Two of Brazil’s greatest stars, Kaka and Robinho, hope they can defend their title at the Confederations Cup in South Africa and relive the excellent performance they put on in Germany in 2005.
The Samba Kings start their title defence with a tricky fixture against African Champions Egypt in Bloemfontein on Monday.
But for both players, set to star again for Brazil in the tournament prior to the 2010 World Cup, the 4-1 win over their arch-rivals Argentina in the final in Frankfurt four years ago remains a reason to be proud and happy. It is indeed the best moment that the Brazilian national team has lived through in recent years.
”The strongest memory that I take away from the Confederations Cup is the final against Argentina in which I even scored Brazil’s second goal,” Kaka told the German press agency dpa.
The new Real Madrid striker describes the experience in that final as ”great”. ”The Brazilian national team played brilliant football at the time; it was almost perfect. We all left the pitch in the best possible mood,” he said.
Robinho told dpa that the win over Argentina was the climax of a campaign that fills all those who took part with pride.
”The last Confederations Cup was without a doubt very important, not just because of the thrashing of Argentina, but because we evolved a lot as the competition progressed,” he said. ”We also played a great game in the semifinal when we beat Germany. Then came the decisive game — and we were perfect.”
At the time the Manchester City striker was part of Brazil’s ”magic square”, alongside Kaka, Adriano and Ronaldinho. Until the semis, however, Brazil’s performance in the 2005 Confederations Cup was far from brilliant: they made their debut with a 3-0 win over Greece, but then lost 1-0 to Mexico and drew 2-2 with Japan in a lacklustre game.
Carlos Alberto Parreira, Brazil’s coach at the time, emphasised that his mens’ great merit was that they improved as the tournament progressed.
”In that Confederations Cup Brazil showed its capacity for reaction. We did not manage to qualify first in our group, but then we improved at the crucial moment by beating Germany in the semifinals and thrashing Argentina in the final,” the coach said.
Could Brazil attain in South Africa, under new coach Carlos Dunga, the same success they achieved four years ago? With the ”Emperor”, Adriano, excluded from the squad and with the attacking midfielder Ronaldinho also missing, Kaka admits that they have a tough challenge.
”This year’s edition will be very complicated from the first round. We stand before a very strong Italy, Egypt is always a difficult rival, because it is African, and the United States defends very well,” the Madrid star said.
But he anticipated that, should Brazil reach the semifinals, they could grow and aspire to the title. ”Brazil is very strong and we want the double,” Robinho agreed. But he acknowledged that it will be ”hard to win” in South Africa.
”Spain is in excellent form and Italy is always Italy,” he said. ”Besides, there are other teams that can surprise you, such as South Africa, which is well structured and wants to prove its ability,” Robinho said. — dpa