Starting Over After World Cup, Brazil’s Future Tops United States’ Present By ANDREW KEH Published: August 10, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/11/sports/soccer/11brazil.html?ref=sports EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — In the fading afterglow of one World Cup, the United States and Brazil met Tuesday ready to start the next cycle anew. By the summer of 2014, when Brazil will be the host, each team will have endured the rigors of rebuilding a team. But on this night, their agendas seemed considerably different. For Brazil, the match was the start of an aggressive push to reclaim the splendor of its celebrated past. It achieved that to a degree, entertaining a crowd of 77,223 on its way to a 2-0 win at New Meadowlands Stadium. For the United States, the game served mostly as a lingering celebration of the recent past. The Americans advanced to the second round of this summer’s World Cup in South Africa before being eliminated by Ghana in a shaky, uneven performance. Their run, however, was more of a success in the hearts and minds of fans back home than in the tournament bracket. The manner in which the Americans advanced — with late goals and unrelenting determination — pleased the millions of fans who watched the games on television, and that affection resonated in the stands on Tuesday night. “Anytime you play in front of a crowd of 77,000 people, that’s special,” United States Coach Bob Bradley said. “U.S. fans, Brazilian fans, soccer fans — all of us appreciate the opportunity to be here on nights like this.” The crowd, about half of which seemed to be dressed in the canary yellow of Brazil, roared before the match as highlights from the World Cup, including those of Landon Donovan’s emotional group-stage goals for the United States, were played on the stadium’s four large, panoramic screens. Fireworks punctuated a rousing rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” In this way, the game was essentially an opportunity for fans to shower the United States team, which made its first home appearance since it left for South Africa, with appreciation for having entranced them in June. “It’s so soon after the World Cup,” goalkeeper Tim Howard said of the game. “It’s definitely got a little bit of a feel to it that it’s still part of the last four years.” Bradley called in 15 players from the World Cup squad, and put nine of them in the starting lineup. The crowd cheered enthusiastically when Donovan made a couple of dangerous runs early. The Americans were outplayed by Brazil over all, but it hardly seemed to matter. Chants of “U-S-A!” rang out until the final whistle “It’s a difficult game to assess anything,” Donovan said. “If we play games later in the year, that will be more accurate.” Bradley’s future, meanwhile, remains up in the air. His contract with U.S. Soccer expires in December, but he could leave before then. Bookmakers in Britain have installed him as a 3-to-1 favorite to assume the vacant managerial post at Aston Villa of the English Premier League. “There’s really nothing more to report,” Bradley said of any possible moves. “It was agreed after this game that there’d be more discussions, and we will see where those discussions go.” While the United States remains in limbo, Brazil has zoomed ahead with a new agenda, which began two days after it was knocked out in the quarterfinals by the Netherlands. The former coach Dunga, whose preferred style of play was deemed insufficiently beautiful for Brazilian tastes, was let go and replaced by Mano Menezes. “We are going to rescue our style,” Menezes said last week on Brazilian television. “We want to recover that tradition of being protagonists.” That was clearly reflected Tuesday; Menezes summoned a squad of 22 that included only four players who had traveled to South Africa. Eleven Brazilians had never represented their country at the senior level. The brightest among them Tuesday was Neymar, an 18-year-old forward who plays for Santos in the Brazilian league. During his 72 minutes on the field, he galloped up and down the wings, mesmerizing defenders with step-overs and back-heel flicks. He scored Brazil’ s first goal in the 28th minute, conjuring the ebullient play Brazilian fans so crave. In that move, Andre Santos, the left back, made a run forward and curled a cross into the penalty area. With a flick of his head, Neymar redirected the ball into the bottom left corner of the net and then performed a celebratory jig with his teammate Robinho. “Personality is not something given; someone has it or does not,” Menezes said of his young players. “This was a sign that they have this capacity.” And so it went for the rest of the game. The Brazilians controlled the ball with entwining runs and inventive passes, adding a second goal in first-half stoppage time, by the 20-year-old Alexandre Pato, while the Americans chased them around the field. “We talked about how important it is to obtain results in this project,” Menezes said. “But I also wanted to highlight the way and the process how we built the result.” But the result did not matter much. In these early days of a new World Cup cycle, both countries got what they needed. --

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