Why did Brazil fail? Cafu diagnoses the disease sports

The Brazilian national team’s exit from the World Cup has once again opened an old debate within Brazilian football, between the pressure of results and the identity of the game, at a time when former captain Cafu believes that the solution does not lie in a tactical change or searching for a “scapegoat”, but rather in returning simplicity to football from its roots.

One day after Brazil lost to Norway (2-1) in the round of 16 in New York/New Jersey, in a match in which Erling Haaland scored a double that eliminated the five-time world champion, Cafu called for giving coach Carlo Ancelotti time and confidence to build a new project that will extend for four years.

With this loss, Brazil will wait until at least 2030 in order to try to win its sixth title, which means that the period of absence from the podium has reached 28 years, which is the longest in the team’s history, a number that brings to mind what the Cafu generation itself experienced before the 1994 coronation after 24 years of waiting.

Cafu said in statements to Reuters: “The pressures will be much greater. If they were enormous in 1994 after 24 years of waiting, imagine what they will be like in 2030 after 28 years.”

A message of optimism

Cafu’s statements came on the sidelines of his participation in Rockefeller Plaza in central New York, during the unveiling of a World Cup model made of Lego pieces, 8.47 meters high, and constructed using more than 1.36 million pieces.

Despite the bitterness of exclusion, Cafu refused to be drawn into pessimistic rhetoric, stressing that Brazil still has the human resources necessary for a return, but the condition is patience and a change in approach in dealing with the formative stages.

He said: “This is not the end of the world. It is the beginning of a new cycle and a new generation, and therefore we must trust that Carlo Ancelotti is the right man to help Brazil regain this title.”

Ancelotti “inherited a crisis, not a team”

Cafu touched on the situation of Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti, who took over the leadership of the national team in complicated circumstances, after successive administrative changes and three temporary coaches, which made his mission more like an attempt to save an unstable project before the tournament.

Cafu said: “Ancelotti came to the World Cup to actually put out a fire. He took command of a ship that had already sailed, and tried to correct its course in the middle of the journey, but unfortunately he did not succeed.”

He added: “Now, he will receive the ship while it is docked, and he will be able to put it on the right track from the beginning.”

A crisis deeper than the results

According to Cafu, the crisis in Brazilian football does not stop with the first team, but rather extends to the player training system, as he believes that the academies are now focusing on early results instead of developing individual creativity. He said: “The junior teams no longer prepare the full-backs in the correct way. The full-back must be a full-back and be good at working on the flank.”

The former Brazilian star believes that the most important shift is in the philosophy of formation itself, adding: “Today we are not considered players, but rather we are considered competitors. When you put winning as a top priority in youth programs, you are creating competitors, not athletes who enjoy freedom and creativity.”

Let kids be kids

Cafu admitted that the era of street football, which produced generations of Brazilian stars, no longer exists, but stressed that what is required is not to copy it, but rather to preserve its spirit within modern football.

“All that has changed, and it will not come back,” he said. “We were lucky to have lived through that era.”

He concluded with a symbolic educational message: “Let the children be children. When a child is eight years old, he should play with the ball, laugh and enjoy his time.”

He added in a striking analogy: “It is like building with Lego cubes. You place one piece on top of another and enjoy what you are doing, without realizing that you are developing a new skill every time.”