Copa da Alemanha 2006: Parreira, o quinteto mágico, retranca em 1994

O Times conversou com o técnico da seleção brasileira, Carlos Alberto Parreira, sobre a estratégia para a Copa da Alemanha, a retranca de 1994 e a carreira dele.

Parreira diz que existe um desafio psicológico: gerar vontade de vencer em um time acostumado com as vitórias.

Many see his biggest challenge as persuading his "Quartet" to work for each other effectively, allowing Brazil to get the tactical balance they need to win. Yet for Parreira, the real hurdle is psychological. Brazil have reached the past three World Cup finals, winning two of them: the novelty factor has worn off and, with it, the hunger.

"That's the challenge, to make them hungry again," he said. "I'm not worried about our system or our tactics. And of course I'm not worried about the technique of the players. But if we are going to win, ità€™s going to be with our heads. It will be a mental victory. If we are mentally strong, we will be very difficult to beat. Very difficult.

O técnico brasileiro tb não deixou de lembrar que a Copa do Mundo é um caixinha de surpresas, lembrando de resultados injustos na Copa de 2002.

"In that sense, it's not fair, it does't tell you who the best team in the competition is," he said. "In a league, you can lose games and still win if you are the best. In the World Cup, you can't have a bad day. I suppose that is why football is the No1 sport in the world. More than any other sport, the smaller team can beat the bigger team. You don't see it in basketball or volleyball or rugby. The small teams always have a chance. There might be a refereeing mistake or an individual mistake or they can stop the better from playing or maybe it is just luck.

"You already saw it in 2002. Look at what South Korea did to Spain and Italy, they almost reached the final. The US were much better than Germany on the day, they should have knocked them out. And yet we attach so much importance to this competition, to these seven games."

Parreira tb explicou a estratégia defensiva de 1994.

"People think I'm defensive because of 1994," he said. "First of all, it wasn't such a bad team when you look at Branco, Taffarel, Dunga, Aldair, Romário . . . many of those guys would have gotten into the 2002 team. Second, the truth is that you have to play according to what you have at the moment. We did not have the talent we have now. We didn't have the "Quartet" . So we had a system that worked for the players we had."

After so many failed attempts, Brazil simply had to win back the World Cup. The humiliation could not go on.

"The time and the moment were different back then,"he said. à€œThe players faced so much more pressure because of the wait. And so I had to choose a team of men who could handle that pressure, who had that special fibre, that character. Maybe they weren't the best individually, but they were winners."