By Myles Palmer
EXCHANGED emails with Alexandre Gontijo in Rio de Janeiro, who asked if he could write something about the final.
So I said : Sure, I’ll put it up on Monday morning.
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The Brazilian press didn´t show any fair-play in commenting on the final of Euro 2004.
Scolari received a lot of respect in the last week.
Even his worst critics like Tostão, member of that team of 1970, wrote great things about him.
Despite the five World Cups, Europe has always been an awful place for our coaches.
Apart from Otto Gloria in the Portuguese national team and Marseille, you can´t remember a Brazilian who did well in one European major league.
When Scolari beat fat cats like Sven and Advocaat, the chauvinism was very high in our newspapers.
Felipão was even called of the greatest Brazilian ambassador in the history of Portugal.
With him, the Brazilians could beat the racism in the country!!!!
But old habits die hard in any part of the world.
On the eve of the final, the last World Cup winner as coach said, ” second and last in my opinion means the same thing for me” and with this put our insularism together.
You can imagine what the Brazilian soccer press thinks of Greece.
CHARISTEAS broke a lot of hearts in the “Brazilian Fleet Street”, who paid very little attention to Phil in his Portuguese spell, and the troubles with Vitor Baia and north side of country were ignored by the press.
But things changed when Nuno Gomes scored that goal, “our flag” was there, and there was love for the winners, so common in our football.
Especially after the England game, when our journalists compared David Beckam with Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova, a lot of beauty but no medals in their CV.
Scolari also kissed the sky when they beat Netherlands, because his critics in Brazil always loved to say the Dutch national side was better than Brazil during 2000-2002, and that the team of Ajax in 1995 beat him in the Intercontinetal Cup.
Now Phil is going to start to think about 2006.
with my heart,
Alexandre Gontijo
July 5th 2004.