Scolari succumbs to cry for freedom

The final reckoning: Germany v Brazil: They were derided as poor descendants of 1970. But it was all a beautiful Brazilian deception

They arrived here a month ago, denounced even by their staunchest admirers as modest imitations of the gifted generations that have passed before. Brazil and Germany will depart, even in defeat here today, with tattered reputations stitched and honour repaired. It will also enforce in England players' minds just what might have been.

South America versus Northern Europe, brought to us by the purveyors of jogo bonito, the beautiful game, against the more functional but still enterprising Europeans, a team blessed with a dedicated sense of unity.

For Englishmen who yearned for the impossible dream, this clash of cultures is tantalisingly close to the fantasy final. Even Germany's traditional strip of white shirt and dark shorts has a frustratingly familiar look, while the principal strategy of yielding possession and thrusting forward on the counter is not dissimilar to Sven Goran Eriksson's.

But the hair of the European coach involved is permed and thick, not wispy and receding. It is the character who resembles a porn-movie stud, not the man whom tabloids suggest has the appetites of one, who has the trophy within sight of his piercing eyes. While Eriksson and his England men can only imagine, Rudi Völler's team will experience that exquisite moment here today.

In a tournament where the fate of many appears to have been decided by mystics of the East, Germany have almost surreptitiously progressed to their seventh final. Germany, the side who were closer to humiliation than Mike Tyson on the Memphis canvas, the team who looked shot through and lacking even potential talent when England mastered them at Euro 2000 and last September in Munich. There is a piquant irony about it all, unless you're a myopic England follower, in which case it's a simply perverse denial of natural justice.

Maybe something in our Europhile soul will demand that our fellow EC members will prosper today. Not a chance. More likely, if there is to be any satisfaction gleaned from a German victory, it will derive from the – quite erroneous – belief that anything Germany can do, England would have been capable of doing, given the illogical assumption that the trophy was Eriksson's for the taking had they not been eliminated by a "freak" goal.

But much as we have admired the tournament's most complete goalkeeper, Oliver Kahn, the midfield wiles of the suspended Michael Ballack, whose absence will be a significant loss, and the predatory instincts of Miroslav Klose, anything other than a handsome triumph by Brazil will leave those of us who believe the game should exhilarate as well as provide winners distinctly unsated.

The sceptics say that Brazil's coach Luis Felipe Scolari, once deemed a cynical exponent of brutish football who suggested his team should kick, smother and even punch, if necessary, has capitulated to his players' desire to perform with freedom of expression; the more charitable that Scolari has exhorted them to do so. Whatever his instincts, "Big Phil" has turned out to be a philanthropist with the talents at his disposal, not a Philistine as so many denounced him.

So, this may not be the most beautiful, perfectly formed Brazil as personified by Tostao, Carlos Alberto, Jairzinho, Rivelino, Pele, of course, and that wonderful character, the chain-smoking Gerson, in that sublime team coached by Zagallo in 1970. But it is far from the wretched harridan which many assumed she would be.

Just as Germany toiled to qualify in England's group, so Brazil left it late before finishing the South American section in third place. They arrived, depicted as the poor descendants of 1970. But isn't that always part of the Brazilian art of deception? They can delude the best into a perception that they are performing without wit and cohesion, and then strike with the finality of a viper's bite.

Two of the celebrated trio of R & R men have required a plentiful supply of rest and recuperation before and during these finals but, unlike certain England men, their respective injuries have not inhibited the performances of either Ronaldo and Rivaldo. Eleven tournament goals between them is testimony to that. The third, Ronaldinho, returns after suspension with a hungry desire to inflict his own personality on the game.

Ronaldo, will always be the favoured son among Brazilian aficionados, but Rivaldo, he of the smouldering, slightly sinister countenance, whose strange shuffling gait, arms tucked into his chest, is somehow reminiscent of a trussed turkey, is in his own way the more influential. The bandy legs give the appearance of a man who has just dismounted Trigger rather than a man who so readily pulls it, but Germany's Kahn will not want to be exposed too frequently to the wickedness of Rivaldo's delivery.

Some assert that the conflicting egos of Ronaldo and Rivaldo, both on an individual quest for the Golden Boot, could be counter-productive in this most intense of environment. But one suspects that the common good, particular in light of all the traumas of four years ago, will prevail. "It's not an easy game but I'm not worried," said Rivaldo last night, after a relaxed training stint at Yokohama Stadium. "I'm happy to be in the final and I'm quite calm. I am lucky to be playing in my second final. I know what it means. I have been given another chance and this time I will not miss it."

Such is the emphasis on the Two Ronnies and Rivaldo, that it is easy to dismiss the remainder as support cast who are strong and disciplined in their defensive duties but otherwise uninspired by the historic standards of the South Americans.

Yet, there is movement throughout the team. Even Gilberto Silva, the nearest Brazil come to a holding midfielder, joins the attack frequently. This is a man who scored three goals in his first four internationals. The defenders Lucio and Roque Junior are capable of excellent passing and relish forward forays, while width is the province of those experienced wing-backs Roberto Carlos and Cafu.

There will be many back in England who will speak contemptuously of this as a confrontation between two unexceptional teams who got lucky in a year when the underdogs snapped like pitbulls at fancy poodles and cleared the passage for them. The draw has certainly been kind, considerably more so to Germany.

It remains to be seen whether Völler's team can withstand an examination by men of such scintillating talent. It would not be a complete surprise if they keep Scolari's side at bay for 90 minutes. But ultimately, you believe, something must give, even in such a resourceful rearguard.

As for Eriksson and England, they can only watch, wonder and dream on.