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Slim chance Brazil considered long shot for 2006 World Cup
Posted: Friday June 30, 2000 05:55 PM
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- The rhetoric hasn't changed, and the official tone is still upbeat. Brazil wants, deserves and by rights should stage the World Cup in 2006. But virtually no one thinks it will happen. Brazil's chances are so slim that fans and sports writers have ignored next Thursday's meeting of FIFA's Executive Committee, which will pick one of the five candidates to stage soccer's premier event. Germany, England and South Africa are considered the real contenders, with Brazil and Morocco mere also-rans. Some local soccer heavyweights are openly against a Brazilian candidacy now -- Pele and former FIFA President Joao Havelange say the country simply isn't ready and should back South Africa in exchange for its support of a Brazilian bid in 2010. "Brazil's candidacy keeps breathing only by respirator," said Juca Kfouri, a respected soccer analyst for the sports daily Lance and CBN news radio. "Nothing indicates we have more than five votes" among FIFA's 24-member Executive Committee. Officially, Brazil will press ahead with its bid. Hall of Fame striker Zico, the president of the bid committee, recently denied reports that the country was ready to abandon its candidacy. Still, Ricardo Teixeira, president of the Brazilian Soccer Confederation (CBF) and a member of the FIFA Executive Committee, just visited South Africa at the invitation of Danny Jordaan, chief executive officer of the South African bid. Jordaan earlier had said South Africa and Brazil were discussing the idea of swapping support in 2006 and 2010. Teixeira also met with Botswana's Ismail Bhamjee, a committee member of the African Football Confederation, who said they discussed how to reach "some sort of agreement so we don't clash." Although Teixeira denied there was a deal, they have until Wednesday to reach one. On paper, Brazil has plenty of arguments as to why it should get the World Cup. It's the only country to qualify for all 16 Cups and the only one to win it four times, in 1958, 1962, 1970 and 1994. The Brazilian team has occupied the No. 1 spot in FIFA's monthly rankings since winning the 1994 World Cup. Brazil also has staged the tournament only once, in 1950. England held it in 1966 and Germany was host in 1974, while France, Italy and Mexico have staged it twice. The largest country in Latin America, Brazil claims more than 140 top-flight hotels, 308 soccer stadiums and reasonably modern airports and telecommunications. Compared to Mexico in 1970 and Argentina in 1978, Brazil is light years ahead. But if Brazil is technically qualified, its prestige with FIFA is in the doldrums. "The higher echelons of FIFA do not regard the CBF kindly," Kfouri said. "They put up with it as an affiliate, but (FIFA president Sepp) Blatter doesn't look on Teixeira with sympathy." Brazil has a reputation for creating problems, Kfouri said. The 1999 national championship ended with a battery of lawsuits filed by the Gama soccer club, which was relegated to the second division by order of the CBF even though it finished high enough to remain in the first division. Gama directors filed suit in civil court, and FIFA in turn suspended the club on Thursday. The first Club World Championship, held in Brazil last January, also ended badly. Eurico Miranda, vice president of second-place finisher Vasco da Gama, offended a FIFA official and defied instructions that players should speak with the news media. "Organization is not the central question. It's everything around it," Kfouri said. "Who can guarantee to FIFA that in the next six years, we won't have a new scandal popping up every two months?"
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