Brazil

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Brazil

1974–1990

After the international retirement of Pelé and other stars, Brazil were not able to overcome Holland's Total Football and could not defend its title in the 1974 FIFA World Cup, finishing in fourth place.

The 1978 FIFA World Cup was notoriously controversial. In the second group stage Brazil were competing with tournament hosts Argentina for top spot and a place in the Finals. In their last group match, Brazil defeated Poland 3-1 to go top of the group with a goal difference of +5. Argentina were only on a goal difference of +2, but in their last group match, they managed to defeat Peru 6-0 and thus qualify for the final. Brazil were forced to settle for the third place match, where they defeated Italy 2-1. The controversy stemmed from the fact that not only was the Peruvian goalkeeper Ramón Quiroga born in Argentina, but had only let in 6 goals in the previous 5 matches, whereas the Argentines had only scored 6 goals in the tournament up to that point. Both Argentina and Peru have always denied any wrongdoing. Because of this and the fact that Brazil was the only undefeated team of the whole tournament, many Brazilians consider themselves the moral victors of this World Cup.

In the 1982 FIFA World Cup, the team played beautifully, with talents such as Zico, Falcão and Sócrates, under the coaching of the late Telê Santana, considered one of the best Brazilian coaches of all time. They won their group in the first round group, then beat Argentina 3–1 in their first second-round match. The tournament favourites Brazil could make do with a draw, but a 3–2 defeat to Italy, in one of the classic games in finals history, eliminated them from the tournament. Paolo Rossi scored all three of Italy's goals. The seleção was defeated in the match they still refer to as the "Sarrias Disaster", a reference to the stadium's name, and Telê would be much blamed for using an attacking system while a 2-2 draw was enough. The 1982 squad is remembered as one of the greatest teams to be eliminated from the World Cup. After Brazil's quarter-final defeat in the 2006 World Cup, captain Cafu compared his squad to the 1982 team.

In 1986, Telê and several players of 1982 returned to play in the World Cup hosted by Mexico. The players were older but still capable of an enchanting performance. They were troubled, however, by an injury Zico picked up before the World Cup. Incessant questions about whether and when he could play undoubtedly had some negative effect on the team. Brazil met France in the quarter-finals and the match is considered an absolute classic of "total football". Neither side deserved to lose but when Zico finally came on in the second half (with the score 1-1), and Brazil were awarded a penalty late in the game, Brazil seemed set to win. But Zico, the hero of a whole generation of Brazilian football fans, missed the penalty - and after a goalless but thoroughly exciting extra time it all came down to a penalty shoot out. There Zico managed to score from his penalty but Júlio César da Silva and Sócrates missed, and Brazil was out. Memories of the afternoon at Sarria's came back to haunt the crowd.

In the 1990 FIFA World Cup, Brazil was coached by Sebastião Lazaroni, who was hardly known before the Cup and became even more anonymous afterwards. With a defensive scheme, whose main symbol was mid-fielder Dunga, and three full-backs, the team lacked creativity but made it to the second round. Against a weaker Argentinian side, the Brazilians applied heavy pressure and had numerous chances to score, but it was Claudio Caniggia who managed to find Brazil's net and eliminate them.

[edit] More successes (1994–2002)

[edit] World Cup 1994

Only in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, 24 years after winning the World Cup in Mexico, were they able to win another title. The struggles ended in World Cup USA with a final against 1970 opponents Italy. A dour and defensive final finished 0–0 after extra time, so Brazil and Italy competed in the first penalty shootout for a World Cup in the history of the tournament, and Brazil won when Roberto Baggio missed the final penalty. Romário was acknowledged as the most important player of this Cup who lead Brazil to a record fourth World Cup title, scoring five goals including the game-winning header against Sweden in the semifinals. The Brazilians refer to this cup as the Cup that Romário won for Brazil.

[edit] World Cup 1998

Brazil finished as runner-up in the 1998 FIFA World Cup. After a very respectable campaign, the team lost to hosts France 3-0 in a problematic final game. Brazilian marking at defensive set pieces was poor, and Zinedine Zidane was able to score two headed goals from France's corner kicks. Also, Brazilian star Ronaldo suffered a nervous breakdown or an epileptic seizure a few hours before the match. Many criticized the decision to reinstate Ronaldo into the starting lineup as he put in a poor performance. The coach of the team at the time was Mário Zagallo, who won the World Cup as a player in 1958 and 1962, as the coach in 1970 and as assistant coach in 1994.

[edit] World Cup 2002

Fuelled by the scintillating play of the "Three R's" (Ronaldo, Rivaldo, and Ronaldinho), Brazil won its fifth championship at the 2002 FIFA World Cup held in South Korea and Japan. When the groups were drawn, Brazil seemed to have been lucky; Brazil's adversaries would be Turkey, China and Costa Rica. At the end, it turned out that Turkey finished the tournament in third place, showing that indeed Brazil's group was stronger than most had expected. Brazil went on beating all three opponents, scoring 11 goals and conceding only three, and topping the group.

Next they defeated Belgium 2-0. Against England in the quarter finals, Brazil won 2-1, which had been the most difficult match till then. Ronaldinho scored a remarkable goal and assisted teammate Rivaldo for the victory goal, but was then sent off. The semifinal was against Turkey, which Brazil had faced in their group. Again, this match was difficult, as Brazil won 1–0 with a goal by Ronaldo. Rivaldo had scored one goal each in all five game up to this one but did not manage to hit the target in the sixth. He had seemed all set to repeat Jairzinho´s great achievement in 1970 when he scored in every game of the World Cup.

The final was between two of the most successful teams in the competition's history: GermanyWest Germany) or Brazil had played in all World Cup finals since 1950 - except 1978 (If the last game of 1950 is considered to be a proper final). German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn had been the tournament's best keeper, but could not maintain that level of play, as Ronaldo vanquished his France '98 demons, scoring both goals in the Brazilian 2-0 triumph. and Brazil. Either Germany (or

Incredibly, these teams had never played each other in the World Cup before. There was however a match between Brazil and East Germany in the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Brazil won 1–0.

Ronaldinho's goal in a friendly match against Haiti: 19-8-2004.

[edit] 2002–2005

On June 29, 2005 Brazil won the Confederations Cup for the second time with an emphatic 4-1 victory over arch-rivals Argentina in Frankfurt, Germany. They also won another championship, the 2004 Copa América in which Brazil defeated Argentina in a penalty shootout. Argentina had defeated Peru in the quarterfinals, and Colombia in the semifinals.

[edit] World Cup 2006

Main article: Brazil at the 2006 FIFA World Cup

Entering the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Brazil were seen as heavy favorites to repeat their success at the previous cup. Brazil beat Croatia 1-0, Australia 2-0, Japan 4-1, the first two being hard-fought matches, to come out at the top of their group. However, Ronaldo was heavily criticized by the press for being overweight and in poor fitness and did not find his scoring form until the match against Japan.

During the second round, they defeated Ghana 3-0. However, Brazil was eliminated in the quarterfinals against France by a score of 1-0 whom Thierry Henry scored the winning goal. France was led by a rejuvenated Zinedine Zidane and by a strong defense which kept the Brazilian strikers under check for the duration of the game, Brazil were shut out, attempting just one shot at French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. The game was also notable for being the first time that the Brazil team had been shut out in consecutive matches against a particular team. France now has a 2-1-1 all-time record against Brazil in World Cup play.

After the result of 2006, the team was criticized by many Brazilians. Some, such as Pelé, blamed coach Parreira and Ronaldinho for the team's early elimination.^[5] The night after Brazil's defeat, vandals burned and destroyed a 7-meter tall fiberglass and resin statue of Ronaldinho in the Brazilian city of Chapecó, which had been erected in 2004 to celebrate Ronaldinho's first election as FIFA World Player of the Year.^[6] Roberto Carlos^[7] and Juninho Pernambucano each announced their retirement from the team and Juninho asserted that it was time for the players over 30 to retire from the team.^[8] Cafu, the Brazilian captain, made an infamous comparison between the team of 2006 and the team at 1982 World Cup, one that is remembered as one of the greatest teams that lost a World Cup.^[9] Two days after the loss, Ronaldinho and Adriano^[10] This reaction contrasted with other players such as Rogerio Ceni, who was ashamed of the game and said "some defeats are marked by struggle, but we lost in an infelicitous way, that wasn't what we had hoped for",^[11] and Zé Roberto, who cried and said that "the unity that we had outside the pitch, was lacking inside it".^[12] On July 19, Parreira resigned as the team coach. partied through the night in Barcelona, increasing the feeling of the Brazilians that they were betrayed by their national team.

[edit] After the 2006 World Cup

1994 World Cup champion Dunga was hired as Brazil's new team coach on July 24. His first match in charge was against Norway which was played in Oslo on August 16, ended in a 1-1 draw. His second match was held against arch rivals Argentina on September 3 in Arsenal F.C.'s new Emirates Stadium in London, in which Brazil defeated Argentina by a 3-0 scoreline. On 5 September they defeated Wales 2-0 at Tottenham Hotspur F.C.'s White Hart Lane ground. They later defeated Kuwait club, Al-Kuwait 4-0, Ecuador 2-1 and had a 2-1 away win against Switzerland.

Dunga's first defeat as Brazil's coach occurred in February 2007 in a friendly match against Portugal, which is coached by former Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. In March 2007, Brazil bounced back from their first defeat under Dunga with wins in friendly matches against ChileGhana (1-0) in Sweden. (4-0) and

Unlike Parreira, Dunga has focused on the task of unemphasizing all players and treating them as equals. He did not just look for players in popular clubs such as AC Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid, etc., but looked at the whole scope of Europe, finding individual talents such as Daniel Carvalho, Vagner Love and Dudu Cearense of Russian club CSKA Moscow and also Elano of Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk, currently now he has moved to Manchester City. Of the former Magic Quartet, Ronaldinho and Kaká were the only players who had a regular place in the Brazil squad. Adriano was called back in the squad for a friendly against Portugal in February 2007 which Brazil lost 0-2. Dunga is yet to select the last member of the Magic Quartet, Ronaldo.

[edit] 2007 Copa America

Dunga took the Brazilians to Venezuela, for the 2007 Copa America. They were placed in a group with Mexico, Ecuador, and Chile. In Group B, Brazil surprisingly lost to Mexico 2-0, then bounced back with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Chile, and suffered but won 1-0 against the Ecuadorians. They advanced to the quarter-finals, where they crushed Chile again 6-1. The Semi-Final game against Uruguay was slightly controversial. For the most part, Uruguay tackled and played violently, and the game ended 2-2, off to penalty shootouts. Brazil won 5-4. Their opponent in the final was to be Argentina. Brazil and Argentina met in the finals, and Argentina were heavy favourites. But in the 4th minute of the final, Julio Baptista dribbled past a couple of defenders, and scored an absolutely beautiful goal, surprising the Argentinian team. Then in the 45th Minute, defender Roberto Ayala scored an own goal. It was now 2-0. The first half ended 2-0. The second half began, and later in the 69th minute, Daniel Alves received the ball from a Vagner Love cross and flew off to the goal posts, shooting it into the side of the net and making it 3-0. Brazil won the 2007 Copa America, with Robinho being the top scorer.

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Brazil Wallpaper

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Brazil

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Brazil

The Brazil national football team is controlled by the CBF and represents Brazil in international football competitions. They are the most successful national football team in the history of the World Cup, with five championships (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002). A common quip about football is: "The English invented it, the Brazilians perfected it."^[1] Currently ranked second by FIFA, Brazil is generally considered to be the strongest football nation in the worldplayed in every World Cup.
and is the only team to have

Early history

The first match of the Brazil national football team is generally considered to be a 1916 match between a Rio and São Paulo select team and the English club Exeter City F.C., which the Brazilian team won 2–0.^[2] In contrast to future successes, the nation's early appearances were far from brilliant, partly due to internal strife within Brazilian football over professionalism, which rendered the Brazilian Football Confederation unable to field full-strength teams.

n particular, disputes between the São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro state football federations meant that the team would not be composed of players coming from either of the federations. In both the 1930 and 1934 tournaments, Brazil were knocked out at the very first stage. But 1938 was a sign of things to come, as Brazil finished a strong third, with Leonidas da Silva making history and being the first player to score four goals in a World Cup match.

Brazil hosted the 1950 FIFA World Cup which was the first tournament to be held after World War II. It is the only time Brazil has hosted the tournament to date. The 1950 tournament was unique in not having a single final, but rather a final round-robin stage of four teams; however, to all intents and purposes the deciding game between Brazil and Uruguay acted as that tournament's "final". The match was hosted at the Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro, watched by 199,854 people, and Brazil only needed a draw to win, but lost the match 2-1 after being 1-0 up; this match has since been known in South America as "Maracanazo". In Brazil it is called "Final Fatídica" ("fateful final").^[3]

For the 1954 FIFA World Cup, in Switzerland, the Brazilian team was almost completely renovated, so as to forget the Maracanã defeat, but still had a group of good players, including Nílton Santos, Djalma Santos, and Didi. Brazil didn't go very far though. The quarterfinals saw the favorites Hungary beat Brazil 4-2 in one of the ugliest matches in football history, which would become infamous as the Battle of Berne.

[edit] The Golden Era and Pele (1958 to 1970)

Brazil's coach, Vicente Feola imposed strict rules on the squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, held in Sweden. The players were given a list of forty things that they were not allowed to do, including wearing hats or umbrellas, smoking while wearing official clothing and talking to the press outside of allocated times. They were the only team to bring a psychologist (because the memories of 1950 still affected some players) or a dentist (for, because of their humble origins, many players had dental problems, which caused infections and also had negative impact on performance) with them, and had sent a representative to Europe to watch the qualifying matches a year before the tournament began.

Brazil were drawn in the toughest group, with England, the USSR and Austria. They beat Austria 3–0 in their first match, then drew 0–0 with England. The Brazilians had been worried about their match with the USSR who had exceptional fitness and were one of the favourites to win the tournament; their strategy was to take risks at the beginning of the match to try and score an early goal. Before the match, the leaders of the team, Bellini, Nílton Santos, and Didi, spoke to coach Vicente Feola and persuaded him to make three substitutions which were crucial for Brazil to defeat the Soviets and win the Cup: Zito, Garrincha, and Pelé would start playing against the USSR. From the kick off, they passed the ball to Garrincha who beat three players before hitting the post with a shot. They kept up the pressure relentlessly, and after three minutes which were later described as "the greatest three minutes in the history of football",^[4]Wales, and they beat France 5–2 in the semi-final. Brazil beat the hosts Sweden, in the final 5-2, winning their first World Cup and becoming the first nation to win a World Cup title outside of its own continent. A celebrated fact was that Feola would sometimes take naps during training sessions and would sometimes close his eyes during matches, giving the impression that he was asleep. Because of this, Didi was sometimes said to be the real coach of the team, as he commanded the mid-field. Vavá gave Brazil the lead. They won the match 2–0. Pelé scored the only goal of their quarter-final match against

In the 1962 FIFA World Cup, Brazil got its second title with Garrincha as the star player; a mantle and responsibility bestowed upon him after regular talisman, Pelé, was injured during the first group match against Mexico and unable to play for the rest of the tournament.

In the 1966 FIFA World Cup, the preparation of the team was affected by political influences. All the major Brazilian clubs wanted their players included in the Brazilian team, to give them more exposure. In the final months of preparation, the coach Vicente Feola was working with 46 players, of which only 22 would go to England; this caused lots of internal dispute and psychological pressure. The result was that, in 1966, Brazil had their worst performance in all World Cups. Of course, another perhaps bigger issue, was that Pelé (who may have been at the height of his career) was chopped at seemingly every opportunity in the group matches.

Brazil won its third World Cup in Mexico in the 1970 FIFA World Cup. Brazil fielded what has been considered to be the best football squad ever, led by Pelé in his last World Cup final, captain Carlos Alberto, Jairzinho, Tostão, Gérson and Rivelino. After winning the Jules Rimet Trophy for the third time Brazil were allowed to keep it for good.

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Galatasaray Pictures

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Galatasaray Wallpaper

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Galatasaray

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Galatasaray History

Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (in English: Galatasaray Sports Club) or Galatasaray SK is a Turkish sports club based in Istanbul which is famous for its football section; Galatasaray is the most successful Turkish club in history. Galatasaray S.K. is the most successful club in the history of Turkish football, having won more trophies than any other Turkish club.^[1]Founded in 1905 by Ali Sami Yen and his fellows from the prestigious Galatasaray High School, Galatasaray currently has 16 Turkish league championships, and also won the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup in 2000. Galatasaray also topped the world club ranking to be named "Best Football Club in the World" in January of 2001.^[2]

Galatasaray is one of only two teams to have won the UEFA Cup without being beaten in a single match and is also the first team to win the competition after finishing third place in the Champions League group stage. In winning the UEFA Cup during the 1999-2000 season, beating Arsenal of England on penalties, Galatasaray became the first Turkish football club ever to win a European trophy. Galatasaray also holds the world record of most games won in a row at home (25 games in a row: 13 May 2001 - 8 December 2002).

Galatasaray was founded in the autumn of 1905 by Galatasaray Lisesi students as a footballAli Sami Yen. Their first match was against Kadıköy Faure School and they won this match 2-0.^[3] There were discussions about the club's name, in which some suggested Gloria (victory) and others Audace (courage), but it was decided that its name would be Galatasaray.^[4] club. Galatasaray's first president was

According to researcher Cem Atabeyoğlu, Galatasaray took its name from one of its first matches. In that match, Galatasaray won 2-0 over Rûm club and the spectators called them "Galata Sarayı efendileri" (in English: Gentlemen of Galata Palace), and, after this event, they adopted that name and started to call their club "Galata Sarayı". In 1905, during the era of the Ottoman Empire, there weren't any laws for associations so the club couldn't be registered officially, but, after the 1912 Law of Association, the club registered legally.^[5]

“	Our aim is to play together like Englishmen, to have a color and a name and to beat the non - Turkish teams.	”
—Ali Sami Yen

This was how the first Turkish football club was founded. Among with the founder Ali Sami Yen, the co-founders were the ones who were keen to do this sport, such as Asim Tevfik Sonumut, Reşat Şirvani, Cevdet Kalpakçıoğlu, Abidin Daver and Kamil.

At first, the colors of the Galatasaray Sports Club were red and white. These are the colors in Turkish flag. However, Turkish Republic wasn't founded at that time. Therefore, this inspiration caused repressive administration of the day feel uncomfortable and the administration hounded the footballers. For this reason, the colors were changed.

New colors were chosen as red and yellow. Ali Sami Yen stated, "We were imagining brightness of yellow - red fire over our team and thinking that it would carry us from one victory to another."^[5] It eventually did.

Since there weren't any Turkish teams, Galatasaray joined the Istanbul League that was consisting of English and Greek teams in the season of 1905-1906. With their first championship title they won in 1907-1908, they heralded the beginning of Turkish football history.^[6]

While the football in Turkey began to fully develop, Galatasaray won ten more Istanbul LeagueSunday League titles and three Friday League titles until 1952. Upon recognition of professional football in 1952, the first professional but nonnational league of Turkey, Istanbul Professional League played between 1952-1959. Galatasaray won three of these seven titles. titles, six

Türkiye Profesyonel 1. Ligi (today it is organized with the name Turkcell Super League) formed in 1959. This is the top-flight professional league in Turkish nationwide football, and the most popular sporting competition in the country. Galatasaray joined all seasons and won 16 league titles since then.^[7]

The Turkish Football Federation starts to organize "Turkish Cup" (today it is organized with the name Fortis Turkey Cup) in the 1962-63 season for Turkish clubs to qualify for the UEFA^[8] competitions. This is the only national cup competition in Turkey. Galatasaray joined all seasons and won 14 trophies since then.

Probably the greatest record that club holds is winning national championships in 13 different sport branches in 1986-87 season.

Galatasaray's most successful era came in late 1990s, when the club won the UEFA Cup and European Super Cup and becoming the first Turkish football club ever to win an European trophy. They were aided in this by one of Turkey's best generation of home grown footballers who went on to finish third in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and played quarter finals of UEFA Euro 2000. Besides the talented players, visiting teams also disliked travelling into Ali Sami Yen Stadium which is literally called "Hell" by the supporters of Galatasaray due to the intimidating atmosphere provided by the fans including chants and riots in the crowds. ^[9]

Galatasaray is the only team to have won the Turkish League title, the Turkish Cup, the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup in the same season. Galatasaray holds the record of winning four consecutive Turkish league titles, which all of these came under the coaching of Fatih Terim and the visionary club president Faruk Süren.

There are many successful footballers played for Galatasaray and made their mark on Turkish football history. Few examples may be 1930's national hero Eşfak Aykoç^[10], Boduri who tragically died in age of 21^[11], Mehmet Leblebi who scored a domestic record of 14 goals in a match^[12], Gündüz Kılıç nicknamed Baba (father) who was the coach but also the player of his team in 1950's with great success on both^[13], Bülent-Reha Eken brothers, Suat Mamat who made a hat-trick in 1954 World Cup^[14], Coşkun Özarı a life devoted to Galatasaray^[15], Turgay Şeren the heroic goalkeeper that called "the Panther of Berlin"^[16], Fatih Terim the team captain of Galatasaray and Turkish National Football team for years and the current coach^[17], Metin Oktay the legendery six time top scorer of Turkish league^[18], Zoran Simović another skilled goalkeeper known for his penalty saves^[19], Cüneyt Tanman played a record of 342 games for Galatasaray^[20], Tanju Çolak extraordinary goalscorer and European Golden Boot1988 winner with Galatasaray^[21], Cevad Prekazi an Albanian teammate of Tanju specializing in free kicks^[22], Taffarel the world cup winner goalkeeper of Brazil^[23], Gheorghe Hagi Romanian football hero that still described as the best foreign player ever to play in Turkey^[24], and last but not least, Hakan Şükür, the player who scored most goals in the first division of Turkish football history (242 goals) and still scoring.

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