Gilberto Silva established his own love affair with the World Cup back in 2002.
Former Arsenal captain Silva was part of the last Brazil squad to lift the trophy and that put him on his own path to stardom. Silva joined Arsenal after the tournament, was part of the all-conquering Invincibles line-up and will go down as a club legend.
But even Silva, who will be part of FIFA’s Technical Study Group in this tournament, admits that the current Brazil squad is a long way from those glory days. They have not passed the quarter finals in the past two tournaments and, despite the usual sky-high demands in a football-mad country, the realistic expectations are much lower.
That is why they have brought in legendary boss Carlo Ancelotti to see if he can inspire a squad which is a far cry from their glory days. Silva even laughs about Ancelotti being an adopted Brazilian for the next couple of months In the hope he can revive their fortunes.
Silva said: “With all due respect to Carlo, I would love to see a Brazilian in charge of the Brazil national team at the World Cup this summer. But I don’t see an Italian now. I see a Brazilian and we must give our full support to the team, to the players and the coach for this World Cup.
“I don’t think Brazil are one of the main favourites but Carlo is building a squad and will be in charge of a strong team by the time the World Cup starts.
“The pressure is massive and the pressure will be there on Brazil for the whole tournament and for every single game.
“It’s a really tough time for the national side but you really have to put the trust in what they are doing and how they will approach the tournament. You have to focus on the positive and a big part of that is Carlo because he has such great experience and quality as a coach.”
Ancelotti has already caused controversy by calling up Neymar while Chelsea’s Joao Pedro missed out. Brazil’s World Cup fixtures start on June 13 against Morocco while the five-time winners also face Haiti and Scotland.
Silva is still a regular face at Arsenal games but these days more as a guest and also a TV pundit. He has enjoyed their title-winning success and also believes Arsenal’s Brazil centre half Gabriel can be just as important for the national team this summer.
Gabriel has formed a formidable partnership with William Saliba at the heart of their defence and his old team’s success has been built on that foundation.
Silva said: “It is fantastic to see them do so well this season under Mikel Arteta and I am sure there is more to come. I think there will be set-pieces at the tournament and you have seen Arsenal be very effective with that in the Premier League.
“Gabriel has been a big part of that in defence and attack. Arsenal have two great centre backs and one is Brazilian so we are very lucky.”
View 2 ImagesGabriel was outstanding for Arsenal and now will partner Marquinhos in Brazil’s defence(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Silva has worked for FIFA looking at tactics and trends but does not believe there will be as many set-piece goals in the World Cup as in the Premier League.
FIFA has already set out to try and reduce grappling at set-pieces by introducing new laws and VAR interventions but Silva is anticipating a change anyway.
He added: “Of course it is going to be a challenge and games will be tight and decided by small margins. But I don’t think set-pieces will be the main thing this summer.
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“There will be other ways in which teams can break through and score goals and hopefully you will see an exciting and brilliant World Cup.”
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