Brazil Great Gives Big Verdict On India Friendly: "If You Go By Rankings..."
Former Brazil captain Cafu on Friday said the Indian team will learn a lot from its first-ever international match against his country in Kolkata next month.
- Ex-Brazil captain Cafu said the Indian team will learn a lot from its first-ever match against his country
- India will face Brazil in an international friendly at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on October 3
- "It will bring many benefits to the Indian people and to the Indian national team," Cafu said
Former Brazil captain Cafu on Friday said the Indian team will learn a lot from its first-ever international match against his country in Kolkata next month, though he admitted to the significant gap in the rankings between the two countries. India will face five-time World Cup champions Brazil in an international friendly at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on October 3. “We hope that Brazil and India can play a great game. It will bring many benefits to the Indian people and to the Indian national team, which will face a team that is a five-time world champion,” Cafu told reporters during his visit to the Pillai University.
“Well, if you go by the rankings, there is a significant difference between Brazil and India, but football has modernised.”
Cafu also said India should benefit from FIFA's proposed plan to expand the number of participating teams to 64 from 2030 World Cup onwards from the 48 in 2026. FIFA is yet to take a final decision.
The 56-year-old Cafu pointed at how smaller nations like Curacao and Cape Verde “played on equal terms” with bigger teams in the 2026 World Cup In the USA, Mexico and Canada.
“Today, everyone plays on equal terms. You saw this in the World Cup, teams like Curacao and Cape Verde played on equal terms with all the big national teams,” Cafu said.
“I think establishing this connection between these countries -- now that FIFA has expanded the World Cup, opening up space for other countries -- will be important for India as well,” he added.
Cafu said India will have to encourage more children to play football if the country has to grow in the sport.
“Popularise it, encourage it, encourage children to play football, advertise the sport, and study the great footballing schools,” he said.
“To give a simple example: Japan, South Korea, and China did this. They brought in Brazilian coaches and Brazilian players, and began to popularise football. This caused these countries to grow, and China... and India has everything to do this too,” he added.
While acknowledging that a lot has changed with the Brazilian national team which has five World Cup titles to its name, Cafu hoped for an end to the title drought in 2030. Brazil last won World Cup title in 2002.
“Brazil has been going through a difficult period when it comes to the national team, because it has been more than 24 years -- completing 28 years now -- without winning a World Cup title,” Cafu said.
“You cannot compare it to the era when we played, when we played in practically three consecutive World Cup finals. That was an era that has passed. It is a new generation, they are new players, and we have to root hard so that this new era and these new players can achieve what we achieved -- reaching a World Cup final.”
'Winning World Cup is not exact science'
“World Cup is not an exact science. The best do not always win, and the champion is not always the best team. It is a sequence of factors that makes you win a World Cup,” Cafu said.
“I am very hopeful when talking about the Brazilian national team. I hope Brazil can win the World Cup in 2028 now and end this 28-year drought.” The two-time World Cup winner said Brazilian players leaving for European clubs at an early age is not allowing them to develop their identity with the Brazil team.
“Today, young Brazilian players are leaving earlier for other countries, and because of that, perhaps, they do not develop an identity with the Brazilian national team, an identity with the Brazilian people,” said the 1994 and 2002 World Cup winner.
“Perhaps that is what is missing most for our Brazilian national team -- a bit more brasilidade (Brazilianness) in these players -- feeling the weight of what it means to play for a Brazilian club, going to the Brazilian national team, and only then going abroad to another country,” he added.
'We did not listen to coaches'
Cafu, who played as a fullback, said the role has become very restricted now with coaches opting for two open wingers.
“In our era, the fullback was a fullback; the wing-back covered the midfield, covered the defence, went to the byline, crossed, and came back consecutively. I, as a fullback, once ran 22km in a single match, such was the intensity with which we played,” he said.
“Today, I see that most fullbacks are having a bit more difficulty because most coaches are playing with two open wingers, which restricts the fullback's overlapping runs and prevents them from reaching the byline.
“But we were stubborn fullbacks -- we did not listen much to what the coach said, and we just loved to play. That is why we attacked and defended with the same intensity,” he added.
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