Shocking Brazil by Fernando Duarte

Author:Fernando Duarte [Duarte, Fernando]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857908025
Publisher: Birlinn

‘You play there. Is there anything you want to say about them?’

Santana waited until the end of his team-talk to address Falcão. Of all the 22 Brazilian players in the 1982 World Cup, the curly-haired midfielder had most reason to feel anxious about the winner-takes-all game to be played on 5 July. Living and working in Italy, he would be facing well-known opponents. And Falcão was worried that his team-mates had got the wrong idea after the Italians had stumbled past the finishing line to get out of the group stage. ‘Some of the lads were teasing me and saying it must have been quite easy to earn a living in Serie A,’ he remembers. ‘But I did tell them Italy were a much better team than their results had suggested – which was something the lads could finally see when we went to watch Italy v Argentina.’

When prompted by the manager, Falcão expressed his worry about the possible threat of left-back Antonio Cabrini, who had added to the Azzurri’s attacking armoury. ‘I knew Claudio Gentile would try to mark Zico out of the game the same way he had done with Maradona,’ said Falcão. ‘So I suggested Zico should try to veer more to the right so that he would force Cabrini to stay back more. In the end, though, it was decided that we would keep things as they were, with Zico more centralised.’

It was typical application of the ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ principle and few could blame Santana for thinking he was doing things right. Brazil had convincingly disposed of the Argentines and up to that moment had a tally of 13 goals to three in four matches, while the Italians had conceded the same amount and only scored four. In the knockout stages, both teams had beaten Argentina but Brazil had a better goal difference, which meant that they only needed a draw to progress. This had had a bearing on Falcão’s tactical advice.

Had Italy been in the same position, they would certainly have parked the bus. Bearzot, their manager, had developed a system that improved on Italy’s famous catenaccio. He knew how to close down the opposition. But Bearzot also knew his team had a formidable opponent to overcome in Barcelona and that Italy’s victory over Argentina couldn’t hide the fact that Paolo Rossi, his main striker, had yet to score in the competition, giving grist to the mill for those who had questioned his presence in the squad from the outset. The Italian media were screaming for the manager to drop the disgraced striker. Rossi was not feeling too good about himself either and his confidence had not been helped by Brazil’s momentum. ‘They did not look from this planet,’ said Rossi. ‘That Brazil side was the best I had seen. Those players could have worn blindfolds and they would still have known where each other were. As for me, I felt like I was still learning to play football again after the two-year suspension.

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