Still in shock at the destruction of their national team by Germany on Tuesday, Brazilians now fear they are about to have salt grinded into their wounds come Sunday's final.
'All That's Left is for Argentina to be Champions' moaned the Correio de Bahía following Argentina's victory on penalties over the Dutch on Wednesday night after perhaps the worst game of the tournament so far.
‘The Nightmare’s Just Got Worse’ agreed Diaro de S.Paulo.
After all the pride in the strong early showing by the region's teams Latin solidarity has gone out the window now the risk is close of Brazil's historic rival winning in its own backyard. 'Germany ended the dream of a sixth Brazilian title, now may it impede a third for Argentina' pleaded sports daily Lance! on a front page in which Lukas Podolski is seeing giving a football to a local indigenous boy over the headline 'Germans Since Childhood!'
‘Envy Has No End’ was the reply from Lance!’s Argentine rival Olé which along with the rest of the country’s media was not about to let the fact the team squeaked through after a stinker of a game take from the joy of having reached a first final in 24 years.
After the final whistle fifty thousand people flocked to the Obelisk in downtown Buenos Aires where the country's footballing triumphs are traditionally celebrated. 'In the Final' shouted Clarín's front page while 'Running Towards Glory' was the headline in La Nacion whose correspondent Juan Pablo Varsky had a message for Lionel Messi that gives something of the flavour of the local reaction to the win.
"Leo, you were missing," he writes. "It was hard against the enormous De Jong. You are going to play in a World Cup final. Your companions have carried you to the Maracanã. Now you have to carry them to glory. Sunday July 13th is your date with history…. The table is now set, little man. It is your turn. There will be time and space for analysis. Not today. I am crying with emotion and write what I can, what come from my heart."
But the Argentine players, who postponed their final training session before the game against Holland to watch all of Germany's demolition of the Brazil, were keen to declare their final opponents the favourites for Sunday's match. "I think they are the favourites. They have a day's more rest. In the semi-final they played 30 minutes less," said former Bayern Munich player Martin Demichelis. "We'll see what we can do," was the rather modest promise of midfielder Lucas Biglia.
Rio de Janeiro is now bracing itself for a final invasion by Argentine fans with seats on extra flights laid on by Aerolineas Argentinas already snapped up and the city’s samba stadium already open to receive the travelling convoy of cars and camper vans that is now heading towards Brazil’s beach capital.
But while the tournament is only reaching its climax in Brazil the inquest into the country's own calamitous exit is already well under way. Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari is inevitably the butt of jokes and abuse, perhaps the worst of it from the agent of his star player Neymar who called him an "old fool" among other things in an astonishing lack of class considering how protective of his client Felipão has been during his second stint in charge of the national team.
More considered analysis came from the government with sports minister Aldo Rebelo saying: “Brazilian football clearly needs to make changes.
The defeat to Germany is more evidence of this necessity.” He defended using legislation to reform Brazilian football’s structures which remain in the hands of bosses long known for their corruption rather than any sense of responsibility for the interests of players or fans.
Fifa normally zealously defends its national associations from outside interference but Rebelo said “the state cannot be excluded from the task of looking after the public interest within sport”.
Among the areas he said that needed reforming are the country’s sprawling football calendar, the export trade in youth players and the chaotic finances of clubs, many of which are deeply in debt and often unable to pay their players on time.
Former star Zico also made clear that the necessary changes needed to be profound. “It is time to wear the sandals of humility and start from zero,” he wrote in O Globo. “We have to revise the moulding of our players… We have to prioritise and work most of all with those who have talent.”
Such is the scale of the defeat that some of the country’s most respected football commentators are even now calling for the previously unthinkable. “Nothing can be said that will diminish the impact of what is already being called around the world the biggest humiliation in the history of football,” argued Paulo Vinícius Coelho in Folha de S.Paulo. “We need to create new facts! Go and seek out Pep Guardiola or someone else with experience in Europe. Something has to happen.”
Such calls will only grow louder should Argentine win on Sunday.
