Alan Shearer: Brazil are the ultimate entertainers… but let’s hope England can thrill us at the World Cup in Russia
WHENEVER I hear the World Cup being talked about, I think automatically of Brazil. For me, Brazil IS the World Cup.
My first memories of watching the tournament on TV are of the 1982 finals in Spain where they had such outstanding players in Socrates, Falcao and Zico.
They were carrying on a tradition of stars who had thrilled the world in 1970, the most notable one of all, of course, being Pele.
I never saw Pele in action but it was magical watching the new breed of Samba stars. They were geniuses and should have won it but went out to Italy at what was then the second group stage.
Paolo Rossi hit a hat-trick and, while I could marvel at his brilliance as a striker, I was distraught for Brazil.
They brought a party atmosphere with their crowd and I loved that yellow kit. They had so much flair.
My dad was brought up in the Pele era and he was always going on about them.
I’ve been lucky enough to work with and interview Pele. I spent some time with him in Rio and it was fascinating to see how, even now, he is like a popstar with an entourage and crowds following him everywhere.
He still has that wow factor. There isn’t a city in the world where he wouldn’t be stopped for a picture or an autograph and yet he’s 77.
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That is the power of the World Cup. Brazil are many people’s second favourite team. Once England go out, as we invariably do, who else is there to support? They play the game how we all want it to be played and rarely deviate from that attacking style even if it comes back to bite them.
In more recent years they’ve had other greats such as Ronaldo who went through real trauma in 1998 when Brazil lost to France in the final but came back to score both goals in the 2002 victory over Germany. That showed real character.
Bobby Robson once told me that when he was at Barcelona he tried to sign me from Blackburn. Rovers turned him down flat but a month later I was sold to Newcastle and nobody at Blackburn told Bobby it was happening.
He claimed he was really hurt by that but then he added: “It worked out all right in the end, I signed Ronaldo instead!” Talk about puncturing my ego.
Ronaldo had great pace in his early days. He could get away from any defender and he had a great touch and technique to match.
I still get excited about a World Cup. It just has such a huge buzz around it. And having played in one myself in 1998 I can tell you there is nothing like it.
Being captain of England in France was the thrill of my life.
I remember watching Gary Lineker scoring all those goals for England at the ’86 finals in Mexico when I was 15 and thinking: “I want some of that” — and in ’98 I got it.
Even though we were knocked out on penalties by Argentina, that tournament still holds amazing memories for me.
For players like our own Harry Kane, this will be a real chance to make his mark on the global stage. This is a big World Cup for him having been part of the Euro 2016 disaster.
He’s had four fantastic seasons for his club and he ought to be ready for this.
England have to make a statement in their first game against Tunisia so we can start to wipe the memory of 2016.
Kane knows that he is the one England are looking at to do that. But, if it’s a big World Cup for Harry, what about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo?
Messi is the best player I have ever seen but he hasn’t done it at a World Cup — despite, surprisingly, winning the Golden Ball four years ago.
I don’t think that’s been his fault, because he hasn’t had a good Argentina team around him and he hasn’t got one this time either.
So it may be that he fails again, but I don’t subscribe to the belief you have to win the World Cup to be a great.
Does anyone really dispute Messi is one of the greatest? At least for Cristiano he can say he has won a major tournament having triumphed with Portugal at the Euros.
He will still be bursting to have a special World Cup though and if he needs any more confidence, that Euros success will have given him it.
That said, I think we have to look for the tried ’n tested to find the winners. I don’t see any outsiders doing it.
People have only said Egypt were a possibility because of Mohamed Salah — his Champions League final injury was the one thing they would have feared.
But I’d look no further than Brazil, Germany or France. People in this country point to Belgium as we’ve seen the majority of their big-hitters perform so well. But that doesn’t mean they’ll be brilliant because, like the English lads, they’ve had a long, hard season.
This World Cup will lack some colour without Italy and Holland. There’s a magic to seeing a wall of fans in orange shirts.
There will also be a fear-factor about Russia with, it seems, thousands of fans choosing to stay away.
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In fact there’s more anxiety about this World Cup than any I’ve been to before.
We had similar fears before South Africa and Brazil but once the football gets going we tend to forget about the issues surrounding the run-up to the event, provided the games are good.
It will be even better if it’s England doing the entertaining and the winning.
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