causing me to not expect much from Brazil. Do we really want them to win this competition and keep this buffoon in a job? HMMMM

The main man to blame for this would be the coach, after all this is his last hurrah at keeping his job, which is as speculated. Brazil can only go up from this terrible performance, Ronaldinho was Brazil’s best player but that didn’t take much. The defence looked at times solid but Belgium didn’t posses a constant threat. When they did threaten the centre backs of Breno and Alex Silva were exposed to the fact that they are two big men lacking agility allowing for spaces to appear. Thiago Silva who I believe is injured should start when fit maybe for Alex. The midfield is a shambles, Thiago Neves must start.

This link should provide good highlights

BBC