The Hindu : Sport : Putting the <I>bonito</I> back in Brazil

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 21, 2006

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Putting the bonito back in Brazil

To dazzle was seen as their signature; it has perhaps also morphed into their burden, writes Rohit Brijnath

We presume there were days when Michelangelo sculpted something aesthetically displeasing and that Beethoven had the occasional tuneless mornings. This is pardonable. But a Brazilian football team inharmonious, and absent of stylish shape, is apparently unforgivable.

No one cares that Brazil has played only two group matches, or that Ronaldinho insists: "The World Cup is a marathon, not a sprint."

No one is impressed that Brazil has won both those matches (in group games, they drew one in 1994, lost one in 1998, and let in three goals in 2002).

Instead this week we have muttered darkly that Brazil has not looked good, and this is not merely an issue of efficiency but of beauty.

As if this team must not merely score goals but points for artistic merit. It is not a case of Brazil not playing to potential; they are not playing the way we want them to play.

This expectation we carry, whose fault is it? Brazil's of course. They told us they were the architects of the beautiful game (and for years, proof was supplied) and so nothing less will suffice.

To dazzle was seen as their signature; it has perhaps also morphed into their burden.

After all, no individual or team in any sport has ever carried this dual responsibility, expected to both win and to please, to design victory efficiently and also aesthetically.

Elegance is mandatory

John McEnroe and Roger Federer have flexed their creative sides (but were celebrated for showing character when winning ugly), glistening African runners have gracefully loped, boxers have brought polish to the ring, Michael Jordan has made air-walking chic. But elegance from them is a bonus.

From every successive Brazilian team it is mandatory.

Kaka said as much after the Croatia match, arguing rightly that any comparisons with the Harlem Globetrotters was absurd, for the basketballers' primary job is entertainment, for the footballers it is competing. "It's ridiculous that the world seems to expect Brazil to breeze through every match scoring lots of brilliant goals," he said. "That's an impossible feat in a World Cup tournament.

"We have to work and sweat just as much as anyone to get those three points. People seem to want us to create magic every time we play football and that just puts unreasonable pressure on us."

A lot to live up to

Admittedly Kaka's team must measure up against not just 11 opponents, but also against the dribbling ghosts of men like Garrincha; it must confront the present yet counter a past that is somewhat mythical.

After all, despite all our memories of a dexterous Brazil, we appear reluctant to admit that not since 1986, maybe even 1982, has Brazil played football all that beautifully, once even winning a cup by sheer toil (1994). The jogo remains, but some of the bonito has flown. This team is up against an ideal and it cannot win.

But that said, this Brazil, has been surprisingly dull, almost counterfeit, owners not just of a defence of unreliable architecture but an attack of stilted imagination. Furthermore the knowledge that Carlos Alberto Parreira was coach of the dreary 1994 team is somewhat unsettling.

It is a side bereft of playfulness and strangely absent of beauty (Ronaldo's figure confirms that), except for the almost ethereal Kaka. Even Ronaldinho has been oddly imprecise, like a poet who has got his meter wrong. In a way he has been almost too unselfish, looking to pass instead of running at defences himself.

Now he must slip his leash, for it is this toothy tormentor, of all men, who can save face and put the bonito back in Brazil.

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