Brazil Completed their Monumental Dethroning of Spain One Year Early
Nicholas Spiller
Soccer fans that witnessed the 2013 Confederations Cup Final between Brazil and Spain saw order restored to the sport. Soccer is naturally a game dominated by Brazil, the rightful master of all the soccer nations. But in recent years, Spain has swiftly taken over the reins, collecting two straight European Championships (2008, 2012) and the 2010 World Cup. Well, last month Brazil re-asserted their position on the top, beating Spain 3-0 in a powerful performance to win the Confederations Cup. But was this any indication of future results?
One must first understand that the Confederations Cup was nothing more than a dress rehearsal for the 2014 World Cup. So when Brazilian protestors headed to the streets in frustration over their corrupt government, and when Neymar and his friends put the Brazilian nation on their backs to usurp Spain in front of their fans, it felt as if Brazil itself had risen up and made a stern statement to the rest of the globe about their World Cup hopes, carrying their people along.
But once again, after several weeks have past by this writer is of the opinion that the Brazil Confederations Cup victory is largely meaningless, and that the upcoming World Cup will be very hotly contested, proving to be much more difficult for Brazil to handle.
Make no mistake about it; beating Spain like Brazil just did is a remarkable feat. Few teams could ever dream of such a result. Neymar was great throughout the tournament and put in a thunderous effort. Some guy called Fred played with extreme determination and added two goals to the fun as well. It was brutal, enforcing, and swift.
Spain had no response. Spain, the team with Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, Busquets, Pique, Casillas, Fabregas, and Mata had no response. They barely manufactured a single legitimate chance all game. Their possession of the ball was lazy, ill of creativity, and altogether boring.Basically, it looked like Spain simply did not care. And that is exactly the point I am trying to make.
Spain does not care about the Confederations Cup. In 2009, the Spanish National Soccer Team lost 2-0 to the United States. They looked lazy in that game too. Then they came back the following summer and controlled every game en route to the World Cup title.
Brazil played with their passion and in a quest to fix their political problems, while Spain were already on vacation the moment they boarded the plane to Brazil. Next year will be different. Here are several more reasons why:
Barcelona just bought Neymar. The Spanish club can now determine the fate of the young Brazilian sensation, who is fully expected to lift the upcoming World Cup next June, truly dethroning the Spanish soccer nation. The World Cup takes precedence over all other soccer competitions, and it makes soccer clubs act in a strange manner. Recall an incident following the 2002 World Cup, where South Korea defeated Italy with a golden goal in the first knockout round.
Ahn Jung-Hwan, the South Korean striker who scored that golden goal, and who happened to play for the Italian club Perugia, saw his club contract terminated the very next day. The Perugia owner stated at the time, "I have no intention of paying a salary to someone who has ruined Italian football."
Barcelona also employs Lionel Messi, widely regarded as the best soccer player in the world, who is surely hoping to become a soccer legend while leading Argentina to a World Cup title.Aided by the South American location of the 2014 World Cup, this will surely present his greatest opportunity to manage the feat.
But Barcelona could thwart both Argentina and Brazil in their World Cup hopes in how they utilize their prized players this upcoming year.Furthering these frightening thoughts is the widely held opinion that Barcelona is pure evil. Why, you may ask? Well, in addition to obscenely collecting the best players of the world and obnoxiously winning trophy after trophy while diving and berating match officials, Barcelona has a funny way of dealing with their own and with the soccer world as a whole.
Look at they way Barcelona and former manager Pep Guardiola are getting along these days. Guardiola won 14 trophies in just 4 years at the Barcelona helm, becoming the most successful coach in the history of the club, and he is now engaged in a horrendous war of words that has seen Barcelona officials accuse Guardiola of not visiting their current manager Tito Villanova in the hospital as he battled cancer! These are twisted minds at work.
So how will Barcelona attempt to foil the South American World Cup hopes? Perhaps they will bench both Neymar and Messi all year long, derailing their form and confidence ahead of the tournament as they sit on the sidelines in misery and Barcelona loses in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
No, that is exactly the opposite of what Barcelona will do. In fact, I surmise that both Neymar and Messi will play every minute of every match this season in which they are fit enough to play. Delighting the Barcelona fans and leading the club to another Champions League and La Liga double title, both Messi and Neymar will be exhausted by the time the World Cup rolls around.
By the latter stages of the tournament, when their countries will be set to meet Spain, Neymar and Messi will be weary and weak, leaving the door wide open for the Spanish players, who will be adequately rested all year long through squad rotation by Barcelona. The grand scheme is quite simple, and impossible to prevent.
Leaving aside all Catalan conspiracy theories for the moment, my other fear for Brazil in the World Cup is that through this Confederations Cup victory, Brazil has now built up an expectation that they must fulfill in lifting the World Cup.Demands were already in place since the day Brazil was awarded the World Cup way back in 2007, but now anything short of a Brazilian victory would result in everlasting embarrassment and disappointment for the hosts.
Let us not forget that Brazil is a team made up of young players, who have little experience dealing with the nerves that a World Cup brings about.Oscar, David Luiz, and Neymar, probably the most talented players on Brazil, did not even participate in 2010, and will now be carrying the burden of winning in 2014. To me, it all does not quite add up, and it could result in a disappointing showing when the real games commence.
Spain will come to play with a mature and powerful roster; so will Argentina, Holland, England, Uruguay, France, Italy, and Germany. Yes, Brazil has the home field advantage and is rightfully the favorites after trouncing Spain. But that pressure is exactly what worries me over their World Cup hopes. Expect the 2014 World Cup to be a much tighter affair with a very different outcome next summer.
© Nicholas Spiller & Soccerphile.com
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