Word: brazilians
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...their imports a platform on which to impress the scouts of clubs in Italy, Spain and Britain, who'll offer a better wage and more benign living conditions. Today's estimates are that around 1,000 African players earn their keep in Europe, a low figure compared with the Brazilian pro Diaspora which is believed to number in the region of 5,000 players. And none of the African players who regularly start for an English Premiership team was recruited directly from Africa - all were bought from other European teams...
...hardly surprising that the legends of Brazilian football - Pele, Garrincha, Rivelino, Socrates, Zico all the way through to Ronaldo and Ronaldinho - are mostly strikers and attacking midfielders best remembered for their dazzling goals. German fans and international cognoscenti will certainly concur that their country's greatest ever footballer is Franz Beckenbauer, who patrolled in front of his defense in order to win the ball for his midfield. By contrast, the only Brazilian defenders who enter the pantheon of greats are those such as Junior and Roberto Carlos, remembered not for the goals they prevented but for those they scored...
...Amateur sociologists liked to see in the national idiom a reflection of the stereotyped view of the national culture: German efficiency, the Churchillian fighting spirit of the British, the Afro-Latin rhythms of the Brazilian game. It was even suggested that the dinky size of Dutch living space made their soccer players more innately aware of space than most others (a theory which ought to make Japan a world-beater...
...Today, however, the cream of the world's players all tend to play their professional soccer in European clubs, where they're expected to conform to the discipline of the local coaching system. Not that individual skill and flair is completely knocked out of Brazilians turning out in England or Spain, simply that it's placed within the frame of a large, more disciplined and organized team effort. The European clubs seek the silky ball handling skills, speed and unpredictability of players who play the Brazilian game - whether from Latin America, Africa or even France or Portugal...
...today's Brazilian teams, for every Ronaldinho playing the Mozart role in midfield, there's a Dunga or a Kleberson or an Edu playing Salieri - a hardworking ball-winner who is ensuring that the opposing midfielders get little possession. And gone is that best-form-of-defense-is-attack sensibility of their forebears who always looked like they were having as much fun as a bunch of guys playing on the beach. The Brazilian teams of 2002 (winners), 1998 (beaten finalists) and 1994 (winners) have looked a lot more dour and efficient than their fabulous forebears. Then again, the fabulous...