Déjà vu

The whole football world was stunned as the referee blew the final whistle. The score read: Brazil 0, France 1. Rarely could one witness a squad of Brazilians held scoreless for an entire football match. But that's exactly what had happened to the current World Cup, Copa America, and Confederations Cup champs as they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by the winners in 1998. The superstar squad were the odds-on favorites to repeat, even though they were underperforming in their first few matches.

I've written about this match and I mentioned that this could be either Ronaldo's or Zidane's last World Cup match. In the end, it was Ronaldo, the new record-holder for most goals in the tournament's history, who was beaten.

To be honest, I expected a much better game by both teams. With the likes of geniuses Ronaldo, Zidane, Ronaldinho, Henry, Robinho, and Kaka, I thought the game would be a display of flair and entertainment. Much to my dismay, it was dull and boring.

The game was much more physical, as the French defense stifled the celebrated Brazilian attackers. Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and Kaka were very much contained. I'm especially disappointed with Ronaldinho, the 2-time and current FIFA World Player of the Year. He struggled the whole tournament, held scoreless, and never really was a big influence in any of the matches. Kaka, too, apart from that goal against Czech Republic, had not done much. At least Ronaldo scored thrice, but still, he could have done better. The fourth of the "feared" Brazilian magic quartet, Adriano, who for some reason did not start in that match, had a poor showing in the entire tournament. As a matter of fact, I couldn't think of one player in the Brazil squad who played well in this year's World Cup.

Against France, the Samba boys were out of sync. They never threatened to score as they only recorded one shot-on-goal, and it was late in the game. That's unheard of. They were lethargic. Anemic. They lacked the passion that we would normally expect from Brazil. They were lax through out the match. Their passing was average. Their teamwork was horrible. I saw signs of disunity within the squad even in their match against Ghana. As I recall, Ronaldo was wide open with no goalkeeper to worry, but Adriano selfishly tried his luck. The same thing happened with the streaking Ronaldinho, who was ignored by Cafu in a Brazilian attack. No better example of their lack of cohesiveness was during the most crucial point of the match against France. Zidane took the free kick. Five French players were in the penalty area, and there were only three Brazilians who marked them. No one even bothered to mark France's leading goal-scorer Henry as he delivered the winning strike. As replays showed, Roberto Carlos, who was closest to Henry, never even moved an inch. A perfect pass by Zidane, completed by Henry. This kind of Brazilian performance (or lack thereof) was a portrait of the kind of tournament they had. Underachieving. All talk and no walk.

Everybody saw that they struggled at the start of the tournament. They got better with each game and we probably assumed they were gonna peak at the right time. For some reason, when France beat Spain to arrange a quarterfinal meeting against Brazil, I immediately had doubts. My gut feel at the time was for an upset.

Indeed the upset did realize. The last time Brazil lost a World Cup match was 8 years ago. And who do you think defeated them? You guessed it! France, in the finals 3-0. It was simply déjà vu.

For all the World Cup trophies won by Brazil, the most successful soccer country will always be remembered losing to France. Sometimes, there's just that team which you couldn't seem to beat. If I'm not mistaken, in the four times the two teams have ever met, Brazil had only won once, and it was decades ago. In Brazil's book, France will be known as their tormentors.

And the one who led the tormenting? The great one himself - Zidane, all 34 years of him. The man of the match. He played magnificently, as he dazzled the crowd with his spectacular ballhandling wizardry. Playing what was expected to be his last game before retirement, Zidane came up with all his trademark touches, his twisty runs past defenders and expertly timed first-time passes. The 3-time FIFA World Player of the Year made Ronaldinho look like an amateur. It was the master getting the better of his student. He was classic Zidane as he masterminded the biggest upset this year - just like he did 8 years ago. Déjà vu indeed.