How Brazil Can Be Número Uno Again!

The demise of that wonderful thing called Brazilian football has been very public and heavily lamented over the last week.

Their descent from greatest football nation in the world to laughing stock of world football is not dissimilar to that of the Lehmann Brothers in 2008 - their decline resulted in the last Global Financial Crisis.

And it looks like we won't be seeing Jogo bonito for some time yet. The power of football is clearly in Europe and all the stars are either Spanish, German, Dutch, African or Argentine. 

Yes there is Neymar & Oscar but they're the best of a very average generation. 

It's a shame that Brazil's World Cup did not come ten years earlier when Brazil could call on Cafu, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaka -boy did they need them here especially once Neymar and Thiago Silva became unavailable.

So can the Selecao ever be number one again? They can but as these points show it'll be a long road back. 

1.Have more players based in Brazil - the irony is that while Brazil produces great footballers despite its league being not the best in the world, Brazil's World Cup triumphs have come with many of its players based in Brazil with only the likes of Romario, Ronaldo and Rivaldo based in Europe. Indeed, the great 1970 side comprised of only players based in Brazil including the great Pele. 

Now of course, you can count on one hand, the number of players in this Brazil squad who play at home - and perhaps having too many Europe based players used to the more technical and defensive style of play has destroyed the jogo bonito that made Brazil football great.

It is difficult to counter the wave of globalisation of football that means that Brazil's young talent are now set for Manchester United or Real Madrid in their teens but perhaps if Brazilian football wants to take drastic measures to get back to number one, it needs to go back to the days of allowing players to leave only when they turn 25. 

2. More money into Brazil's leagues - to keep players in Brazil, Brazilian clubs need more money to pay their players and give them more incentive to stay. Brazil is now a very wealthy country yet that wealth has barely reached the likes of Corinthians, Fluminese, Vasco da Gama, Santos, Palmeiras, etc. - the clubs that have nurtured all the great footballers past and present before they head to Barcelona and Real Madrid. 

There are really no excuses for Brazilian football to be behind the times - the new wealth found by Russia and China has meant investment in their football leagues and even the USA's MLS and Australia's A-League have more publicity and star drawing worldwide than Brazil's own league. 

There is no reason too why there could be as many fans buying Corinthians tops as there are buying Man United or AC Milan tops.

3. Tanking Brazil's economy - the other irony is that Brazil's glories have often come at a time when Brazil has been in strife, economically and politically - Brazil in 1970 was under cruel military dictatorship, the peso in 2002 was devaluing at a rate of knots, etc.

Indeed, many other world champions won the World Cup while their countries were experiencing economic or political strife, i.e. Spain's football glories between 2008 and 2012 came while the country was in the midst of one of its worst ever economic recessions, Argentina's World Cup successes in 1978 and 1986 came amid a background of military dictatorship in the country - and defeat to the British in the Falklands War.

I'm not suggesting we send Brazil's economy into recession but I think Brazil football needs to remember that it's glories in the game have come from the favellas and streets, during adversity. 

Amidst Brazil's new found wealth and place in the world, perhaps Brazil has forgotten to take pride in itself and remember tougher times.