Brazil Football Formation

Lineup (4-2-2-2)

Cláudio Taffarel · Luís Pereira · Lúcio · Roberto Carlos · Cafu (c) · Gérson · Toninho Cerezo · Ronaldinho · Zizinho · Tostão · Romário

Brazil's All time Greatest XI "Dearman’s version" (2010) B-Team


Making an All-Time Brazil team is as enjoyable as it is difficult. You can’t field a team with 11 playmakers and forwards. So hard choices have to be made. We all love Sócrates, but was he better than Zico? What’s more important: Romário’s longevity or Ronaldo’s peak brilliance? What to do with the old masters Zizinho and Leônidas?

Throughout the years, there have been several attempts to make an All-Time Brazil team.

With all these teams, there are their own issues. And what’s worse, since the creation of these teams (the last large scale journalism attempt being in 1998, by "O Estado de São Paulo" Magazine, following "Placar" and "Folha de São Paulo"), Romário, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaká have all been voted World Player of the Year. Should any of them be included?

The classic football expert ‘Dearman’ thinks only Ronaldo does. It uses the same defense as Placar magazine, which in my opinion as well is the best defense possible for Brazil. While a 3 man defense can be tempting, Brazil’s tradition of attacking wing backs requires a 4 man back line. On midfield, the legendary Didi is untouchable. Falcão gets a spot over Gérson and Zito, while Zico is prefered over Zizinho. In attack, the inevitable Pelé and Garrincha are now supporting Ronaldo.

This, in my opinion, is the best possible All-Time Brazil team. It strikes a great balance across the generations, makes sense tactically and has great picks for every position. One could argue that Romário’s twenty year career merits a pick, but he truly only played one season (93/94) at the highest level. Ronaldo in his peak form – with his superior speed, dribbling skills, work rate and physique – was well beyond what Romário achieved during 95% of his career.

The other hard choice is Zico versus Zizinho. Both, coincidentally, were the symbol of a losing side. Zizinho was the star of the 1950 disaster, and Zico the icon of the 1982 beautiful failure. Zico however gets the nodge for me, for his amazing free kicks, his scoring rate (52 goals for Brazil in 72 games) and above all, the fact that only myths and stories attest to Zizinho’s claim to greatness, whereas with Zico we can easily verify his genius by watching a few classic games. Zizinho does, however, merit a place in the reserve team:



So, who would we choose as a Coach/Manager for this team?
My pick is Mário Zagallo, Telê Santana, Vicente Feola and Luiz Felipe Scolari.

The reserves can be a choice of hundreds... Pick any good player right from the times of Ademir to the times of Kaká.