Cafu says Brazil must learn how to play but supports Ancelotti's rebuilding
Brazil's World Cup wound is once again open and the only cure for Cafu will not be in tactics, systems, or another forensic?search?for scapegoats. The solution may be something much simpler, like letting kids kick a football without having to feel the 'weight 'of a country on their shoulders. The captain of Brazil’s 2002 World Cup winning side, who spoke a day after Brazil’s heartbreaking 2-1 defeat to Norway at the New York/New Jersey Stadium, where Erling haaland scored two goals to send the five-time champions home, said that the country should trust Carlo Ancelotti to do a proper rebuilding over a four-year period.
Brazil's wait to win a sixth title is now at least 28-years long, the longest barren streak in its history. Cafu was a member of the 1994 squad which ended a 24 year drought. He knows how that number looks on a Brazilian shirt.
He replied on Monday that the pressure facing the "next generation" was even greater. Imagine the pressure that existed in 1994 after 24 years. Now imagine it in 2030 after 28 years.
Cafu, the person responsible for the unveiling of an 8.47 metre long LEGO sculpture of World Cup in Rockefeller Plaza, New York City, on Monday, resisted the temptation to use hyperbole.
He said that Brazil will remain Brazil and be judged on "the potential and calibre of Brazilian Football", which is why patience and perseverance are so important.
He said, "It is not the end." "It is the beginning of a new era and a new generation. We have to believe that Carlo (Ancelotti), the Brazilian coach, will help Brazil to win the title again."
ANCELOTTI inherited an emergency
Ancelotti, Cafu’s former AC Milan manager, believes that the cycle begins with time. Brazil’s chaotic pursuit of Ancelotti before this World Cup did not allow him to have enough. Cafu claimed that after three caretaker manager and administrative turmoil, Ancelotti had inherited a team more like an emergency.
Cafu stated that "Ancelotti entered this World Cup in order to put out a flame, if you will." "He took over the steering of a ship already in motion. He tried to turn the ship around mid-journey, but he failed.
"Now, he will take the ship while it is docked and be able set it to its exact course."
Cafu is more concerned about the youth teams and academies, where he believes that Brazil's sense of innovation has been stifled by the adult 'urgency'. Cafu believes that the country which once produced full-backs who covered entire flanks while smiling is now muddled in its job description.
He said that youth teams don't develop full-backs as they should. He said that a fullback must be able to play on both flanks.
Cafu also believes that Brazil has confused winning early with development.
He said: "Today, we are not developing players. We're developing competitors." When you create a youth program where you are required to win, it will develop competitors. You won't develop athletes who have creative freedom.
He accepts that nostalgia cannot restore the romance of street soccer. His memories are from another Brazil, with tarmac, torn nails, and bare feet.
"That's changed. He said that it would never return. "We were lucky to have lived in that time, that era."
The goal is to preserve the spirit of the game's past in the modern version, not to recreate it.
Cafu said, "Let the children be children." "A child at eight should be laughing, playing with a soccer ball and having fun."
The simplest possible coaching manual was then created.
He said, "It's just like building with Lego." You put the pieces one by one, and you enjoy yourself without even realizing that you are learning a new skill. (Reporting and editing by Ed Osmond, Fernando Kallas)
(source: Reuters)
