Twenty years ago this Friday (3) Brazil debuted the penta campaign, with a 2-1 victory over Turkey. The first page of the Copa da Folha book featured a photo of Ronaldo, with referee Kim Young Joo, from South Korea, and the title: “The stars of the round.”
The Phenomenon was better on the field of a game won with the help of Kim. The winning goal over Turkey came from a non-existent penalty, a foul on Luizão outside the area. Rivaldo converted in the 42nd minute and the country continued to be suspicious of the selection, judging Argentina and France as the biggest forces in the World Cup.
Argentines and French dropped out of the group stage
Today, Argentina boasts its biggest unbeaten streak in history, 32 games unbeaten, France has not lost in 14 games and has the apparently most powerful team on the planet, with Mbappé and Benzema.
Brazil played well in the friendly against South Korea and thrashed the least leaked defense of the Asian qualifiers. The selection had never scored five goals in clashes against the South Koreans. You can’t despise the performance, as you shouldn’t minimize a victory against Turkey, strong at that time to the point of finishing the World Cup in third place.
Only this time, there would be a little more parameter if the team beat Italy, or a European rival, 3-0, as Argentina did.
The truth is that the World Cup, and only the World Cup, will give us exact references. South Americans do not face Europeans and the converse is true. Germany would also love to measure up against Brazil and Argentina. Under Hansi Flick, they won eight matches and drew one. He played twice against Liechtenstein, twice against Armenia, once against Israel. The tie came in the only classic, against Holland.
Like Brazil, South Korea haven’t faced a rival from Europe since 2019 and haven’t won one since 2018, when they beat the Germans, then champions, and sent them back to Berlin in the group stage.
National team football is so surprising that the last three Cups have eliminated the champion in the first phase.
Italy, the 2006 winners, fell in 2010 with a draw against New Zealand and a loss to Slovakia. Spain left in 2014, taking 5-1 to the Netherlands and 2-0 to Chile. Germany, in 2018, after losing 2-0 to South Korea.
The balance and unpredictability of national team matches are directly linked to the number of nationalities selected in high-level matches between clubs. When South Korean Son is the top scorer in the Premier League, tied with Egypt’s Salah, it’s because both Egypt and South Korea have players capable of unbalancing markers and winning unlikely matches.
Knowledge is the only thing on this planet that increases when it divides.
The Premier League’s top scorer is South Korean, not Italian. And yet we all still think it more respectable to beat Italy, which is out of the World Cup, than to beat South Korea.
Really, there is a lack of parameter after two years of a pandemic and with few clashes between teams from different continents.
It’s not exactly new.
When the Asian World Cup began twenty years ago, the world football references were France and Argentina, as they seem to be this week.
That month, Brazil went from underdog to champion. From the mistrust of winning with the help of the referee, to becoming the only champion team winning seven games. When Pele won in 1970, the most perfect team in history only needed to play six times.
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