Brazil's happy feet rediscover Samba beat
Reuters - Wednesday 11 August 2010, 04:52
EAST RUTHERFORD - After a
World Cup where they failed to live up to expectations, the
smiles appeared to return to Brazilian faces again on Tuesday
after a new-look team beat the United States 2-0 in a friendly.
The bright and lively performance from the team coached for
the first time by Mano Menezes was in stark contrast to the
downbeat displays of the Dunga squad knocked out in the
quarter-finals by the Netherlands in South Africa.
Goals from debutant winger Neymar and striker Alexandre
Pato were enough to see off the hosts but the manner of the
win, highlighted by delightful passing and that old Brazilian
joy in evidence again, displayed a clear change of mood within
the team.
"We enjoyed to play, I was happy, happy to be back. It's
fun to play with great players with skill but we also know we
have a responsibility to work hard," Pato, who missed out on
the World Cup after an injury-plagued season, told Reuters.
Neymar, one of a trio of Santos players playing behind Pato
in attack, along with Robinho and Paulo Henrique Ganso, was
particularly impressive and relished being around his club
mates.
"The team felt very confident, the coach told us to play
how we play at club level and we played a happy football,"
Neymar said.
Menezes has had little time to work with his new team and
his decision to inject a distinctly Santos-flavoured attack
paid off in his first attempt to create a more fluid form of football.
"This was a step forward in terms of our ideas and vision
and there will be more. The way we set up avoided the risk of a
lack of chemistry," he told reporters.
"I thought that the way that we performed reflected our
style and our philosophy. It was not so much about the practice
that we did but about the talent of the players.
"The tactics and the positional set-up certainly helped and
at the moment that is the role of the coach... to help these
players to show their talent. That is the philosophy we follow
from now on."
Brazil teams at the 1982 and 1986 World Cup are the last to
truly be remembered for an exciting and entertaining brand of
soccer and Menezes said that philosophy was close to his heart.
"With the respect that I have for professionals in
different eras, those moments definitely serve as reference to
remember what we did and what we did wonderfully... what we are
capable of and what we can do again," he added.
Follow FFT.com on Twitter
Join FFT.com on Facebook