Zico leads Brazil on road to nowhere

Football is a way of life in Brazil

By BBC Sport Online's Alex Perry.

The idea of a World Cup in Brazil is a romantic's dream - a football crazy people, a beautiful country, the Maracana bursting with the most colourful fans in the world cheering on the most skilful team in football.

Unfortunately the Brazilian World Cup committee seemed to have based their whole bid around this notion and did not put any time or thought into the practicalities of winning the vote.

So it came as no surprise when the team abanadoned their bid just three days before the vote and threw their weight behind South African instead.

Brazil's footballing pedigree and history had made them deserving enough - and they have not hosted the World Cup since 1950.

Brazil facts

Population: 172,000,000

Capital city: Brasilia

International honours: World Cup winners 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994

Top teams: Santos, Sao Paulo, Fluminese, Flamengo, Corinthians

But they were not ready for the vote, and, at the rate they were going, one wonders whether they would even have been ready to make a serious bid by the time the 2006 World Cup rolls round itself.

Like England and Germany, Brazil were able to call on a footballing legend to spearhead their bid.

But Zico's name was simply not enough to carry an ailing bid - especially when an even bigger name in the shape of Pele had voiced his opposition to the proposal.

Brazil had hoped their history will count

One of the main reasons Brazil had put forward in their favour is that they have many excellent stadiums.

Certainly they have many large and potentially excellent stadiums, but at the moment they are a long way from being up to standard.

There were other problems that ensured the abandonment of the campaign came as no surprise. Like South Africa, widespread allegations of corruption surround Brazilian football and there is also an increasing concern about crowd violence.

It had been suggested many times that Brazil were on the verge of quitting the race.

Brazil is known for its colourful fans

Rumours circulated in June that Brazil were going to cut a deal with South Africa whereby they withdrew encouraging the South American members to vote for South Africa with the favour being returned for 2010.

Brazil limped on for a few more weeks - but they were always the rank outsiders and never able to pose a serious challenge to the favourites.

This is one football tournament that Brazil were never expected to win.