Nike and Puma Had Coach Parreira as Hostage, Say Brazilian Fans

Brazil returned home from the World Cup on Monday, June 3, to little fanfare, and coach Carlos Alberto Parreira escaping out a back door to avoid fans and the media.

Brazil’s 1-0 defeat to France in Saturday’s quarterfinal left most Brazilians with a feeling of resignation rather than anger. Only a few supporters even bothered to turn up to jeer the squad on its return.

"I would have preferred not to have a scored a goal and to have come home a champion," said midfielder Gilberto, who netted in the 3-1 group-stage win over Japan. "For me, (my goal) didn’t do very much."

Gilberto was the only player cheered by fans at the airport and one of the few to talk to the press.

Later, Parreira held a press conference at the Brazilian Soccer Confederation headquarters and said he regretted the loss as much as anybody else.

"No one here wanted to be champion of the world more them me," he said.

On his future as coach, Parreira said he would only discuss that after talking with confederation president Ricardo Teixeira.

Asked whether Real Madrid defender Roberto Carlos was to blame for the hole in Brazil’s defense which allowed the winning goal, Parreira said, "We’re not going to look for a scapegoat where one doesn’t exist. We lost and France won. If no one made any mistakes and everyone was perfect all games would end 0-0."

Most fans, however, were quick to pin all the blame on Parreira.

Jorge Ganem, a 55-year-old lawyer, said Parreira didn’t use his bench more because of contractual obligations to sponsors.

"Look what Parreira’s done, he had a great bench but he didn’t use them because he’s beholden to Nike and Puma or whoever," Ganem said.

Many younger Brazilians couldn’t remember the team coming home before the final.

Pravda – www.pravda.ru

Tags:

You May Also Like

Venezuela-Brazil Gas Pipeline Is More Like a Pipe Dream

The Pharaonic trans-Amazon natural gas conduit whose concept was approved amid much fanfare by ...

Brazil Gets Back a Banned Tax Under New Name

CPMF is out, IOF is in. Despite promises from Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula ...

80 Countries Gather in Brazil to Discuss Land Reform

The official debates at the 2nd International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Social Development, ...

Brazil Acts As Portugal’s Colony

Brazil’s TV Record coverage of the European football championship was unacceptable. For this reason, ...

Brazil Gets Argentina’s OK to Resume Pork Export. Chile and Russia Might Follow.

Argentina has just announced that it would resume importing boneless pork and other pork ...

Brazilian Gol Gets Nod as Aviation Week’s Best Performing Airline in the World

Brazilian Airline Gol was rated the world’s best performing airline in 2005 by Aviation ...

Brazil Exercises Right to Remain Silent on Uruguay-Argentina Brawl

Brazil does not intend to get involved in the dispute between Argentina and Uruguay ...

Brazil’s VO2Max, a High-Tech Sports Apparel Maker, Looks Overseas for Growth

Sports clothes maker wants to export For Brazilian cyclist Marcelo Torres, from BrasÀ­lia, the ...

Brazilian soccer fan in Germany

Brazil Can Win World Cups But It’s Far From Winning Nobel Prizes

Out of every ten of the world’s best soccer players, at least five are ...

Ahmadinejad’s Visit to Brazil: How Brasí­lia and Teheran Are Using Each Other

"Ahmadinejad, respect the human rights and don't come back here again," read a message ...