What was that?
Well, well... the 6th star dream will have to wait another 4 years... I was never really in the hype with those (most people in here, believe me!) who though Brazil would have a sunday drive to get to the 2006 title, but nevertheless I felt somewhat angry and ashamed on how it happened... I don't see a point in finding culprits or anything, but I guess we have to take some lessons from this. Some older people are comparing this campaign with the (awful) 1966 one... Indeed, the team (and the coach) seemed to sure we would win whenever and however we wanted that the focus switched from the title (which, in their minds, would come anyway) to individual records and so on - and the old guys tell me that this was the same feeling they had in 1966. So, we heard a lot about Ronaldo breaking Gerd Muller's 14-goal record (what he did, scoring the 15th), Cafu breaking the record of matches played in the WC history, and so on, but we heard very little about tactical alternatives (a Plan B, in case something didn't work as expected), all the criticism on our (old and slow) side-backs and on Ronaldo's shape were left aside as if they were all "details", because the three guys had too much of a history to be left in the bench on this historical 2nd title in a row... As you see, it all sounded as if the World Cup itself wasn't something we should bother with, but rather we should be thinking about the title party...
Anyway... I've always had my unresolved issues with both Parreira and Zagallo (old-time readers may remember that), but as I said it isn't time to do a witch hunt or anything (OK, ok... I wouldn't mind seeing both together on a long queue to pick their unemployment fund somewhere), but I think it would be wise to use this opportunity to do a great reshuffle in the team - and I intend to use this opportunity to take this page back to its origins, too, focusing on the young players that aren't yet known worldwide or anything...
Oh... and, as I can never leave without giving some oppinions and names, if I were to call some guys for a "fresh start" now I'd build a team with: Gomes (PSV); Cicinho (Real Madrid), Alex (PSV), Luisao (Benfica) and Fabio Aurelio (Sevilla); Josue (Sao Paulo), Renato (Sevilla), Kaka (Milan) and Ronaldinho (Barcelona); Robinho (Real Madrid) and Fred (Lyon). Some other guys that would have some chances are Nilmar (Corinthians - forward), Thiago (Sao Paulo - forward), Rafael Sobis (Internacional - forward)...
Guilherme
4x1 Against Japan (with some new names in the field)
Hey there... today Brazil made its best match so far in WC2006, with many new names on the field... Robinho played well, proving that indeed Brazil needs to have at least one agile and light forward... Juninho proved that having a great long-distance shooter can be vital... Cicinho showed that the right wing finds a new life with a younger player aboard... And, finally, Gilberto Silva showed that Emerson's infamous go-and-take-down style isn't at all necessary. All in all, I think Parreira has found himself a great (and nice) headache...
WC2006 is here (and my update isn't!)
Hey there (does anybody really read those things I put here?)... So, WC2006 is already flying high and, surprise, I haven't made the long-promised update... Indeed, I found myself thinking that this page might return to what was its original purpose, i.e., to talk about players that aren't famous yet... It's quite easy to find info on any of the 23 players that went to Germany (24, if you count Edmilson) - most World Cup related websites whould have a decent profile of them -- for instance, there's a quite good profile of the whole squad in the Brazil page in the official WC2006 site.
Anyway... for those who care to read about my oppinions on that team, I'd say the following:
Well... I think that's it. Just a big excuse me for those who believed I would be able to put on an upgrade for the World Cup...
Good World Cup!
Guilherme
Happy New Year!
Hey! Happy 2006 for all of you -- specially as this may be the year when we'll add a 6th star to our yellow jersey... who knows?
I'm still owing all of you a decent update... I'd say that 90 percent of our present team isn't featured in here, so this gives an idea of how outdated all this is... On the other hand, I didn't want to get rid of all the old data, so I'm still figuring out what to do... And, also, I still want to get my PhD. done sometime before the World Cup, so you guess time is quite short in here...
Anyway, please feel free to keep on browsing through these pages... I hope you'll find something interesting!
A (very) Small Addition!
OK... This is no real update or anything, but I've just added a small "fun facts" page, with something about tactics and something about the National Team name...
Horizon? What Horizon? ;-)
Well, well... it's been almost a full year since I last had an update in my horizon, and it's still there: far and untouchable, just like the horizon... ;-)
I sware, I still intend to update these pages and add up something about the bunch of great new players who came up during the last years, but a PhD is something of a full-time job for me nowadays (and so are marriage and my real full-time job), so I guess things don't really look good from that angle...
Some news from the front, though... Yesterday Ronaldinho Gaucho was voted the best football players in 2004 by FIFA, something he really deserved... We mustn't forget, also, that Falcão was voted the best futsal player in 2004, too (and futsal is what we brazilians really play most of the time, and the place where most of our football greats learned most of their tricks... if you have a chance, DO watch this Falcão guy play!)
Also, Santos won the Brazilian title again, with Robinho and Ricardinho being the most important men on their run (IMHO).
Well... I hope to see you back here soon! And don't lose your hopes on that update thing... I still haven't! ;-)
Guilherme Zahn
PAGE UPDATE ON THE HORIZON!
After a long and silent winter, I'm starting to work on a new update - and, hopefully, some cosmetic changes, too - to be on line soon... After all, there's plenty of exciting news to talk about: the World Cup Qualifyer, the Olympic Qualifyer and even some quite promising players in the U-21 Team that played in the Pan-American Games... so, please wait! I'm still thinking on how to arragne all that in the page without making it too confusing or having to take info out... But believe me, it'll all soon be here!
NEWS! The Brazilian Championship is Over, and Santos defeated Corinthians twice to get a much-awaited title!
The 2002 Brazilian Championship just ended yesterday and, after two wins - 2x0 and 3x2 - over Corinthians, Santos claimed themselves their first important title in 18 years!
Some great new players emerged during this Championship, and I'd like to point out some of these:
I could point out many more, but you'll have to wait until my next update... (on January, I hope! ;-)
WE WON!!!!!!!!!
Five stars... soon there won't be any space left on our jerseys!
My congratulations for "Felipão" Scolari (if someone could claim responsible for the title, he would be the one), Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Marcos and all of the guys, even Dida and Rogério Ceni, who never had the chance to feel the World Cup taste for real...
A quick note: I've just added a section with the rosters for the 2002 World Cup squad! Take a look!
Welcome to the NEW Brazilian Soccer Players homepage!
This site contains biographies, rosters and info about the players that have been called to play for Brazil in the 2002 World Cup, as well as on some players that could/should/might have been called; there's also info on some other players that have been around since 1995, when this page was born!
Don`t forget to visit the "news" section, where you may find fresh news about the Brazilian National Team (including the list of selected players) and some info on the players called recently, some of which may not be present in the other pages yet!
I hope you'll all enjoy the visit!
Guilherme Soares Zahn
The pictures contained in these pages were all downloaded from the Internet; if you believe any copyrights may have been offended, please let me know!
Although I've tried my best to be impartial, the contents of this site may reflect my own personal oppinions.
If, for any reason, you came straight to this page and is viewing it in full screen (i.e., there's no menu on the left), please follow this link to get to the original page, where you'll find the complete site:
© - Guilherme Soares Zahn - 1995-2005