Brazil stuck on second gear

(Guest blogger Raam Shanker reviews how Australia rattled Brazil and almost caused an upset.)

It was a great occasion as two giants of recognisable international sporting accolades stepped up to face each other earlier today in the Allianz Arena, Munich. Brazil, five times and reigning World Champions against Australia, former two-time Rugby and three-time Cricket World Champions. It was an occasion for me to remember too, as two men, sharing their birthday with me were playing for opposite teams, Ronaldo of Brazil and Kewell of Australia, born on 22nd September!

A little peek into Australia’s culture and particularly sporting culture will tell us that they have a long line of accomplished athletes who have won top honours in tennis, swimming, motor-sport, cricket, rugby and a host of other sports in various international events. However, the football World Cup is a bigger stage when compared with any other and for the first time in thirty-two years they were back in it and back in Germany. They had a lot to prove and three decades of virtual non-existence to make up for. Managed by Guus Hiddink, whose reputation precedes the man, himself, the Socceroos gave us a taste of their resilience and never-die spirit by coming back from 1-0 down to net three goals in the last six minutes against Japan in the previous game.

Brazil, on the other hand were reigning champions and were the strong favorites to win, despite a poor showing against Croatia, with Ronaldo being the disappointment of the tournament, so far. It was end-to-end action, right from the word go, with both sides missing well-created chances by shooting wide. For Brazil, the culprit turned out to be Ronaldo, again and again. His worst moment came just after a half hour, when he missed the ball from point blank range, only for the Australian defenders to scramble it away in haste. For the Aussies, it was Viduka, Emerton and Bresciano. The first half certainly looked as if it belonged to Australia as they went off the field confident and in control.

The second would look different, at least it would start differently. Four minutes in, Ronaldo’s most sensible decision so far in the tournament was to pass the ball across to Adriano after being surrounded by the Aussie defence. It paid off as Adriano broke the deadlock! 1-0 to Brazil! Any team would have gone down after going down by a goal but not Australia! The goal seemed to have woken them up and they piled on chance after chance, but without success. The attempts from Viduka, Kewell and Bresciano flew all over the place but the goal. The scales again tilted towards Brazil’s favor as Kaka and Robinho threatened the Aussie goal and Schwarzer was made to work by Kaka. Back at the other end, Bresciano was at it again and Dida was forced to scramble. We were recovering from this and Kaka was already posing a threat to Schwarzer’s goal. In the blink of an eye, it was Viduka, attempting damage on Dida’s goal but missing it by a whisker on two occasions! Phew! I am tired writing imagine life out there!

The final minute of regular time saw Brazil snatch a second one, courtesy of Fred, who tapped the ball into an empty goal from a Robinho rebound. Soon, the game was over, 2-0 and what a game! This epic match between David and “Goliath” of international football saw David win eventually but Goliath put up an impressive show. The Aussies had some great chances and wasted them but they made Brazil play hard for the win.

Trust me, it was not at all easy for Brazil. Australia committed twenty-five fouls in the game, three more than their opening game against Japan. Not a good sign at all. Brazil will be better off not starting with Ronaldo. One look at his expression took me back to Paris, eight years ago, to that fateful night of the final against France. The body language between Ronaldo and coach, Pereira suggested that they were falling out with each other.

As usual, my questions:

• Will Ronaldo start against Japan?
• How much more of Ronaldo will we see in international football?
• How far will Australia go?
• Does Brazil truly deserve to win this time, especially with Argentina, Italy, Holland and Germany putting up impressive performances?

And you know where the answers are; out there!

(Raam Shanker believes England will win the World Cup)