Brazil and Spain are the bookmakers’ favourites for the forthcoming 19th World Cup in South Africa. But as the saying goes there is many a slip between cup and lip. Recent World Cups have shown that pre-tournament favourites can falter and teams that build momentum during the tournament, like Italy in 2006 or Brazil in 2002 are
the ones who succeed. Also, historically, when Brazil are fancied to win, like in 1998 and 2006, they get carried away by their own publicity and not play at their best.
Prior to the 2002 World Cup, Brazil were dismissed as also-rans. Before the finals in Korea-Japan, then holders France and Argentina were tipped to triumph. However both crashed out at the group stage. Brazil’s pragmatic manager Luis Felipe Scolari, a good motivator ensured there were no distractions and his team played effectively if not stylishly to win their fifth World Cup crown.
Overwhelming favourites for the 2006 World Cup Brazil were hailed as eleven gods in action. They were expected to cruise past their opponents to a sixth World Cup title. Instead Zinedine Zidane inspired France to a memorable 1-0 win quarterfinal win over Brazil in Frankfurt and the so-called invincibles tumbled out of the World Cup. Instead scandal-hit Italy used their big tournament experience to scrape past the group stage and then improved with each game to win the World Cup for the fourth time.
In the 2010 World Cup both Brazil and Spain are in adjacent groups, G and H. In case either Brazil or Spain come second in their group, the potential finalists could clash in a second round tie in Johannesburg or Cape Town either on June 28 or 29.
Injuries can also take their toll. Spain’s ace striker Fernando Torres recovering from knee surgery may miss the opening league matches and could struggle to reproduce his blistering pace in the World Cup. Similarly it is to be seen how the injury-prone Kaka fares as Brazil rely on his technical excellence for their counter-attacking game.
Also, there is no one way of man-management which ensures success. England’s manager Fabio Capello believes in the disciplined approach. He bans his players from listening to mobile phones on match days. He has labelled accompanying wives and girl friends (WAGS) a virus and banned their stay in the team hotel.
In his final build-up Capello has opted for a training camp in Austria. Dunga who has forged a strong work-ethic in his squad has also banned the pop star style preparations of 2006 when tickets for training sessions were sold to the public.
In contrast Uruguay’s coach Oscar Tabarez believes in a more relaxed style. He believes that keeping players away from their families does not help.