. July 12, 2006 SouthAmerica: Reply to optionpro007 I am very disappointed about what happened to the Brazilian team on this world cup. I had great expectation regarding this team. We had some great individual players but we did not have a good team. They did not play well together. I never liked Parreira as a coach â I donât like the style of soccer he asks the team to play â that is not classic Brazilian soccer. I am writing an article about the Brazilian national team and the latest fiasco in Germany and I am asking the Brazilian people to start boycotting the products of the company that are interfering with the proper management and operation of the Brazilian national team. Yes, I did happen again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even during the period when the Brazilian national team was training in Switzerland, Parreira did not have control of the team â the players were not paying attention to any training section and there were too many things to distract them from focusing in the effort of winning another world cup. And as far I understand "NIKE" did not learn its lesson with all that transpired during and after the 1998 world cup. A call for boycott their products in Brazil might get their attention this time around. .
. July 12, 2006 SouthAmerica: The only contribution I can make to the discussion about race and soccer - a discussion that someone started on this thread â is the following facts: The best players in the world ever to play soccer at any time were all black or mulattos and the list include the following people: Leonidas da Silva, Pele, Jairzinho, Didi, Garrincha, Djalma Santos, Mengalvio, Mauro Silva, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and many others. All Brazilians are proud of our black and mulatto soccer players and without them I am sure Brazil would not have won 5 world cups and also 2 times in second place and another 2 times in 3rd place. Since 1930, out of 18 total number of world cups Brazil ended up in the money 50 percent of the time. By the way, Pele (in case you donât know) is a black man and he is worshiped around the world as the best soccer player of all time â and no one comes close to him. .
. July 12, 2006 SouthAmerica: I like to make one more point regarding race and soccer. The best team ever to play soccer at any time was Santos of Brazil during the period 1959 to 1972. And Santos has all the championships and titles to prove it. Among its many stars Santos included Pele, Coutinho, Dorval, Mengalvio, Lima, Edu, Gilmar, Zito, Pepe, Mauro and many others - Most of these players were black. The team of Santos of the 1960âs could go against any team including the Brazilian national team and they would beat them. I doubt that we will ever again have a soccer team such as Santos of the 1960âs â that team was a scoring machine and that was soccer as pure magic as never seen before or since that time. .
. Tradernik: I thought you said you were a concerned American. ************ July 12, 2006 SouthAmerica: Brazil is part of the Americas - I am a South American. I was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, but today I am living in the USA - that means that I care about what happens on both countries. .
Oh, really? Gee, thanks for pointing that out. I'm just thinking of your relentless mocking of the space program. I guess we need people who care, but as I said before, you have a very weird way of showing your concern. Anyone who doubts it can review the Space Program thread. Sounded to me like gloating.
I think Fabio Grosso was an MVP (by contribution to his team). Got the penalty against Australia , winning goal against Germany and symbolically : scored the last penalty in the finals. The Baffon-Grosso-Canavaro line was the best since Zoff-Bergomi-Cabrini. And btw , Toni-Totti are not Bruno Conti and Paulo Rossi. Everyone always talks about Italian defense , but people forgeting that almost every WC ITA had a superstar up front. Riva , Riviera , Betega , Rossi , Baggio , Vierri. Even this clown Toto Scilachi was better than current stars.
ITA all times best , imo : Zoff Fachetti-Cabrini-Baresi-Maldini Riviera-Tardeli-Conti-Baggio Riva-Rossi