Goodbye, Big Phil
Twister struck after tornado. Brazil now reels from twin shocks. The proudest football-playing country on the earth found nowhere to hide as the Netherlands slapped them with a 3-0 defeat Saturday, three days after Germany's 7-1 thrashing.
The Orange humiliation could have been harsher even. Thanks to the pulled-hamstring of Sneijder, Brazilians could get some sort of respite. The margin of defeat could have been more humiliating if not the No. 10 Dutch had to sit out the match.
At the eye of storm, Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari could demonstrate little or no technical and tactical changes to restore some Brazilian pride. The Netherlands sliced through the Brazil defence with almost as much ease as Germany had, taking the lead within two minutes. Brazil, again, were all at sea: defence looking jittery despite Thiago Silva's return and attack making no difference with Jo on the field and out-of-form Fred on the bench. Only Oscar offered anything of note.
What's gone wrong with Brazil? And how an iconic coach like Scolari fell flat on his face? An endless debate and analysis will continue for sure until Brazil wins another World Cup.
There are expert opinions pouring in already: some urging Brazil to adopt European style, a few asking them to hire non-Brazilian coach, many suggesting complete overhauling of the game's infrastructure and so on. It all happens when you don't do well. Experts are born from nowhere, and everyone becomes wiser than you.
The blunt truth is that Brazil were not a team to go beyond quarterfinals. They were lucky to get into the semifinal. The team had a one-man attack, which relied solely on a talismanic 22-year-old to win the World Cup. Even if Neymar had played against Germany and the Netherlands, I don't think, the result would have been any different. Neymar is indeed a superstar, but Brazil need a couple stars around the superstar to be the champions. While Neymar shouldered the responsibility with a smile, the faces of Oscar, Bernard, Paulinho, Willian and others looked more than often nervous and troubled. One player who let down Brazil the most was Fred. Fred apart, most of the players are very young, and some of them are for sure going to dazzle the world football in a few years down the line. But at this World Cup, the presence of players like Kaka and Ronaldinho would have been done a world of good to this emerging generation and Brazil as well.
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Scolari's fall from the grace is huge. The scathing remark from Neymar's agent says it all: He is an "old jerk" who is "arrogant, repulsive, conceited and ridiculous". True, Scholari is defiant, disrespectful and eccentric. He tells journalists to go to hell and gives no damn to critics. He is like that as always; criticised for his antics, not for coaching. And he is the kind of a coach who goes all the way to get his job done. Let's not forget also he was the architect behind Brazil's fifth World Cup.
It will be hard for an old war horse like Scolari to leave Brazil on the downhill. Big Phil, who furiously protects his players, is not kind of coach who does the buck-passing. He will accept the whole responsibility of failure and bow out with his head high but heart bleeding.
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