Recriminations Begin in Brazil

As a result of the embarrassing loss by Brazil to Germany in the first semi-final of the FIFA World Cup 2014, the recriminations and the blame game has started already as shock turns to anger, and the man at the centre of this storm is the Brazil manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari.

The agent of the Brazil superstar Neymar has launched a scathing attack on humiliated national team coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, branding ‘Big Phil’ a “repulsive, conceited jerk”.

The fall-out of Brazil’s massacre at the World Cup resulting in their exit at the hands of Germany is showing no signs of abating after the hosts were thrashed 7-1 – the biggest debacle since their 6-0 loss to Uruguay in 1920.

Luiz Felipe Scolari, Photo: AFP

Neymar’s agent criticised Scolari on six points:

“One – being Portugal coach and winning nothing,” he wrote.

“Two – going to Chelsea and being sacked the following day.
“Three – going to coach in Uzbekistan.
“Four – returning to Brazil, taking over a big team (Palmeiras) and getting them relegated to the second division.
“Five – leaving the club 56 days before the end of the Brasileirao (season) to ‘escape’ relegation.
“Six – being an old jerk, arrogant, repulsive, conceited and ridiculous”.

It is not the first time Scolari has faced heavy criticism for Brazil’s World Cup debacle and he is expected to be dismissed from his role at the end of tournament, although he refused to stand down on Wednesday.

It is unusual for a source so close to the players to launch an attack on such a personal level.

Too often it is the coach or the manager that suffers after a team’s loss. Surely a team’s performance is measured by the talent available in the team which is all the coach has to work with. Brazil surely could not be that short on talent that the team is solely reliant on solitary players like Neymar and Thiago Silva, so much so that the team cannot function without them.

The Brazil squad was simply not good enough. They are a long way from the 2002 squad which included Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos, and the fans wanted the team to win the Cup as if by magic rather than hard work. And the team lacked the maturity and emotional restraint to pull it off. They were lucky to get as far as they got in the competition.