WHO’S THE GREATEST NATION OF ALL TIME?
Four years on from the 7-1 semi-final thrashing that paved the way for their fourth World Cup win, Germany are on a fresh collision course with Brazil to find out...
AROUND the time when Carlos Alberto was being carried shoulder-high at Mexico’s Azteca Stadium while cradling the Jules Rimet trophy, a new phrase entered the lexicon of the millions of Brazilians watching on from afar in wonder.
‘Os ingleses o inventaram, os brasileiros o aperfeicoaram’ — which roughly translates as ‘The English invented it, the Brazilians perfected it’ — was more a statement of fact than some kind of hollow boast.
The swashbuckling manner of that 4-1 victory over Italy in the 1970 final, summed up by Pele’s nonchalant walking-pace assist for Alberto’s late screamer, ensured the South Americans would be eternally viewed as sporting deities.
For anyone with even a vague appreciation of the game, those canary yellow jerseys and light blue shorts immediately became synonymous with the finest international team ever assembled and with the nation all others aspired to be.
It would be 24 years before Dunga would next stand on a podium as a Brazilian World Cup-winning captain in Pasadena, but, by the time Cafu followed suit in Yokohama in 2002, the intervening lost years and near misses had been forgiven if not forgotten.
Explanations for the five stars on the jerseys from that point on were superfluous to requirements. With a World Cup on home soil to come in 2014, the prospect of anyone matching the feat seemed remote.
What transpired four years ago, of course, was a nightmare that many Brazilians will simply never come to terms with.
Comparable only to the shock of the 2-1 loss to Uruguay in the 1950 final, the 7-1 trouncing against Germany in the semi-final in Belo Horizonte was a humiliation on a truly unimaginable scale.
Most Brazilian fans were still in a state of disbelief when Mario Gotze’s winning goal against Argentina five days later won the trophy for Joachim Low’s side. Yet none would have failed to appreciate the significance of the Germans moving ahead of Italy’s three successes to go just one behind Brazil’s five.
This is what is on the line as both nations look towards a hopeful meeting in the final in Moscow on July 15. Not just the prospect of Germany becoming the first team since Brazil in 1962 to retain the trophy, but a claim to their throne.
What chance the anniversary of Low’s 12-year reign as manager of
Die Mannschaft culminating in justifiable claim that Germany, too, have now perfected a game invented by others? Not quite as certain as day following night, but not too far removed from it, either.
Because for all Brazil’s five World Cups still marks them out as the most successful nation in history, there is an argument that Germany are, in fact, the most successful tournament side.
Consider the fact that Germany have made it to four finals in addition to the four they have won. Brazil, on the other hand, have been runners-up just twice — in 1950 and when they lost to France in 1998.
Not every German side to reach the final has been vintage — 1982 and 2002 being notable cases. Yet, they still somehow found a way of getting there.
And if sub-standard squads like those can go the distance, there is little to suggest a side arriving in another European country as reigning champions will somehow lose their bearings.
They have already demonstrated a liking for Russia. Low’s decision to take a shadow squad to the Confederations Cup last summer was seen by some as contemptuous. The result — an inaugural victory — presented more problems for the manager of all the right kind.
Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker and Bastian Schweinsteiger may no longer be available, but the fact Leroy Sane failed to make the cut while Ilkay Gundogan may struggle for game time shows a staggering embarrassment of riches.
The only flickering doubts are the lack of game time Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng and Marco Reus have enjoyed with their clubs last season due to injuries, but they are almost imperceptible cracks in the armour.
And yet, for all the weight of evidence in their favour, Germany, in the eyes of the nation’s bookmakers, find themselves pegged just behind Brazil when it comes to the pricing of the side most likely to prevail in little over a month’s time.
This, in itself, is indicative of the remarkable journey the Selecao have belatedly been on since that fateful night four years ago.
Initially intent on burying its head in the sand after Luiz Felipe Scolari’s inevitable resignation, the Brazilian FA’s decision to reappoint Dunga — the most intransigent of characters — was the most retrograde of steps.
Two years later, with the qualifiers well underway, Brazil were sitting in sixth place and in serious danger of compounding the catastrophe on their own doorstep by failing to even make it to Russia. The saving grace for the nation came when Dunga’s side flopped spectacularly at an additional version of the Copa America staged in the US to celebrate the centenary of the tournament.
Dunga was promptly binned, with Corinthians coach Tite — the people’s choice to have have been given the job in the first place — finally put in charge.
The impact was immediate: Tite’s team won ten games, drew two, scored 30 goals and conceded just three to top the qualifying section by ten points.
The personnel changes were limited: Paulinho, then based in China, was recalled. Gabriel Jesus, a teenage forward set to join
Manchester City from Palmeiras, looked immediately at home at centre-forward.
By and large, though, the change in fortunes was fostered through the manager’s tactical nous — an ability to organise and ensure his side were as compact as they were in his time as a club manager.
his Brazil team may not set the pulse racing in the manner of the sides of 1970 and 1982, but they have an efficiency and effectiveness married with natural brilliance.
Charismatic and eloquent, Tite has charmed a nation that didn’t want to get out of bed again four years ago.
Much will depend, of course, on what mood he finds Neymar in and how he controls the superstar’s occasional acts of petulance. Unlike in 2014, though, when the striker’s fractured vertebra seemed to end the nation’s hopes, Tite’s system is not as reliant on one player — no matter how talented he may be.
Both Jesus and Philippe Coutinho also scored in their final warm-up game against Austria on Sunday and the sense of confidence and equilibrium within the squad could not be in greater contrast with the images of tear-stained faces at the end of that infamous night in Belo horizonte.
Since the first World Cup took place in 1930, only eight nations — Uruguay, Italy, germany, england, France, Spain, Argentina and Brazil — have triumphed.
Italy, the only other four-time winners, are not present this time around, while there is little expectation of Uruguay or england emerging victorious again.
Compelling cases can certainly be made for France and Spain adding to their sole victories, or Argentina winning a third crown.
But if, in the final reckoning, Brazil and germany emerge from the tunnel of the Luzhniki Stadium, it will have a billing without compare.
A battle for the title of the greatest football nation of all-time does have a certain ring to it.