Inside scoop! Meet our managers!

May 3rd, 2006 | by: Euler Costa | Comments(2)

I woke up this morning already thinking what would rock my football world (yesterday). After a big long yawn I was going for the kitchen but then I thought: coffee is always better with the newspaper. As I tried to remove part of my mane from my face I got the newspaper at the front door. A little box caught my attention: Parreira and Zagallo talk to press and fans today. Free tickets delivered at the door. Well, I would shoot myself if I didn’t get in that event. So I cancelled everything scheduled for the afternoon to get prepared for the debate. Fans would be allowed to write some questions too, so I got mine printed, my camera powered and my CF card emptied.

I left home with 90 minutes in advance not to miss the opportunity to get one of the 250 tickets. At the newspaper (O Globo) building there were about 50 people already waiting, so I was fine. At the line there were other guys as eager as me to see the managers of our golden squad. We talked a lot about everything World-Cup-related. Argentina and Germany ware mentioned to be our greatest concerns. Someone said England too, but we all agreed that Rooney should be well, so we can face their full strength. Enough with excuses, right?

Ok, ok, you want to know what Parreira and Zagallo said, right? But wait! Americo Faria was there too! He is the general supervisor of the Seleção. He is a strategist, responsible for all the planning for the competition. For an example, he said today that he must coach the family members of the team how to behave during an important competition like this. “I send time schedules for phone calls, because sometimes they may call during the Brazil evening, while in Germany it would be 3 am. So the family is advised to call only at the right hours, not to disturb meals, training and sleeping hours. The players are also advised to turn off the cell phones before going to sleep”.

Americo Faria was very celebrated after the debate, but Zagallo is a living legend and Parreira is the coach, so he had less pressure on him and he was very nice to allow me to take a picture with him.