The first international friendlies of the new season take place this week, marking the start of a significant year for Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. The task facing the seasoned boss is to lead the host nation to the trophy at the 2014 World Cup on home soil. Scolari has won the global showpiece once already, at the 2002 edition in Korea and Japan, the last occasion on which the five-time world champions took the title.
The Confederations Cup 2013 proved a highly successful dress rehearsal for Brazil, as the hosts ran up an impressive 3-0 victory over reigning world champions Spain in the final. Speaking exclusively to DFB.de reporter Tobias Käufer in São Paulo, the Selecao supremo discussed Neymar, next year's World Cup, and the European nations’ chances in Brazil.
DFB.de: Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Ballon d'Or for the world player of the year will be presented in Zurich next January. Brazil hope it will go to Neymar, Argentine fans are rooting for Lionel Messi, and Germans think it should go to a player from Champions League winners Bayern Munich. Who would you give it to?
Scolari: I think Lionel Messi will remain the world's best player for the next one or two years. Messi plays for the team, but also possesses wonderful individual ability. He’s good enough to win a game all on his own. The German stars shine more as team players and less as individuals, so they attract less attention than Messi. Now he's at Barcelona, Neymar can show off his immense technical ability and emulate Messi with his solo efforts.
DFB.de: The whole of Brazil is in love with the way Neymar plays his football. Will he have to adapt his game for Barcelona, and will he change as a player?
Scolari: In his first season in Spain, the biggest thing he'll learn is sticking to a tactical plan, although he started doing that here in Brazil. He's always followed his tactical instructions for Santos and the Selecao, but in Spain he'll have to live with them day after day. Here in Brazil, we don't stick as rigidly to tactics as they do in Europe. It’ll be a minor adjustment for him. It's important for him, and important to us. On the plus side, he's ready to learn. And he's playing in the Spanish league and the Champions League, at a different level compared to Brazil. The biggest tactical consideration is how to play against teams who pull nine men back. We in the Selecao will also benefit from that.
DFB.de: The whole of Europe is talking about one marquee coaching appointment this season, as Pep Guardiola has been charged with shaping a new era at Champions League winners Bayern Munich. Do you think he's made the right decision by going to Bayern?
Scolari: Guardiola has taken an excellent decision. Bayern Munich are a spectacular team, but that also applies the other way round for Bayern with their choice of Guardiola - it's just as spectacular. He's a top-quality coach. He'll blend his vision of the game with the way Bayern like to play, because he’s a highly intelligent coach. In my opinion, it's a very happy choice for both sides.
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The first international friendlies of the new season take place this week, marking the start of a significant year for Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. The task facing the seasoned boss is to lead the host nation to the trophy at the 2014 World Cup on home soil. Scolari has won the global showpiece once already, at the 2002 edition in Korea and Japan, the last occasion on which the five-time world champions took the title.
The Confederations Cup 2013 proved a highly successful dress rehearsal for Brazil, as the hosts ran up an impressive 3-0 victory over reigning world champions Spain in the final. Speaking exclusively to DFB.de reporter Tobias Käufer in São Paulo, the Selecao supremo discussed Neymar, next year's World Cup, and the European nations’ chances in Brazil.
DFB.de: Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Ballon d'Or for the world player of the year will be presented in Zurich next January. Brazil hope it will go to Neymar, Argentine fans are rooting for Lionel Messi, and Germans think it should go to a player from Champions League winners Bayern Munich. Who would you give it to?
Scolari: I think Lionel Messi will remain the world's best player for the next one or two years. Messi plays for the team, but also possesses wonderful individual ability. He’s good enough to win a game all on his own. The German stars shine more as team players and less as individuals, so they attract less attention than Messi. Now he's at Barcelona, Neymar can show off his immense technical ability and emulate Messi with his solo efforts.
DFB.de: The whole of Brazil is in love with the way Neymar plays his football. Will he have to adapt his game for Barcelona, and will he change as a player?
Scolari: In his first season in Spain, the biggest thing he'll learn is sticking to a tactical plan, although he started doing that here in Brazil. He's always followed his tactical instructions for Santos and the Selecao, but in Spain he'll have to live with them day after day. Here in Brazil, we don't stick as rigidly to tactics as they do in Europe. It’ll be a minor adjustment for him. It's important for him, and important to us. On the plus side, he's ready to learn. And he's playing in the Spanish league and the Champions League, at a different level compared to Brazil. The biggest tactical consideration is how to play against teams who pull nine men back. We in the Selecao will also benefit from that.
DFB.de: The whole of Europe is talking about one marquee coaching appointment this season, as Pep Guardiola has been charged with shaping a new era at Champions League winners Bayern Munich. Do you think he's made the right decision by going to Bayern?
Scolari: Guardiola has taken an excellent decision. Bayern Munich are a spectacular team, but that also applies the other way round for Bayern with their choice of Guardiola - it's just as spectacular. He's a top-quality coach. He'll blend his vision of the game with the way Bayern like to play, because he’s a highly intelligent coach. In my opinion, it's a very happy choice for both sides.
DFB.de: The Confederations Cup showed just how difficult it can be for Europeans to win trophies in Brazil due to the extreme climate. What's your view on that?
Scolari: If that was true, we Brazilians would never have won the World Cup outside our own continent. Nowadays, you quickly and comfortably reach everywhere you need to go by air. It might have been a problem 20 or 30 years ago. Nowadays you have physiotherapists, a group who collect scientific data about everything to do with the game. The winners in Brazil will be the best prepared team.
DFB.de: You won the World Cup in 2002 with Brazil. What are your memories of the tournament and the final against Germany?
Scolari: All my memories are positive, and that's what led to me doing the same as Alberto Parreira and returning to the Selecao. Parreira was a World Cup winner in 1994, and I was a World Cup winner in 2002. Looking ahead to the tournament in our own country, we accepted the association's invitation to work towards winning the 2014 World Cup with our national team. My memories of Japan are fantastic, partly because we were always warmly welcomed wherever we went. It was our greatest dream and it became reality.
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DFB.de: The Confederations Cup in Brazil straightened out the tricky relationship between the team and the public. How did you manage that?
Scolari: No-one knew whether the team we took into the Confederations Cup had what it takes to win the trophy. Now, after the tournament, there's a completely different atmosphere. Thanks to the football we played, our tactics, and naturally the way the players performed for the nation as members of the Selecao, we've been restored to the list of candidates with a big chance of winning the World Cup. The fans always yearned for a vibrant Selecao playing with big hearts.
DFB.de: Your team have also made progress in footballing terms, and you appear to have settled on your first-choice line-up. Is that why you're so relaxed despite the immense pressure?
Scolari: As I personally witnessed in June, the group I brought together for the Confederations Cup boasts genuine quality. I saw that they have a real desire to learn. They genuinely wanted to acquire things that were good for their football. That helped me build up trust, which I then passed on to the players. I'm calm nowadays. I have respect for Germany, Argentina, England, Spain, Holland, Italy, France, all these magnificent footballing nations and their great teams who will come here and could win it, but I have faith in my players. Provided they’re physically and technically on peak form, they have what it takes to win the World Cup. As a result, I can be more calm and relaxed.
DFB.de: Looking much further ahead, the 2022 World Cup in Qatar could take place in the winter rather than the summer. What’s your opinion about that?
Scolari: FIFA will continue to look at it. I've worked in the Arab world, and at eight or nine o'clock in the evening, the temperatures came down from 40° to 27° or 28°. That's still immensely hot, but it's bearable. However, it would be ideal if they can switch the World Cup to the winter in those parts. The temperatures are around 25° in the winter.
