Former Brazil captain Cafu on Friday said the Indian team will learn a lot from its first-ever international match against his country in Kolkata next month, though he admitted to the significant gap in the rankings between the two countries. “We hope that Brazil and India can play a great game. India will face five-time World Cup champions Brazil in an international friendly at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on October 3.
It will bring many benefits to the Indian people and to the Indian national team, which will face a team that is a five-time world champion,” Cafu told reporters during his visit to the Pillai University.
“Today, everyone plays on equal terms. FIFA is yet to take a final decision. Cafu also said India should benefit from FIFA’s proposed plan to expand the number of participating teams to 64 from 2030 World Cup onwards from the 48 in 2026.
You saw this in the World Cup, teams like Curacao and Cape Verde played on equal terms with all the big national teams,” Cafu said. “Brazil has been going through a difficult period when it comes to the national team, because it has been more than 24 years — completing 28 years now — without winning a World Cup title,” Cafu said.
“World Cup is not an exact science. The best do not always win, and the champion is not always the best team. “I am very hopeful when talking about the Brazilian national team.
I hope Brazil can win the World Cup in 2028 now and end this 28-year drought.
It is a sequence of factors that makes you win a World Cup,” Cafu said. The two-time World Cup winner said Brazilian players leaving for European clubs at an early age is not allowing them to develop their identity with the Brazil team. “Today, young Brazilian players are leaving earlier for other countries, and because of that, perhaps, they do not develop an identity with the Brazilian national team, an identity with the Brazilian people,” said the 1994 and 2002 World Cup winner.
