Players won't go to this World Cup tired: Cafu

Cafu is 52 but if Brazil need a right back in the World Cup, head coach Tite could give him a call.

Muscular arms resting on the dais, looking athletic, the former Brazil captain, who has a World Cup record that even Pele doesn't possess, would look the part if kitted in a canary yellow shirt. Of a player who bombed down the right in three successive World Cup finals. He is the only one on the planet to have that distinction.

So what if it has been 15 years and some that he last played a World Cup match, albeit one that ended in a Zinedine Zidane masterclass?

Cafu is here as a guest for the Kolkata Police Friendship Cup. He will play here on Saturday along with Leander Paes, who presented the Brazil legend a shirt he wore at Wimbledon, in a friendly on the Mohammedan Sporting ground. But it was about the games in Doha that Cafu, an ambassador for the 2022 World Cup, was asked to hold forth on and he did.

A World Cup in the middle of a season is a first; one that has led to a growing count of players missing due to injuries. Cafu accepted that but said players going into the marquee event after a week's break from leagues also has its advantages.

"It helps players find form going ahead of the World Cup," he said speaking through former India footballer Alvito d'Cunha as interpreter. "Also, usually by the time a World Cup would arrive, players would be tired having gone through a full season. That won't happen this time and that should benefit teams," he said in Portuguese.

Of course, he said he hoped Brazil would go deep in the competition, but Cafu based the comment on the team's form. And the fact that they are not dependent on one player.

"If you had asked me four years ago, I would have said Brazil's success would hinge on Neymar but that is not the case anymore. Now, you have several players who can take Brazil deep," said the captain of the 2002 World Cup-winning team. Cafu named Fred, Lucas Paqueta, Richarlison, Gabriel Jesus as "craque" players who could carry Brazil along with Neymar.

He also said that he was fortunate to play in an era of "craque" defenders such as Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Nesta. "It is sad that football doesn't have quality full backs anymore."

A rushed media conference that began almost an hour late and was more about introducing sponsors who made his trip possible meant that the man with 142 international caps--- no Brazilian has as many -- couldn't elaborate on statement.

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