Art of Deco

ONE of Luiz Felipe Scolari’s greatest attributes is his ability to make his squad bond as a group, to believe that no one player is more important than any other, and to give his team a collective belief that they can win any match.

That aspect of his management style was tested to the limit in the build-up to the quarter-final against England after midfielders Costinha and Deco were sent off against Holland and suspended for the quarter-final.

“We have a great squad of players here and will bring in two new players who will do just as good a job,” said Scolari without missing a beat after the Dutch battle. The truth, though, may have been different: Costinha is the team’s most effective holding midfielder and his presence allows Maniche freer reign going forward, while Deco is Portugal’s only irreplaceable player, a playmaker whose skill and vision could have sent England to a much earlier exit than the penalty shoot out woe.

“I was sad that I wasn’t able to make a contribution to the team in the quarter-finals against England, but I was so pleased that they won after such a tough game,” said Deco. “I knew that whoever came into the side for me would do a good job and I cannot wait to play in the semi-finals. It should be a great game.”

That Deco and Costinha will be back for tonight’s semi-final against Brazil’s conquerors France — added to Scolari’s astonishing record of 12 straight wins in World Cup games — tips the balance in Portugal’s favour: and while France may be ultra-confident having dispatched first Spain and then the favourites, Portugal will have no fears.

The two have history, after a controversial Euro 2000 semi-final in which France were awarded a last-minute penalty which the Portuguese players vehemently protested: Uefa banned Abel Xavier (nine months), Nuno Gomes (eight months) and Paulo Bento (six months) for their behaviour and France went on to win the trophy. Revenge is in the air.

Gomes is still in the Portugal squad (as are Euro 2000 veterans Luis Figo, Costinha and Pedro Pauleta) but it is two men who were not there, Scolari and Deco, who will play the pivotal roles. Scolari has already helped Portugal equal their best World Cup performance, equalling their semi-final finish in 1966, but it is Deco, restored to the team, who could make the difference.

Deco is a phenomenon in European football: Lyon midfielder Juninho Pernambucano is the player who has won the most successive league titles in the continent (five in France, plus one before that in Brazil), but it is Deco whose recent medal haul is the most impressive: with Porto, he was Portuguese title-winner and Uefa Cup winner in 2003 and Champions League winner in 2004, while at Barcelona he has won two Spanish titles and another Champions League.

Not bad going for a Brazilian-born player who was rejected by Benfica aged 19 and then snubbed by Brazil boss Carlos Alberto Parreira, who turned down his calls for international recognition by saying, “I have hundreds of Decos back in Brazil.”

Those two rejections marked Deco’s career and provided his motivation to succeed, first at Benfica’s biggest rivals Porto, and now on the international stage, ironically with a Brazilian coach in charge of him.

Graeme Souness was coach of Benfica when he travelled to Portugal nine years ago. “Unfortunately Souness particularly liked English players, physical types, and I wasn’t given my place,” he remembered. “I joined Benfica from Brazil, but from the car which came to pick me up from the airport, I kept seeing all these signs which said, ‘Alverca’, ‘Alverca’, ‘Alverca’. So I asked, ‘Where are we going?’ The answer was the one that I feared: ‘We’re going to Alverca, to your apartment.’ Once I got inside I cried with rage. I felt like I’d been stitched up.”

Alverca were Benfica’s second-division nursery club, and Deco left six months later.

He moved to Salgueiros before Octavio Machado signed him for Porto in July 1999. Even then Machado recognised his ability, calling him “our very own Zinedine Zidane”. It was a compliment that drew a typical response: “I was very happy and proud of that statement,” admitted Deco at the time. “But that was only an opinion and I didn’t go head over heels for it. I am pleased to prove my value to the team. But what have I won to be compared to Zidane?” At the moment, he has won one more Champions League title and one fewer World Cup.

Zidane, enjoying such an impressive renaissance in the France team at the moment, remains Deco’s benchmark. “He has always been my favourite player,” he said. ‘For six years he has been above the rest. With him, everything seems easy.”

Deco has continued the form he showed for Porto under Jose Mourinho since moving to Barcelona and has been outstanding in this World Cup, scoring a great goal against Iran and winning Man of the Match in the same game because, according to Fifa’s Technical Study Group, “he continually drove the team forward and his set-pieces, intelligent goals and crisp passing were influential in Portugal’s well-deserved victory”.

It seems odd now to think that three years ago Deco’s first call-up to the Portugal side was such a major controversy. He took Portuguese citizenship in 2003 and was called up by Scolari, who had overlooked him for the Brazil squad for the previous four years. Scolari was criticised by Luis Figo and Rui Costa for the decision and branded a traitor and worse by the press: “I know he’s a great player and an excellent person,” said Scolari. “All his documents were in place and any other manager would have done the same.”

The Lisbon-based papers, still furious that Benfica had let Deco go as a 19-year-old, criticised his naturalisation and urged supporters to make known their displeasure. “I had to suffer in silence with all the pressures that came on me because of my decision,” Deco said. “It also hurt my friends too.

“I decided to play for Portugal because I was convinced I had no chance of playing for Brazil. After I declared myself Portuguese, Scolari called me for a chat and told me to forget about what the press were saying. The row only happened because I was playing for Porto. If I was still at Benfica, I don’t think there would have been that fuss.”

The situation abated after Deco’s debut, which was against Brazil of all teams, and he scored the second with a swerving free-kick in a 2-1 win. “It was emotional,” he remembered. “I was playing in my home ground Das Antas against the country where I was born. Today Portugal is my second land.

“I am happy there and feel respected as a citizen there.”

He helped Portugal reached the final of Euro 2004, where they surprisingly lost to Greece.

“I have to admit that during that Euro Championship, I wasn’t as good as I had been with Porto,” he said. “I was a bit tired from the start, the same as many players who were coming off a long season with their clubs.”

He has shown no such fatigue this time around, even though the combustible temperament he showed when chopping down Holland’s Johnny Heitinga for failing to kick the ball out of play reminded us of the darker side of his character. Deco has that Latin streak in him: like most geniuses, for all his artistry, smooth movement and fluidity of passing, he can turn at any time. After all, he missed his Barcelona debut in August 2004 after injuring his leg in a road-rage incident in Oporto. “I was having a quiet night out with my wife and some friends when this Renault started to follow us and the passengers inside were giving us grief,” he remembered. “At first I ignored them but then I stopped the car. Three people got out and started to lay into me. I responded in kind and by the end of it, nobody was smiling.”

The chances are that if Deco performs to his potential tonight it will be he and not his hero Zidane that will be smiling. And if reaching the World Cup final was not motivation enough, Deco is also a front-runner to land the prestigious Ballon D’Or trophy for European Footballer of the Year.

Ronaldinho, the inspiration behind Barcelona’s league and European success is the holder and was the favourite to retain the award this year, but his disappointing World Cup performances have hampered his chances.

Deco is now in the driving-seat for the crown, with another opponent tonight, France forward Thierry Henry, closing in. It could be winner takes all in Munich.

“I do think of the Ballon D’Or and I’m persuaded of one thing that no player can win a personal individual title if his teams win nothing,” said Deco.

“I think that quite simply the Ballon D’Or is the most important individual award for a player. I think any footballer would love to be elected. We all depend on our teams.” And in Portugal’s case, they depend on him: maybe a couple of Brazilians will make it to the World Cup final after all.