World Cup 2014 – The Match Nobody Wanted

Photo: Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters

The Brazilian football fan was afraid for another, maybe not a massacre, but at least a loss against Holland. And the Dutch they didn’t give a damn. The 3rd place isn’t of any glory to them.

Where I live, my neighbours, all of them, except the youth, were convinced that Holland would win this match. Nobody had any confidence in the performance of the “canaries”. Their glorious time is over. For everybody it’s now finally clear, what already was for the insider, that Brazilian football is bankrupt.

As a kind of penance, Brazil and Holland treaded the football field of the stadium Mané Garrincha in Brasilia at 17h on this Saturday, for a most thankless mission: disputing the third place in the World Cup tournament. None of the players would have liked to be there. Especially the Brazilians. Whatever the outcome of the game, it is almost certain that it will not outmatch the 7-1 applied by Germany in the semi-final. On the contrary, another defeat will only be a further ingredient on the list of mistakes made during this World Cup.

The preparations for the game took place in a setting that seemed tailored. On Friday, the training ground of the Brazilians in Granja Comary in Teresópolis, had one of the coldest mornings since the beginning of the World Cup. It was raining heavily. The environment was as uninviting for a workout as the spirit of the players.

In recent days, the coaching staff made a great effort to motivate the team. There were meetings with players that rather than pointing out the many errors committed during the massacre imposed by the Germans treated to mobilize the team for the match against the Netherlands.

– Life moves on. All we will pursue other goals. The first is the third place in the World Cup. This is becoming our new dream – Felipão Scolari said at the news conference last Wednesday.

If there is something that can move Felipão then it’s the rivalry with Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal. At the beginning of the World Cup, uncomfortable with the table of the third round, which placed Brazil to play ahead of the Netherlands, with an advantage to “choose” his opponent in the quarter-final, Van Gaal publicly complained. Felipão responded by saying that such claims were from someone “stupid or malicious”. Felipão returned to give prickly jabs to his rival when the Netherlands was ranked to the quarterfinals with a dubious penalty on Robben. On Friday, Van Gaal returned to claim they had a day less to Brazil to prepare for the match for the third place. A game that, according to the Dutch should not even exist.

The Brazilian players are still getting fan support. Although I read that at the time of half-time the fans started booing. But who cares. Not the players. I read that the third place pays 22 million USD and the fourth place 20 million. It’s a nice moneybox for 90 minutes football, booing or no booing.

I wrote this article an hour before the match started. I’m looking at the second time and it’s 0 – 2 in favour of Holland. The match is over 3 – 0 for Holland. It certainly isn’t a massacre as with the Germans and Holland isn’t at his best in this World Cup, but it’s crystal clear that something has to be done to improve Brazilian football and bring it back to its glory days.

And what now after the World Cup?

Brazil lost with seven (from Germany and three from Holland), Argentina goes to the final. What can be worse than this?
Paying the bill of the World Cup?!