Where did we go so wrong ??
The agony of defeat
Brazil's world cup 2014 run till the semifinals ended in the most humiliating way. Leaderless (their captain Thiego Silva was out suspended), firing blanks (their talismatic key striker Neymar) the team succumbed 7 - 1 to a ruthless German team at Belo Horizonte stadium in front of a partisan 70,000 crowd.
What happened to the record 5 times World Champions which boasted in the past the likes of Pele, Garrincha, Romario, Ronaldo , Ronaldinho, Socrates, Zico and Caesar ? Many a great team like am empire has to realise that their time is well and truly past them. I am no expert soccer pundit, and this post has been written post mortem so everyone has hindsight as their database.
This World Cup in 2014 was Brazil's to lose. They had invested US$ 11 billion into building new infrastructure like stadiums, roads at the expense of alleviating the massive social problems of the poor who protested day and night. Why spend money on an U$ 11B advertisement when you could easily feed or provide cheap housing to 1 million marginalised slum dwellers ?? Why indeed ??
Football (like governing a country or empire) is never stagnant. Once a great ruler or team manager has reached the pinnacle of success (like Julius Caesar in BC 70), it was time to find a successor - for rightly or wrongly. That is called rejuvenation or re-invention. Many a ruler and football manager has stayed on longer than necessary for love of power, ego or money's sake and to disastrous effect.
Luis Felipe Scolari must make way for new blood with fresh new ideas and change tactics and strategies for the betterment of Brazil. To stay on to prove a point or rebuild is indeed pointless in my opinion.
Brazil is now a has-been, just like Spain's tikki taka football. Hard skillful attacking sides like Germany now rule the day.
My prediction for Final ? Heart says Argentina (for Messi sake) but Head says Germany
Germany to win by 2 - 1.
Seize the Day.
