Brazil blame Ecuador spoilsports for lacklustre display ( 2003-09-12 09:04) (Agencies)
World champions Brazil, who had brashly promised to perform their full
repertoire of tricks against Ecuador, said spoilsport opponents were to blame
for their lacklustre effort in Wednesday's 1-0 win.
The 35,000 crowd in Manaus had to be content with Ronaldinho's scrambled
13th-minute goal and one sparkling run from Rivaldo as the visitors refused to
be humiliated in the 2006 World Cup qualifier.
Ronaldo and Ronaldinho had openly talked about "joking around" with their
opponents but their fun was limited to two attempted nutmegs by the former, both
of which failed.
The latter was extremely fortunate to be credited with the goal after the
ball appeared to go in off defender Neicer Reasco.
After the game, Brazil's players, who buoyed by a 2-1 win in Colombia three
days earlier had clearly underestimated their opponents, accused Ecuador of
failing to play ball.
"They stayed back for the whole 90 minutes," complained Real Madrid left back
Roberto Carlos. "I've never seen a team do that before.
"They only had one chance and made the game dull. The supporters don't like
that sort of thing."
UTMOST CONTEMPT
Brazil, who used four coaches and scrambled into the 2002 World Cup in their
very last qualifying game, are nevertheless treating the 2006 qualifiers as a
mere formality.
Expectations have been fuelled by some sections of the Brazilian media, which
treats some South American teams with the utmost contempt.
"Brazil doesn't need to play at all to beat most of the South American
teams," sneered a columnist in the sports daily Lance. "Even if they play second
rate football, Brazil are already in the (World) Cup."
"Does anyone believe that Brazil can finish sixth out of 10 in a tournament
which features Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela," added the
writer, apparently forgetting that the first three beat Brazil in 2002 World Cup
qualifying.
Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, however, was@generous as he recognised
his team's difficulties in breaking down a tough defence and paid tribute to the
progress made by many of Brazil's local rivals.
"Ecuador have improved a lot," he said, possibly remembering that in the old
days Ecuador were routinely hammered by the likes of Brazil, Uruguay and
Argentina.
"You don't play alone, you play against opponents and today they were
performing well," he added. "That's why we didn't create too many chances."
AC Milan midfielder Kaka, who came on as a substitute for the second game in
a row, admitted that Brazil would have to learn how to play against massed
defences to avoid further frustrations in their remaining 16 qualifying matches.
"We're going to have to learn to break down these defences as we're going to
come across lots more of them," he said.
A lesson that the more experienced Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo would do well
to learn.