Sharing the Samba sensation

BRAZIL’S captain, Cafu, set the scene beautifully for tonight’s fascinating friendly at Lansdowne Road (7.30 ko) when he suggested that the fixture might be the World Cup final that Ireland had hoped in vain for in Japan in 2002.

Cafu, the hugely experienced leader of the most exciting team in world football, was the epitome of charm itself as he was engulfed in a sea of microphones and cameras at Lansdowne Road yesterday. Happily, the perimeter railing formed a substantial barrier between us and him, so he was not inconvenienced by the crush of bodies. On a bitterly cold evening, the most experienced player in Brazil’s history responded through an interpreter with good humour and patience to the ad hoc conference.

He surprised me when he readily recalled Ireland’s World Cup campaign in America in 1994. It was introduced into the conversation because Ireland were just 90 minutes away from a quarter-final match against Brazil in Dallas when the Netherlands deflated their balloon of expectation by putting two goals past Packie Bonner. “I was there, in America,” said Cafu. “I remember watching the match between the Netherlands and Ireland. Since then I believe Irish football has developed a lot.” Clearly Brazil were checking out their next opponents when they watched that Irish defeat in Orlando. But whether the smiling Cafu was genuine in his appraisal of Ireland’s current status or merely being mannerly, was impossible to tell.