My Brazil “Only ifs”!

Euler of Brazil blog has written a great article that I encourage all you fans to read, and then take a moment to think about your Top 5 Unforgettable Moments in Football Experience.

Thank for this piece Euler. I enjoyed it very much. I remember almost every single one of them.

In every World Cup I have two favorites (Not counting my own Team Melli) Brazil and Germany. Until 1994 Brazil kept breaking my heart. World Cup after World Cup they left me with a bunch of “only ifs.”

I consider the 1982 Brazil squad the best I have ever seen play personally. I remember the scene with Zico’s ripped shirt. I was yelling at the TV right then demanding a penalty! I think it was Italian defender Giuseppe Bergomi who did it, but I am not sure. Only if Brazil had a better goalkeeper and/or striker on their squad that year!

In 1986 Brazil kept getting better and better as the tournament went on, but my hero, Zico, had a bum knee. Perhaps that is why he missed that penalty against France. Only if Zico was fully fit.

The 1994 squad was not the best there was, but they knew how to get the job done. I know this might come as a shocker to you but I still have my 1994 Romario T-shirt It was long over due for us Brazil fans. It would have been even better only if Leonardo had not broken Tab Ramos’s chick bone with that elbow.

The 1998 squad should have won and they perhaps would have only if Zagalo had started Edmundo instead of a sick and sub-par Ronaldo.

In 2002 my dream came true. My two favorite teams met for the first time in the WC and it was in the FINAL! My only regret is that Michael Ballack was suspended. Not that it would have changed the outcome, I don’t think, but because after waiting so long, I wanted to see both teams at full strength. I compare Ballack’s suspension to the suspension from the final of another one of my favorites Giancarlo Antonioni from the finals. so I would have enjoyed this final even more only if Ballack was not suspended.

I want to add another one to your list. It goes back to 1978 World Cup in Argentina, and it came, surprisingly, not while Brazil was on the field. It was the disgraceful Argentina vs. Peru match, in which the strongest Peruvian squad in the history of that country’s football stood around and watched Argentina score goal after goal and go to the next round, thanks to better goal difference, and at the expense of Brazil. Only if Peruvians had played their game!

Thanks for the memories.