Sport360° view: Scolari places spirit alongside skill as Brazil prepare to take on the world

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  • "He's stayed faithful to the players who formed the backbone of his team over the last 12 months."

    Andy Murray will no doubt feel it’s force weighing heavy on his shoulders as he serves at Wimbledon this summer, while Tiger Woods’ return to the golf course from injury will again be met with the sort of expectation that would crush most professionals.

    However, no one individual in world sport will be under more pressure to deliver in 2014 than Brazil manager Luiz Felipe Scolari.

    The Selecao rarely enter a World Cup without demanding victory but in hosting the competition for the first time in 64 years, success isn’t just a hope, it’s a requirement.

    Football defines the Brazilian way of life, it inhabits every aspect of their life: history, the arts and even politics with the likes of Pele, Zico and Romario holding office.

    After the failures of 2006 and 2010 where two quarter-finals saw the end of Carlos Alberto Parreira’s – now Scolari’s technical director – and Dunga’s time in the dugout, anything less than a sixth world crown would be the end for Scolari.

    Not that he showed any signs of the strain at the unveiling of his squad for the World Cup. He was relaxed, almost to the extent where the event appeared an inconvenience, and he read out the 23 names on the A4 piece of paper with such an apathetic air, it could have been his weekly shopping list.

    He said naming his squad was “easy”, as he knew 21 of the names over a month ago, but it’s going to get a lot tougher soon enough.

    Scolari has, of course, been here before and in his 40 years in the game even the express hype and hysteria of a World Cup on home soil struggles to stir any outward emotion.

    Any signs of joy, stress or anxiety will not be witnessed until after the Selecao’s opener kicks off on June 12 against Croatia.

    The last time Scolari announced a Brazil World Cup squad, in 2002, it was in considerably different circumstances. His side had scraped through qualification, losing six games and finishing third, just three points above sixth-placed Colombia who didn’t qualify.

    The men he entrusted his faith in were a mixture of the tried and tested in Roberto Carlos, Rivaldo, and Cafu, all either in or approaching their 30s, an injury-plagued Ronaldo and unheralded, industrious midfielders such as Gilberto Silva and Kleberson.

    Brazil went on to win that tournament and although 12 years on there is a different atmosphere surrounding the team, Scolari’s ideology hasn’t changed a great deal.

    The omissions of Robinho and Kaka stand out, but only in reputation as neither has done enough this season to truly warrant a place.

    On the other hand Atletico centreback Miranda and left-back Filipe Luis have done everything they possibly can to force themselves into Scolari’s thoughts, but neither was selected.

    Nor was Liverpool playmaker Countinho, last called up by Brazil in 2010, but with Hernanes, Oscar and Willian, it’s difficult to see just how much playing time he would get. Ditto Paris Saint-Germain’s Lucas Moura, although he has endured an inconsistent campaign. 

    What Scolari has done is stayed faithful to those players who have formed the backbone of his team over the last 12 months, leading him to overlook the relatively poor campaigns of Paulinho, Ramires, Oscar and David Luiz.

    There are some issues: Jo and Fred are ranked as Brazil’s best strikers, only adding to the burden on Neymar to provide the goals, while Maicon is not the right-back he was in 2010 and is Dani Alves’ only genuine cover.

    That said, the 32-year-old is there on merit having turned his decline in form around with Roma. It’s a squad that, if anything, slightly underwhelms.

    Outside of Neymar, Oscar, Hernanes and, to a lesser extent, Alves and Marcelo, there isn’t a great degree of flair.

    But then that’s Scolari. His approach is disciplined, methodical, workmanlike almost, but with an underlining belief in promoting and fostering a collective spirit and family-like dynamic, which served him and Brazil so well in 2002.

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