Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari battling to maintain momentum as World Cup approaches

Sometimes, the stars align and everything just goes right. So it was for Brazil last summer. When the Seleção entered the Confederations Cup, expectations were relatively low, with recent (non-) performances in the Copa America and friendlies having failed to provide much cause for optimism. Friendlies against Italy, Russia and England had yielded little excitement, with Luiz Felipe grappling with the questions that his predecessor, Mano Menezes, proved unable to answer.

But when the tournament rolled around, things suddenly clicked into place. Brazil emerged from their decade-long slumber on the back of blossoming team spirit, riding the tidal wave of embattled patriotism that was emanating from the country's streets. Neymar and Paulinho truly arrived on the international stage, helping the Seleção to a heartening victory over Spain in the final.


The worry for Scolari must be that his side peaked too soon. The staccato rhythm of international football is such that maintaining momentum for 12 months is nigh-on impossible, and it is indeed hard to imagine things clicking into place quite so perfectly come June.

Read the rest of this piece on the Mirror website here, and read more entries in the fine WC100 series here.