World Cup

AS Cafu and Roberto Carlos sit up in the stands watching Brazil in the World Cup, they may well be reflecting that they do not have successors in the current team.Brazil pioneered the back four, unleashing it in a World Cup for the first time in 1958, when, with extra defensive cover, they did not concede a single goal until the semi final.
Alex Sandro of Brazil has shown more defensive nous than attacking playCredit: Getty
Brazil legends Roberto Carlos, Cafu and Ronaldo watch a different kind of Brazil team evolveCredit: Reuters
Dropping an additional player into the heart of the defence had the effect of pushing the full backs out wider. They soon realised that they had a corridor of space in front of them that they could exploit.
In that 1958 World Cup, Nilton Santos charged all the way up from left back to score a goal – something that was almost unthinkable at the time.
The tradition was developed – who can forget Carlos Alberto bursting forward to seal the 1970 World Cup triumph with a blistering finish against Italy? The attacking full back became synonymous with Brazilian football.
These players were more auxiliary wingers than proper defenders – and in that last World Cup win in 2002 Brazil ended up fielding three centre backs so that Cafu and Roberto Carlos could have maximum freedom to bomb forward.
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But times have changed. One of the most striking developments in recent years has been Brazil’s developments of wide strikers. Centre forward has been a problem – one that Richarlison is currently solving.
But they have more wide strikers than they know what to do with. This is reflected in the World Cup squad, where Antony and Gabriel Martinelli have to wait for their chance while Raphinha and Vinicius Junior are on the team sheet.
And if the team have genuine wingers, there is little need for full backs to duplicate the function.
The role of the full back, then, has changed. Coach Tite makes this clear. He says that he is not looking for Liverpool full backs.
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Rather than the buccaneering wing play of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson, he wants Manchester City style players – full backs who may occasionally appear in the attacking line as an element of surprise, but whose basic role is to tuck in and make the extra man in midfield, hold the defensive line and also construct from deep.
The switch in emphasis explains why it is not proving easy to fill the position. The first choices are the Juventus pair of Alex Sandro and Danilo – good players both, but hardly world beaters.
And there is little strength in depth – hence the fact that 39-year-old Daniel Alves is still in the squad, and centre back Eder Militao is being improvised in the right back position.
Brazil is not yet producing players who are tailor made for this new interpretation of the function.
The role of full back is now much less glamorous and eye catching than it was in the days of Cafu, Roberto Carlos and countless others. But it is no less important.
In the Qatar World Cup – and over the last few years – Brazil have shown a striking defensive solidity. That is despite playing a side with two wingers and a centre forward, plus Neymar and Lucas Paqueta.
Defensive midfielder Casemiro deserves credit for helping out Brazil’s back fourCredit: Getty
The emphasis of attack is on wingers like Vinicius JrCredit: Getty
Holding midfielder Casemiro is receiving a lot of credit for keeping the opponents at bay. It is well deserved, but it must also be shared with the defensive unit behind him, where the more defensive positioning of the full backs, for example, is a great aid to the 38-year-old legs of Thiago Silva.
Should Brazil go on to lift World Cup number six, it is unlikely that in decades to come Danilo and Alex Sandro will be watching matches from the FIFA VIP lounge.
But Brazil’s Manchester City style full backs are still making an important contribution. More

FRANCE boss Didier Deschamps could leave his role as national team manager if they lose to England on Saturday.The 54-year-old led Les Bleus to their second World Cup four years ago – two decades after helping them win their first as captain.
Didier Deschamps will be able to decide his own future if France beat EnglandCredit: Getty
Zinedine Zidane recently claimed he is ‘very close’ to returning to managementCredit: Splash
They then suffered disappointment at the Euros as Switzerland knocked them out on penalties in the last-16.
But the world champions have dusted themselves off and looked thoroughly impressive in Qatar, making light work of Poland to set up a last-eight clash with Gareth Southgate’s men.
Yet despite Deschamps’ achievements as head coach, the France Football Federation may still decide against handing him a new contract if they go out of the World Cup at the hands of England.
His current deal expires at the end of the tournament.
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And France Football’s president Noel Le Graet explicitly stated before the action got underway in Qatar that the decision about his future would only be his to make if he reached the semi-finals.
Le Graet said: “We both agree that we will see each other right after the World Cup.
“If we make it to the semi-finals, it’s your choice [Deschamps’]. If you feel motivated to continue, there won’t even be a discussion about it because you will have earned it.
“If we are not in the last four, we will have to talk about it. In that case, I have the upper hand.”
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If Deschamps was to leave after the World Cup, Zinedine Zidane is the overwhelming favourite to replace him.
The ex-Real Madrid manager, who won three Champions Leagues in a row during his time at the Bernabeu, was a team-mate of Deschamps’ during their 1998 triumph.
He has been out of work since May 2021 when his second stint as Los Blancos boss came to an end.
But in October he told RMC Sport he was “very close” to returning to management.
And the France role is thought to be the one he is holding out for – having previously turned down the chance to join Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United. More

GERMANY legend Oliver Bierhoff is the first managerial casualty of his nation’s embarrassing World Cup exit.The former striker agreed to resign as managing director of the country’s national football teams and academy.
Oliver Bierhoff has quit as Germany’s managing directorCredit: EPA
Germany have been eliminated at the group stage along with Costa RicaCredit: Getty
It comes after Germany went out at the group stage in Qatar after managing just four points from their matches against Japan, Spain and Costa Rica, crashing out on goal difference.
The German federation said Bierhoff agreed to prematurely end his contract that was due to run through the 2024 Euros.
Germany is set to host that tournament but there are concerns about the team’s direction after a second successive World Cup exit at the group stage.
The failure comes after their second-round exit at England’s hands at Euro 2020 last year.
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Bierhoff had been working for the German FA since 2004, with the nation winning the World Cup in 2014 and the Conferedations Cup in 2017, both under his watch.
They also reached the final of Euro 2008 and made it to three more semi-finals in major competitions in that time. However, after falling short in Qatar, Bierhoff decided to step aside.
In a statement, he said: “I’ve told German FA president Bernd Neuendorf of my decision today.
“I’m clearing the path for setting a new course.”
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He added: “My work was founded upon the conviction of doing my best for the German FA and the national teams.
“But that only makes the results of the men’s national team at the World Cups in Russia and Qatar more painful. That’s why I’m not leaving without the necessary self-criticism.
“We didn’t manage to repeat previous successes and to give supporters reason to cheer in the last four years.
“Some decisions we had been convinced of turned out wrong. No one regrets that more than me. I take responsibility for that.”
Germany fans struggle to take in their devasting exit in QatarCredit: AP More

THE best thing about this England team, this England manager, this FA set-up?They’re not silly any more.
Gareth Southgate has overseen three successful campaigns at major tournamentsCredit: Getty
Kevin Keegan quit as England boss amid a gambling culture in the squadCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Because it is easy to forget, after Gareth Southgate’s team coasted into a World Cup quarter-final, that before all this we endured almost two decades of farce.
Two decades of slapstick, laughing-stock, Benny Hill-theme buffoonery — and none of it possible to comprehend happening under Southgate.
England fans tend to focus on ‘oh-so-nears’, bad luck, broken metatarsals, red cards and shootout defeats.
But it wasn’t really bad luck at all. It was a complete and utter shambles.
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On the journey back from the Al Bayt Stadium, after England’s ruthless 3-0 victory over Senegal on Sunday, one largely forgotten image sprang to my mind.
It was from South Africa in 2010 — an actual World Cup campaign, throughout which David Beckham stood by the England dugout, alongside manager Fabio Capello, being handsome and famous in a three-piece suit.
Nobody even pretended that Beckham was a coach or anything. The FA admitted he didn’t have a role at all.
Beckham was just ‘there’. In the actual dugout, at an actual World Cup.
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What was that all about?
Can you imagine Southgate countenancing anything so silly?
That was a relatively trivial episode during a 20-year sewage show but, as a measure of how far removed from reality the England team were before Southgate, it takes some beating.
Before that we’d had Glenn Hoddle employing Eileen Drewery, the faith healer who laid her hands on Ray Parlour, who asked her for a short back and sides.
Then Hoddle being sacked for claiming disabled people were being punished for their sins in a former life.
Sven-Goran Eriksson failed at multiple tournaments and his reign was tarnished by off-field anticsCredit: Reuters
Steve McClaren was sacked after failing to qualify for Euro 2008Credit: AFP
Imagine that happening under Southgate.
Then Kevin Keegan quitting in the Wembley toilets after presiding over a clique-ridden squad with a toxic high-stakes gambling culture.
Imagine that happening under Southgate.
Then, a golden era of farce and scandal during the reign of Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Rio Ferdinand missing a drug test, being banned for Euro 2004 and Gary Neville threatening a players’ strike in protest.
The manager diddling Ulrika Jonsson, then diddling an FA secretary, Faria Alam, who was also diddling the FA chief executive Mark Palios, who resigned.
Eriksson’s regime was so in thrall to the cult of Beckham, that when, during the 2002 World Cup, he was asked by England’s travel agent what time he wanted the team plane to depart, he replied: “You will have to ask David.”
England’s Posh and Becks era culminated in the WAG circus in Baden-Baden in 2006, by which time Eriksson had been duped by a fake sheikh, who claimed he was going to buy Aston Villa and make the Swede his manager.
Imagine any of that happening under Southgate.
After Eriksson, the football got even worse as ‘wally with the brolly’ Steve McClaren failed to qualify for Euro 2008.
David Beckham stood alongside Fabio Capello in the dugout at the calamitous 2010 World CupCredit: AFP
Sam Allardyce resigned in disgrace after one game in charge of EnglandCredit: Getty
Roy Hodgson oversaw a World Cup group stage exit and a knock-out defeat to IcelandCredit: Getty
Having axed Beckham to prove how he wasn’t in thrall to the celebrity of his players, he brought back Beckham and seemed constantly in thrall to the celebrity of his players.
Next it was Capello, who claimed he needed to know only 100 words of English and, as well as employing Beckham as a model/mascot in 2010, signed up for something called ‘The Capello Index’.
Here, the actual England manager, at an actual World Cup, was to be paid extra dosh to publish online ratings, marking every player, including England’s, out of 100.
This after Capello had axed captain John Terry for allegedly diddling the reserve left-back’s ex-girlfriend, only for Terry to lead an insurrection at the World Cup and for Capello to later reinstate him.
But then Terry was found guilty by the FA of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, brother of Lions team-mate Rio, and Capello resigned in protest.
Imagine that happening under Southgate.
Roy Hodgson stepped in and decided to take the culprit Terry, rather than the victim’s brother Rio, to Euro 2012 because he couldn’t take both.
And then Brazil in 2014, when FA chairman Greg Dyke performed a throat-slitting gesture as England were drawn in a group with Italy and Uruguay. And was seen reading a book entitled Death in Brazil after England died on their backsides, eliminated within five days.

And at Euro 2016, with Neville raging against the press, players forbidden from even talking about an in- house darts tournament and Hodgson going on a boat trip rather than watching England’s next opponents . . . Iceland.
So low was the reputation of England footballers back then, staff at their posh hotel decided to remove the chandeliers from their team room, out of genuine fear the players would swing from them.
Imagine any of that happening under Southgate.
Then after Sam Allardyce’s one-match reign was ended by a broadsheet sting, Southgate — and common sense — arrived.
When he landed the ‘impossible job’, it was as if he said to himself, ‘What if we stopped acting like stark-raving lunatics all the time? Might we be any better at football?’.
After axing Wayne Rooney following a drunken incident at the team hotel, Southgate imposed a calm, rational style of management — and England have enjoyed three successful tournaments in a row.
Now, Southgate may be too cautious for your liking and England may be sent packing by France on Saturday.
But at least his England are professional, serious, decent and intelligent, and nobody is laughing out loud at them.
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Southgate simply doesn’t get anywhere near enough credit for his greatest achievement.
He has stopped England being silly. More