Menezes: Brazilian football in decline

European nations have surpassed Brazil with their superior technical ability, according to former coach Mano Menezes.

Germany became the first European team to win the FIFA World Cup in South America, defeating Argentina 1-0 after extra time in the tournament decider in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.

Joachim Low’s men routed host nation Brazil 7-1 en route to the final, before the Netherlands eased past the five-time world champions 3-0 in the third-place play-off on Saturday.

Back-to-back humiliations cost coach Luiz Felipe Scolari his job after the World Cup and further compounded the nation’s problems, with Brazil – quarter-finalists in 2006 (Germany) and 2010 (South Africa) – having failed to reach the final since winning the prestigious event in 2002 (South Korea/Japan).

And Menezes, who succeeded Dunga after the 2010 World Cup before he was replaced by Scolari in 2012, told TV Esporte that Brazil cannot afford to rely on individual brilliance with technical ability in decline.

“We know exactly what our problems are, but we don’t know how to fix them or we lack capable people with knowledge to understand the best path to take,” said Menezes – enjoying a second stint in charge of Corinthians after he was relieved of his national team duties following a run of disappointing results, including Brazil’s elimination in the quarter-finals of the 2011 Copa America.

“This is what Brazilian football lacks, then (if we fixed the problems) we certainly could keep managers longer and improve the development of players, which is something that has declined a lot.

“The level of our players nowadays is technically worse. Our ball control is worse, as is our passing, and people sometimes confuses juggling with the ability to play football, but they are different things.”

Menezes added: “We see that the European football that has been developed (in recent years), does everything better than us.

“We still have the dribbling, the pure individual ability of the players a talent, but we don’t know how to develop players like we used to do in the past. That’s why we are lagging behind.”