Brazil’s Beautiful Game Now Has Tougher Edge

By whatever means the Dutch think they can knock Brazil out of the World Cup, getting physical would not be a good idea. This is a big Brazilian team, the tallest, strongest and most physical in memory.

Its defenders will be taller and clearly bigger man to man than their Dutch counterparts in Friday’s quarterfinal game in Port Elizabeth. And if Mark van Bommel has notions of roughing up Kaká the way he did little Leo Messi in the Champions League last year, he might consider two things: the referees in this World Cup have been consistently hard on that kind of play, and Kaká is one of eight Brazilian starters (and 13 on the 23-man roster) who stand above 6 feet.

Indeed, Kaká has already been forced to miss a game during this tournament for what might euphemistically be termed getting his retaliation in first. A man of silky skills, Kaká has added steel, as anyone playing under Coach Carlos Dunga must.

Dunga was tough as a player. As a coach, he is unequivocal: stand up and fight for the right to play or he will select someone who will.

Brazil’s muscle has been growing for more than 40 years. Some might ascribe this to Dunga, 46, but he is a mere disciple — an extreme one perhaps — of a toughening-up process that dates to 1966. It was then that Pelé, the greatest player of them all, was battered out of the World Cup in England. First the Bulgarians kicked him, then the Portuguese. The Brazilians never forgot that in the Portugal game it was a British referee, George McCabe, who allowed the rough play that hobbled Pelé and led to Brazil’s being eliminated in the group stage.

Long before Dunga was a player, Brazil dispatched trainers and coaches to study physical preparation at the German sports institute in Leipzig. The Beautiful Game that fans know and love — and hope for from Brazil from time to time — gives way to emulating Europeans, sacrificing flair for method.

Dunga was the anchor of perhaps the most structured Brazilian team to be world champion, in 1994. He watched Brazil win the trophy again in 2002, but lose in the quarterfinals in Germany four years later.

That was when he came in as coach. His work is evident in the way Brazil performs now, a style that is so athletic that many former Brazilian players are Dunga’s foremost critics. The former star Socrates has called the new Brazil “an affront to our culture.”

Socrates was a tall, thin midfielder who appeared to walk on stilts when he played in the 1980s. He was elegant and languid in his movements, but his type would never get near the Brazil of Dunga.

It is not simply a question of height. The members of Dunga’s team — with the exception of the recently repatriated winger Robinho and the reserve defender Gilberto Melo — play for clubs in the rugged leagues of Europe. Goalkeeper Júlio César, right back Maicon and central defender Lúcio, the team’s captain, helped Inter Milan win the Italian League, the Italian Cup and the Champions League in May.

César, playing at this World Cup in a back brace to protect a recent injury, is game-tested and among the few first-rate goalkeepers Brazil has produced. Boys in Brazil prefer to play offense. Even some defenders, like Lúcio and Maicon, love nothing better than to stride out of their defensive positions and counterattack.

Dunga does not deny them the right, provided they observe the safety-first ethic of his game plan. This, moreover, must be the first Brazil seleção, the national team, that strives to win matches on set plays like corner kicks rather than simply off the flow of the game.

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