Overconfidence, infighting could be Brazil’s undoing

Over-confidence, a tendency for players to negotiate club deals during the World Cup and internal wrangling have all hit Brazil during previous tournaments and there are indications that they could strike again in France.

On paper, Brazil are clear favourites. They have lost only three full internationals since winning the World Cup in 1994, clocked up a run of 15 consecutive wins last year and their line-up makes formidable reading.

And despite some ill-fated attempts to vary their style and make it more European over the years, Brazil are still seen the team capable of bringing an exotic flavour to the World Cup.

Ronaldo is widely acclaimed as the world’s best player and afterhitting a sticky patch at Inter Milan and receiving criticism from his club president, he now appears to be back to his best.

He will be partnered in attack by 1994 World Cup hero Romario, who is now 32 but still deadly in and around the penalty area.

While it may be feasible to mark one of the pair out of a game, this simply creates more space for the other. To keep both quiet is a near-impossible task. Behind them is 20-year-old Denilson, a player with speed and dribbling skills of an old-fashioned winger.

Coach Mario Zagallo also boasts a unique record in the World Cup – he has taken part twice as coach, twice as player and once as assistant coach and won the title on all but one occasion. "I would rather win playing ugly football than lose playing attractive football," he said during last year’s Copa America.

It is a mark of Brazil’s remarkable strength that talented players such as Barcelona strikers Sonny Anderson and Rivaldo are unlikely to even make to the Brazilian squad for France. Brazil iseasily the world’s largest producer of soccer talent, churning out top level players seemingly non-stop. Hundreds of Brazilians play abroad, in countries ranging from Italy and Spain to Honduras and India.

Yet Brazil have also shown that they can be beaten. They lost to Norway 4-2 in a friendly last year and in February were amazingly eliminated from the Concacaf Gold Cup after losing 1-0 to the United States.

Critics are not convinced that Zagallo’s chosen central defensive partnership of Junior Baiano and Aldair is the most secure, while Taffarel, who is almost certain to be Brazil’s first-choice goalkeeper for the third World Cup running, is seen as being past his best.

The old story that Brazil could be their own worst enemies also rings true. In past World Cups, particularly in 1990, players have had their attentions divided by agents trying to negotiate transfers to new clubs. This could happen once again.

In-fighting has often pursued Brazilian World Cup squads and with so many stars, it couldbe a real threat once again. One local journalist described the national team as a "cauldron of vanities".

The atmosphere was not helped by a hair-shaving incident during the Confederations Cup in Saudi Arabia when a group of players burst into the rooms of other players and shaved their heads using an electric razor.

It was passed off as a prank but several members of the squad were reportedly far from amused. There is fear that kind of resentment could resurface in France.