Brazilian Nationalism to blame for massacre

Brazil's humiliation today was always predicted in my previous blog posts. Anyone who knows the game and studies the game as I do saw how fragile and inept this Brazil squad. In one of my previous posts I indicated how Brazil would likely not even have qualified if they were not the host. They were certainly FIFA's favorite and blatant cheating by the referees got them out of the first round with highway robbery against Croatia, offside goals and an unbelievable tolerance for inexcusable violent play against all their opponents. This loss isn't about Neymar or Thiago Silva. Brazil would have been battered with them in the lineup. This loss is about Brazilian nationalism. That's why they have been outplayed in all games but the. Cameroon match. That's why they got humiliated today.

Brazil is a country. I love and visit often. But it's cancer is a nationalism so severe and so Intense that it would make Nazi Germany's third reich seem tame. Their flag worship is a cult of personality and they have a total inability to engage in thorough self criticism if it entails saying anything "bad" about Brazil.

Despite Germany having better talent at every position on the pitch, this game was the massacre that it was because of an incompetent coach. That said, he is the best coach Brazil has. Their football is stuck in the 1970's. The game has changed. But even in the Brazilian league which I watch often, they refuse to accept that the football played in continental Europe is far superior. Their sickening nationalism prevents them from admitting this. They can't admit that the best football is played in continental Europe. That would imply that Brazil doesnt play the best football. This is something they cannot admit.

In 1996 the English team embraced this reality. That English style football was a failure. It had some success in the past but the meticulous technical and tactical and strategic approaches to the game in continental Europe had far eclipsed it. England began to import coaches all through their league and national team. Foreign players flooded into England too. They learned the better way. They learned to evolve and their national league is now one of the best in the world. Their national team also has a bright future. They were able to admit their way was no longer the best. They adapted.

Brazilians cannot do this. They can't admit that Europe is the best. They can't see themselves having European coaches flood into their league and national team to improve their football. The nationalism is so entrenched and profound that it's their biggest enemy. Brazilian football has no strategy, no tactical logic. They don't know how to occupy space, how to play without the ball, it remains individual focused rather than engaged on whole unit concepts, they don't pressure in the opposing zone of construction, they leave wide spaces open for exploitation. Tactically and strategically, they would lose every match they played if they were competing in any European first division.

Coaches like Arrigo Sacchi and Sven Goran Eriksson changed the game in Europe decades ago. South American coaches can't ever succeed at the top flite European club level with few exceptions. And those who get it remain coaching there and don't return to South America. But Brazil has not one coach coaching at a top level in Europe. Their nationalism keeps them mired in their failed ways. Brazil will remain stuck in the past until they swallow their revolting nationalism and let Europeans come and teach them how to play the game. It will take a long time.

For now, they will continue to play far below their potential in the hands of incompetent Brazilian coaches. Amazingly Brazil doesn't even require training or certification of their coaches at any level. All they rely on is a Brazil flag waving smooth talker. That just won't cut it anymore. For Brazils sake, they need to eat some humble pie and learn from the Europeans. The great masters of the game.

I note that Argentina, while having a far more tactically disciplined team also has an incompetent South American coach who could never succeed in Europe. He will get taken to school by Van Gaal's genius and mastery.