Brazilian League Prime Example of Selecao Failings on International Stage

On Thursday night, I went to the Maracana, one of the most iconic stages in football the world over. The setting was a Campeonato Brasileiro match, the Brazilian league championship, and a meeting between Fluminense and Santos, two of the most traditional sides from the country’s prosperous south-east.

But in the vast concrete bowl capable of holding a shade over 78,000, a paltry crowd of 13,000 were present. And there, amid the rows of brand new yellow and blue seats, lay within the roots of the club game, some of the underlying problems so horribly exposed on the international stage over the last two tournaments in which the Selecao have competed.

High ticket prices, a hectic calendar and poor quality football are keeping supporters away in their droves.

As well documented on these pages over the last week, ex-players, journalists and fans have all piled in to the debate the fall from grace of the national side. But there has been little scraping below the surface, a true look at the real issues affecting the game in the country.

Felipe Dana/Associated Press

Perhaps that is because they are well established issues. Points that have been brought up, discussed even, but then met by a stony, stubborn wall in the form of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). But they are issues that are leaving a mass public disenchanted with the very sport that is one of its country’s greatest sources of identity and pride.

And Brazil are on the verge of losing that sense of being in relation to football. One of the most vociferous complaints about national coach Dunga, and the manner of the team’s elimination at the hands of Paraguay last Saturday night, was the negativity of the tactics.

When Robinho gave the Selecao the lead, the chance was there to kill the game off. To put the foot on the gas and take the game away from a side clearly more limited.

Instead, the opposite happened. The team sat back, inviting pressure, giving Paraguay a more than welcome way back into the game.

Silvia Izquierdo/Associated Press

What happened next could have been written in the stars, as the Paraguayans equalised from the penalty spot before advancing in the shootout. But in a way, it reflects the short-term thinking that riddles Brazilian club football.

In this corner of the world, it is said, a manager is only ever three games from the sack. Living in constant fear for their jobs does lead to managers who are understandably not bold enough to experiment, to find the right formation, the right blend, a different approach.

It is an approach that has permeated thinking at international level. No sooner had Dunga been reinstated at the helm of the Selecao ship that the vultures started circling.

It is an intense amount of pressure. Someone who was as bullish a player as the former captain, and who is as brisk and dry with the press as some of his answers to journalists’ questions can be, would seem an ideal fit for the role. But if some big decisions are anything to go by, even the seemingly thick-skinned Dunga ducked out of the most controversial calls of all.

Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press

When Danilo, the first-choice right-back since the World Cup, was forced to pull out through injury, Dunga did not rely on his reserve, the young Fabinho, to deputise, instead calling up veteran Daniel Alves and drafting him straight into the team.

There was little improvisation in midfield when it was revealed Luiz Gustavo would not be fit enough to make the 23-man squad. Rather, the most conservative call was made, a minimalist shift, shunting Fernandinho into a position which did not suit his talents or his natural instincts.

It raised the question, which is still relevant: Was the manager playing it safe through an ingrained conservative attitude? Was he already fearing for his job? 

It must be hoped, indeed demanded, that Dunga learn from these mistakes. But the more pressing alterations must be made across the board.

The scrapping of the state championships, a shorter season and sensible kick-off times would be at least a start, and is something that Bom Senso FC, the player-run movement to fundamentally change the club game, has had some success with implementing.

But it is unrealistic to prop up the national team on the shoddy state of domestic football. Sooner or later, something has to snap.

Over at the Maracana, Fluminense beat Santos 2-1. The Rio side have recently lost their biggest sponsor, Unimed, and they have been forced to sell a host of young potential stars simply to pay player salaries.

Back in Brazil, the game marches on, unfettered, unfazed. The time for change is ripe.