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Brazilians saddened Upset victory leaves Hondurans, Argentines elated
Updated: Tuesday July 24, 2001 1:12 PM
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -- Brazilians were wondering how much further their national team could fall on Tuesday after the previous night's embarrassing Copa America elimination at the hands of unrated Honduras. Meanwhile, the Central Americans celebrated one of the finest moments in their football history, while Argentines just sat back and laughed at the latest misfortune of their arch-rivals. Earlier defeats this year against Ecuador and Australia, with the latter costing Emerson Leao his job as job as coach, had Brazilians believing that things could not get worse for their once feared and respected team. Honduras, invited to the Copa America at the last minute after Argentina withdrew in protest at the chaotic organization of the tournament being held in Colombia, proved them wrong by winning Monday's quarterfinal 2-0 in Manizales. "When we thought Brazilian football had reached the bottom of the hole, the team is knocked out of the Copa America by an inexpressive Honduras," said the sports daily Lance in an editorial stamped on the front page. Headlines included "You must be joking" in Lance, "Brazil make history" in O Globo and "Honduras humiliate Brazil" in the Jornal do Brasil. Luiz Felipe Scolari, Brazil's third coach in less than a year, recognized that he had unwillingly achieved a first. "I, Big Phil, will go down in history as the Brazil coach who lost to Honduras. It's horrible. But Honduras played better, they deserved their win," he said, referring to himself by his nickname. Trying to keep the result in perspective, he added: "It's not a disgrace to lose a football match against Honduras. We played badly and Honduras beat us, that's all." Joy in HondurasThe fact that both teams were missing their top players in a devalued Copa America did not detract from the joy in Honduras or the anger in Brazil. "It wasn't a dream; we beat Brazil," said La Prensa, a daily based in the city of San Pedro Sula where thousands of fans took to the streets to celebrate the win. Honduras' previous high point was their appearance at the 1982 World Cup, when a team which included current coach Ramon Maradiaga unluckily failed to make the second round. Before that, their only claim to fame was the so-called "Football War" which broke out with neighbors El Salvador following a qualifying match of the 1970 World Cup and which resulted in more than 3,000 deaths before an uneasy peace prevailed. Honduras are also in with a real chance of reaching next year's finals in South Korea and Japan, as they are currently occupying one of the three qualifying positions in the CONCACAF final group with four matches to play. Enjoy it
The result was greeted but undisguised gloating in the country that Honduras replaced. The Buenos Aires sports paper Ole pointed out that, like Argentina, Honduras played in blue and white stripes, albeit a different pattern and shade of blue. Telling its readers to "enjoy it," the newspaper said: "Incredible. Honduras send Brazil to the second division." "They slapped them with the shirt, with the white and blue, with the shirt of Argentina. And they did it in our name as well because Honduras reached the Copa America thanks to the place which [Argentina coach Marcelo] Bielsa's team left." Brazilians, as after their previous defeats, blamed their decline on the chaotic administration of both their domestic game and the national team. Monday's defeat came alongside the latest round of bickering which is threatening the delay the Brazilian championship due to start on August 1. Last year, the competition did not take place at all and was replaced by a bewildering 116-club tournament called the Joao Havelange Cup. Wrong way"We're going the wrong way down the one way street of history," said Lance. "Incapable of organizing fixture lists and competitions, incapable of planning, incapable of paying salaries on time and keeping its best players, Brazilian football today, more than ever, has the incompetent and backward face of its directors." Scolari's real target now is to make sure he does not go in the history books again. Brazil have five matches left in the World Cup qualifying competition and need around ten points to avoid missing out on the World Cup for the first time. Their next game is at home to Paraguay on August 15, when they desperately need the three points. Scolari said that "80 percent" of the players he took to Colombia will be in the squad for that game. "Obviously, this will have a negative impact. But just because we lost does not mean that I didn't see any good points. Some players will be under pressure or criticized, but the coach has to keep a clear head for the game against Paraguay."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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