Post by Scott on Jun 12, 2006 16:45:11 GMT
From The Guardian:
Carlos Alberto Parreira appeared exasperated yesterday after he had faced a barrage of questions about why Brazil's first team had lost to their reserves in a 40-minute practice match.
Parreira, who has already named his side to face Croatia in Berlin tomorrow, often stages games between the first team and the reserves, many of which are broadcast live on TV at home, and the media tend to place a lot of emphasis on the results of them.
"I've been coach for 3½ years, we've played around 50 matches and I can't believe people are judging me by what happened in one 40-minute training session," he said. "We've had eight or nine of these games and, when the first team wins, nobody asks anything. As soon as the reserves win, I get lots of questions."
Ronaldo, whose weight has been one of the main talking points of the past week, agreed with the coach. "We have two first teams here," he said. "Our reserve team is good enough to play in a World Cup."
Both were also of the mind that the world champions are getting itchy feet as they wait for the first game of their defence of the trophy. "These players are used to playing every three days, they've been here for three weeks," Parreira said.
Brazil began their training camp in Switzerland on May 22 and arrived in Germany on June 4 but they played only one friendly during that period, when they defeated New Zealand 4-0 in Geneva. "I want it to start more than anyone so that we stop talking nonsense and start playing football," Ronaldo said. "Of course you get a few butterflies before the first game but, when the game starts, everything changes and it's just happiness."
Parreira said the intensity of the early group matches had caught his attention and noted that physical conditioning will be an important issue. "This World Cup, differently from the others, will be the World Cup of health, intensity and preparation. We've seen this with all teams . . . the physical conditioning will be a fundamental factor.
"Germany was the team that impressed me most. They looked strong, they were well-positioned and they imposed themselves from the start."
Parreira added that the matches had also demonstrated the importance of defending well on set plays, particularly when facing European nations which seem to rely on them. "They are very precise on free-kicks and corner kicks. It's always a dangerous play. England's goal came on a set play, on a [David] Beckham free-kick; Argentina also got one, on a free- kick well taken by [Juan] Riquelme."
The captain Cafu, asked if he had seen anything new, agreed: "The main thing has been the physical strength. We saw how Ecuador ran from start to finish, for example [in the 2-0 win over Poland]. The traditional teams will get to the final, though. Of course there are others who are good enough, but from what I've seen it will be the traditional ones."
Carlos Alberto Parreira appeared exasperated yesterday after he had faced a barrage of questions about why Brazil's first team had lost to their reserves in a 40-minute practice match.
Parreira, who has already named his side to face Croatia in Berlin tomorrow, often stages games between the first team and the reserves, many of which are broadcast live on TV at home, and the media tend to place a lot of emphasis on the results of them.
"I've been coach for 3½ years, we've played around 50 matches and I can't believe people are judging me by what happened in one 40-minute training session," he said. "We've had eight or nine of these games and, when the first team wins, nobody asks anything. As soon as the reserves win, I get lots of questions."
Ronaldo, whose weight has been one of the main talking points of the past week, agreed with the coach. "We have two first teams here," he said. "Our reserve team is good enough to play in a World Cup."
Both were also of the mind that the world champions are getting itchy feet as they wait for the first game of their defence of the trophy. "These players are used to playing every three days, they've been here for three weeks," Parreira said.
Brazil began their training camp in Switzerland on May 22 and arrived in Germany on June 4 but they played only one friendly during that period, when they defeated New Zealand 4-0 in Geneva. "I want it to start more than anyone so that we stop talking nonsense and start playing football," Ronaldo said. "Of course you get a few butterflies before the first game but, when the game starts, everything changes and it's just happiness."
Parreira said the intensity of the early group matches had caught his attention and noted that physical conditioning will be an important issue. "This World Cup, differently from the others, will be the World Cup of health, intensity and preparation. We've seen this with all teams . . . the physical conditioning will be a fundamental factor.
"Germany was the team that impressed me most. They looked strong, they were well-positioned and they imposed themselves from the start."
Parreira added that the matches had also demonstrated the importance of defending well on set plays, particularly when facing European nations which seem to rely on them. "They are very precise on free-kicks and corner kicks. It's always a dangerous play. England's goal came on a set play, on a [David] Beckham free-kick; Argentina also got one, on a free- kick well taken by [Juan] Riquelme."
The captain Cafu, asked if he had seen anything new, agreed: "The main thing has been the physical strength. We saw how Ecuador ran from start to finish, for example [in the 2-0 win over Poland]. The traditional teams will get to the final, though. Of course there are others who are good enough, but from what I've seen it will be the traditional ones."
