Brazil football team had more hanging on the outcome of this year’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa than most. After all, a victory would complete a tidy hat trick of trophies for Selecao. After all, they’ve won a cup on every other continent on which they’ve played.
Winning in South Africa should be no problem, right? Of course, there are a few other pretty good teams to be beaten, but Brazil knows it has to win. They are not strangers to winning at the Cup, but still, Brazil faces the somewhat daunting prospect of being “required to win” by their devoted fans who seem to have decided that winning the Cup is their due.
In 1970, the Pele stole the show and helped the Brazilian team took home the actual Jules Rimet Trophy. Sadly, the trophy was later stolen and most believe it was melted down and sold. They last won a Cup in 2002 when they labored to reach the tournament that was hosted in South Korea and Japan. This year, however, Dunga and the Brazilian squad cruised into Johannesburg top of their group.
Still, the squad is feeling the pressure to bring home the Cup and please the throngs of fans that are nearly rabid about regaining the World Cup Title. The players, however, are trying to keep some perspective.
Just after they beat archrival Argentina to secure their qualification, Kaka (a key player on the Brazilian squad) noted that it was imperative that his team “learn to live without the favorite’s tag”. Adding that “We mustn’t let it turn into something negative as… in previous years”.
While some might envy Brazil’s fan support, the pressure to win can be intimidating even for experienced players. Drawing a spot in Group G for this year’s tournament, a group given the nickname the “Group of Death”, won’t be making the stress any easier to deal with. Still, the surest way for Brazil, to turn this tournament into a positive for the team and its fans, is to win and keep winning to the finals.
The national football team of Brazil is considered to be the best team ever in football history for many times winning the FIFA World Cup. They say about football that “the English invented it, but the Brazilians perfected it”. No wonder this is true. Brazil is still the number one team in the FIFA rankings.
Let’s have a glance into what Brazil has been up to in FIFA world cup events:
• Nickname: Canarinho or the Samba Kings
• Football association: Brazilian Football Confederation
• Head coach: The legendary Dunga is leading the top Brazilian team
• Captain: Lucio will be heading its team at the FIFA World Cup 2010
• Top scorer: Pelé with his 77 goals is the top scorer for Brazil till now
• Home kit color: Yellow shirts with blue shorts
• Away kit color: Blue shirts with white shots
• Playing world cup since 1930
• Won FIFA World Cup: Brazil won the FIFA World Cup five times, in the years of 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002
• Total matches played in World Cup: Brazil has played 92 matches till now in FIFA World Cup
• Total games won: Brazil won 64 games in total at the FIFA World Cup
• Games drawn: Brazil had only 14 drawn games at the FIFA World Cup
• Games lost: Brazil lost only 14 times at this event.
• Goals scored: The total number of goals scored by the Brazilian team at this event is 201.
Brazil in FIFA World Cup 2010
Brazil is going to be the leading team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. They are part of group G, known as the Death Group. Brazil will face Portugal, Cote d’Ivoire, and the Democratic Republic of Korea in the group stage.
The Brazilians are the most successful international football team in the world. This claim is backed up by the fact that they have won the FIFA World Cup a record five times (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2002), the Copa America, eight times, and the Confederations Cup, three times.
They are also the only international team that has play in all 18 of the World Cups that have been held. They have also qualified for the 2010 World Cup that is being held in South Africa and, as hosts, they automatically qualify for the 2014 World Cup.
As with every World Cup, watch out for Brazil. As is commonly said about Brazil … “The English invented it, the Brazilian perfected it.”
On Paper, Brazil is one of the strongest teams in the current world cup run and has won a maximum number of world cups but the team has struggled to live to the expectations in the big tourneys including the 2006 world cup where they lost their campaign to France in the quarter-final.
But, Brazil has gained the success no other team has ever gained in terms of qualifying the tournaments, scoring the goals, and winning the big tournaments.
This South American giant has always produced the best football players in the world. In 2002, they were not tagged as favorite but the team of Louis Felipe Scolari went on to win their fifth world cup title. But, in 2006, they did not play to their expectations as they lost in the quarter-finals.
In the 2010 campaign, they might not come as favorites of the tournament but just like in 2002, they can produce the result to lift the world cup. The team is guided by Carlos Dunga who himself captained the side to won the 1994 world cup.
The team is full of star players like Rivaldo and once best player Kaka. The team is placed in Group “G” where they might face the toughest challenge from Portugal. The other two opponents in the group are Ivory Coast and North Korea. In 2014, Brazil made it to the knock out round but faced a humiliating defeat of 7-1 at the hand of the German football team.
