Towheed Feroze
Well, for Brazil fans who were looking for some answers after their team began its World Cup campaign with a 1-1 draw against high flying Morocco, the match against Scotland saw Samba sensation regaining the groove.
The yellow force is back and that means a relief for millions of Brazil supporters who are looking at this World Cup for the sixth star on their jersey.
Nothing is impossible!
Lest we forget, in 2022, the eventual champions Argentina were humbled in their first match against Saudi Arabia.
Whatever the result in the first round, when a team progresses to the knock-out stages, the actual matches begin.
Looking at the earlier world cups, we see that almost all big teams pull up their socks at the knock-out stages to get their acts right.
Brazil has more or less cruised to the second stage but the match against Scotland could have been a pulsating one had not the Scots made some glaring blunders.
The first lesson they forgot: do not keep the ball too long outside the D box, especially against teams like Brazil.
The first goal was due to a mistake by the defender who took some time to clear the ball, while failing to notice Brazilian predator Vini Jr lurking in the Scottish D box.
Footballers are humans and they will make mistakes, but this one will haunt the Scottish fans for a long time.
Such infantile blunders in crunch matches simply set the premise for more disaster.
And yes, disaster did strike a second time when a similar gaffe was committed – holding the ball a second too long.
Good luck for Scotland, that goal was disallowed.
However, the second goal came when Vini Jr was left unmarked (lackadaisically marked) at the second post, calmly heading the ball into the net to trigger a yellow wave and silence the bagpipes.
Before we come to the third goal, it must be said that Scotland never looked comfortable against Brazil, they seemed nervous, lacking on the field sharpness.
Brazil came to the match having played Scotland four times in previous World Cup matches.
Only in 1974, the Scots managed to hold the Brazilians to a nil all draw, losing, 4-1 in 1982, 1-0 in 1990, 2-1 in 1998.
The 3-0 loss is the heaviest after the 4-1 drubbing in the 1982 World Cup by what many call the dream Brazilian team, featuring football magicians, Socrates, Oscar, Zico, Falcao.
A little bit of history here, Zico was once the Brazilian superstar in the 80s and so much was his popularity that many Bangladeshi children born in the mid-80s were named after him.
Hence, you will find quite a number of people with the nickname Zico in Bangladesh.
Sadly, that sublime Brazil side won hearts but never the World Cup.
The Tartan Army has always been vocal and ebullient in the galleries but against Brazil, they had to come to terms with the team’s silly mistakes which dampened their upbeat mood.
As for the third goal by Brazil, one can only think of sheer composure and unselfish play because the ball was calmy passed to Cunha who slotted it inside.
The verdict: the Samba beat is getting stronger and more cohesive as days go by.
Tough luck Scotland but they will be going back home rueing the small mistakes which, once more, set the team packing after the first round.
Oh well, bring out the bottle of Laphroaig and let’s look forward to 2030.
