In the 2006 Soccer World Cup, defending champions Brazil exited in the Quarter-finals losing to eventual finalists -France. Before the world cup began, the media and the pundits were already crowning the Brazilians as champions for the record sixth time. They did have players who had experience and multiple "world player of the year" in their ranks like - Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and emerging stars like Kaka and ageing stars like Cafu and Roberto Carlos. They therefore had the right ingrediants for success but were eventually beaten by a team that played more with passion and creativity. If you tried to analyze the reasons why Brazil failed to win, it can be safely said that they lacked creativity and passion in their play. They never made anything special happen on the field. You cannot hold age against the brazilians because they were beaten by an even older team - France. Brazil had after all the right mix of youth and experience.
The passion for the game is tremendous in Brazil, just like the passion for cricket in India. Remember this -"It‘s a hard moment for us," offered head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira. "It‘s very hard when a Brazil squad is beaten in the quarterfinals. I wasn‘t prepared - no one was prepared to leave. No one thought we‘d leave before the finals." Famous last words.
The media had this to say about Brazilian playersThe defenders Roberto Carlos and Cafu were too old, and that Ronaldo was too fat, Adriano too slow and Ronaldinho too timid on the World Cup stage. And that Parreira was too powerless or too stubborn to do anything about it
Parreira, certainly, will swallow a huge portion of the blame. He named his starting lineup a month before the tournament, and it was based less on recent form than lifetime achievement. Adriano was struggling with Italian club Inter Milan. Cafu was coming off knee surgery. Roberto Carlos hadn't played defense in years. Ronaldo was out of shape and out of sorts.
Didn't matter. They all started.
Now you go make the judgement on Indian cricket.
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