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Aldair's journey takes him back
Veteran defender started his career as a striker
Posted: Monday July 06, 1998 10:30 AM
Special from L'Equipe, the French sports daily PARIS
(L'Equipe) -- The media hype that seizes Ozoir la Ferrière everyday doesn't
affect Aldair. Brazil's central
defender eyes it all passively, preferring his world, that of silence.
Aldair doesn't show anything. No hatred, no violence. No fear, no
assurance. He started poor, became a star in the 1994 World Cup, but again,
it doesn't seem to have made him proud or arrogant. After Brazil's most
defensive team ever won its fourth World Cup, Aldair's leadership and
heroics owed him a fame he'd never looked for. He was finally compared to
Domingos Da Guia, who, ever since the 1938 World Cup, was the reference as
far as defenders are concerned. His father coached a small team in
Ilhéus, close to Bahia, where he was born. He pushed his son into soccer.
"Because of my father's position, I was a starter. And because he dreamed
for me to become a star, I played forward," Aldair said. He was 13 then,
and because he was already big, he scored with his head. His father quickly
understood how special a player he was, and took him to Rio for a tryout
with Vasco de Gama. He made the team but brought his father down to
earth quickly. "I stayed four months there but I couldn't stand the
training regimen they put youths through. I was drained and the whole thing
wasn't all that great for me. In my mind, I played soccer for fun, and
there I had this tedious program. I just stopped it," Aldair said. "I
understood my father's thought process better. We were poor. If you want to
get anywhere in life in Brazil when you're poor, you only have one
solution, to play soccer. But if soccer was what I'd just experienced, I
preferred to quit." Aldair stayed in Rio with an uncle. He played on a
bad field right next to the gloomy apartment complex, and one day somebody
with the Flamengo team noticed him. He was 16, and for the first time,
his behavior changed, his shyness vanished, and he told his first lie. "I'd
always played forward, but, paradoxically, there were some strange reflexes
in my game. As soon as I lost a ball, I came back and tackled to get it
back. I believe that deep down I was already a defender, even if I still
had a forward's mentality. In Brazil, everyone plays forward, everyone
dreams of being a star with number nine in the back. I knew I didn't have
the skills that go with that reality, so I decided to become a defender.
And when he asked me what position I played, I said 'central defense,'"
Aldair confessed. His transformation began, and he quickly met his
master, Leandro, who played defense for Brazil in the 1982 World Cup. "He
was essential for me. I watched what he did a lot, how he positioned
himself on the field. The way he got the ball back was unique, the way he
anticipated the other team's moves extraordinary," Aldair remembered.
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Aldair enteres the semifinals carrying one yellow card (AP) |
But Aldair wasn't impressed and inspired only by the way he played. The
courage Leandro displayed when he refused to play for Brazil in the 1986
World Cup because Reinato Gaucho had been excluded for breaking curfew,
also deeply marked Aldair. He also met and learned from other famous
defenders like Mozer, and Ricardo, with whom he played in some 1994 World
Cup qualification matches, among others. "I was lucky, it allowed me to
improve quicker. These players were huge and they helped me. I'm in the
same situation with Junior Baiano now. He's from the same region as me and
I like him. I've tried to teach him what all those guys gave me. Junior
will become great, you'll see," Aldair said. In eight seasons in Europe
-- one in Benfica, then seven in Rome -- the silent Aldair has let his
talent, but also his rigor, which borders on the extreme, speak for
himself. "If I last, despite being 32, it's because every single detail is
important. And eating healthily is a soccer player's first priority,"
Aldair said. His diets are too harsh, actually. The team doctors
discovered that he doesn't eat any sugar, from fear of putting on weight,
after he got cramps five minutes into the match against Chile. Despite
winning the title, the 1994 World Cup wasn't a total success. "I understand
people. Myself, it hurt me to see Brazil choose to be careful, to wait and
see. Deep inside, I've always wanted to attack and score. Victory makes you
forget it all but doesn't rid you of regret," he said. So far, the 1998
World Cup has been more satisfactory for Aldair. "I like this Brazil, which
is daring and takes risks. Tactically, technically, we're stronger than in
1994. The players are united. I like this Brazil because it pus on a show,"
he said. And when he's told that Brazil's defense has been pretty
average, and that Junior Baiano and himself have looked weak, at times, he
says it's all due to the system of play. "Cafu and Roberto Carlos attack a
lot. So the two of us are left alone, sometimes in one-on-one situations.
It's a big responsibility but I assume it. Because I'd rather lose by
taking risks than win without panache," he explained. Aldair doesn't
know whether Brazil will beat the Netherlands
in the semifinals. "Platini, in Riyad, said very true things about Brazil.
He explained that we could win like in 1994, by defending a lot and letting
Ronaldo and Denilson on their own up front. But he also said that he had a
lot of respect for coach Mario Zagallo and the risks he decided to take.
And I think he concluded by saying something like, 'you can please and
win.' This is the gamble Brazil has chosen," he said. There only are two
matches left to know whether that bet was simply daring or too ambitious.
Copyright 1998, L'Equipe
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