The hunt for Cafu's successor

A true legend always leaves behind a fierce battle for his succession, as he inspired many in the next generation.... As Cafu's innings comes to a close, there are many contenders to the right back role for Brazil...

Cicinho, 26 - Touted as the next Cafu, hyped move to Real, struggling with injury. Excellent going forward, but struggles a bit at defence. Played 15 times for Brazil.

Maicon, 25 - The revelation in Serie A for Inter, already displaced one legend (Zanetti) from the RB role. Great going forward, decent at back, very pacy. Has continued the Inter tradition of attacks coming mostly from the right. Played 19 times for Brazil.

Alves, 24 - The revelation in La Liga this season, he is clearly teh new challenger... typical Brazilian fullback, very lethal in attack. No where near as good as Cafu in defence. Capped 4 times for Brazil.

Ilsinho, 21 - He replaced Cicinho at Sao Paolo, and just made his debut for Brazil. A rookie compared to the other 3. Played 1 game for Brazil.

These are probably the main contenders... who do you think will make this place his own by 2010??

My bet is on Maicon... give him a year, he will cement his place at Inter and Brazil. Alves will probably go Mancini's route and become a winger, they both are very similar.

not a bad choice they have though is it ??

england have richards and gary neville

From those I like Cicinho the most, but I've never seen Ilsinho play before. Seen very little of Maicon, but not been overly impressed. Don't understand the Alvez hype either.

Offensively Alves, Ilsinho and Cicinho are better than Maicon, but he is the only one who can defend well. Right now I would choose Dani Alves because he is having another amazing season. Ilsinho is awful defensively.

Between Alves & Maicon IMO.

Alves is the better athlete,and is far more aggreesive getting forward, Crossing is about the same quality, Maicon is definetly better defensively.

oh to have the problems of the brazil squad. our gary neville successor looks like its going to have to be one of micah richards, glen johnson, justin hoyte or liam rosenoir...

Whenever I've watched Alvez he hasn't particularly impressed me. He need to learn how to cross and pass better. He seems to struggle against skillful wingers as well.

I'll have to try and look out for him more next season. Same with Maicon.

What about LB? Loads of choices there too.

Calidad wrote:Whenever I've watched Alvez he hasn't particularly impressed me. He need to learn how to cross and pass better. He seems to struggle against skillful wingers as well.

I'll have to try and look out for him more next season. Same with Maicon.

What about LB? Loads of choices there too.

he has the best cross in the league after becks on form. and he has played almost as a playmaker for sevilla the last two seasons. he does so much for them. the negative about him is that he gets alot of cards.

Calidad are you basing your opinions purely on the UEFA cup games?

In the UEFA cup he hasn't been that impressive, in the league this season he's been phenomenal though. none of them will ever be a Cafu though

Don't know anything about Ilsinho, but for the rest I would go for Alves no questions asked.

Alves might not be the best tackler but he will stress and foul any opponent causing them to lose momentum. He is definetely the best going forward of the 3 too..

Maicon is good but not in the same league as Alves

As for Cicinho, he can't defend. He has no clue where to position himself and is overrun all the time. I expect him to improve but even at Sao Paolo he was a dodgy defender.

Alves is not as bad a defender as Cicinho, for example. Like Oleuger said, he really bothers the hell out of the opposition and his pace allows him to get back into position (after first having lost it). Obviously you are not going to get the same defensive work from a Brasilian full back that you would from, say, an Italian full back but that is the way it goes. Dani Alves is the most complete of the four. Well, I haven't seen Ilsinho -- but Alves tops the other two for sure.

I think Alves is a great talented player, but he lacks the defensive abilities to play as RB... he will be a much better RW, in the same league as Mancini of Roma... Infact, Mancini also started as a RB!!

I think the underlying theme about all 4 is that they are good going forward, but weak defensively.

Maicon is excellent going forward, contrary to what people are saying here... If I compare him with Zanetti, Maicon is better going forward but Zanetti is better defensively.

But yeah, compared to these 4, I would say that Alves is the best going forward, and Maicon is the best defensively. Personally, I think its between Maicon and Cicinho.

Oleguerisntthatbad wrote:Don't know anything about Ilsinho, but for the rest I would go for Alves no questions asked.

Alves might not be the best tackler but he will stress and foul any opponent causing them to lose momentum. He is definetely the best going forward of the 3 too..

Maicon is good but not in the same league as Alves

As for Cicinho, he can't defend. He has no clue where to position himself and is overrun all the time. I expect him to improve but even at Sao Paolo he was a dodgy defender.

Alves...

@bluenine

I don't get your fascination with Cicinho? He is the worst defensively and worse than Alves attacking..

Alves is awsome but Maicon is simply the best alround out of the four player so my money will be on him. He's had an awsome season and the fact he has taken the right back spot of Javier Zanetti speaks volumes.

i agree maicon is best allround but i think alves is a gamechanger like the best players are.and he is not bad defensively but he gets alot of cards. for me alves is the best full back in the world currently.

supermadrid(zizou legend) wrote: for me alves is the best full back in the world currently.

Not while these two are still plying his trade

Cicinho - I haven't been impressed with his games at Madrid, apart from glimpses of brilliance. But I was very impressed with his games for Brazil, and thats what this post is all about... he is not as bad defensively for Brazil as he is for Madrid (hey, Cannavaro has been poor defensively for Madrid!!). I am pretty sure he will be Real's first choice RB for a long time, and when he was fit, Capello seemed to rate him too.

Alves IMO is going to convert into a winger, just like Mancini before him. He reminds me a lot of what Mancini was before this season...

Oleguerisntthatbad wrote:@bluenine

I don't get your fascination with Cicinho? He is the worst defensively and worse than Alves attacking..

Gary Neville in the same frame with Zambrotta??? Thats blasphemy! I have corrected it for ya...

Anyways, Zambo is better as a LB, as a RB Zanetti/Cafu/Thuram have been better than him...

Parks lives wrote:

supermadrid(zizou legend) wrote: for me alves is the best full back in the world currently.

Not while these two are still plying his trade

zambrotta is right footed i think but he only played on the right at the wc cup because there was not many options for right back. he also played mostly for juve at left back. at barca he has been too good as a right back so i gues i can say alves has been better.
about cicinho. he was great for us last season and he was very much a part of our 10 game winning spree. now he has been injuried so no point in saying has been average since he came back.

Exactly

You didn't vote?

Sgoater1 wrote:Alves is awsome but Maicon is simply the best alround out of the four player so my money will be on him. He's had an awsome season and the fact he has taken the right back spot of Javier Zanetti speaks volumes.

Zambrotta hasn't had the best of seasons for Barca to be honest.

I don't get the Neville bashing - he's probably the most soild full back defensively around - he may no be the best dribbler or passer, or anywhere near the most composed on the ball but his crossing is top class and he has great timing and movement in the final third. Guesing cos he's english

Alves by a mile

I watched Alvez vs Real, and I thought he was awful as well. Whenever I have seen him play (about 5-10 times, he hasn't justified the hype). I've actually been more impressed with Puerta the LB whenever I have seen Sevilla.

It much like Joaquin - He get's a lot of criticism, but whenever I have seen him, he has been impressive, whether it be for Spain, Valencia or Betis.

Just one of those things I guess.

Alves pretty much beat us singlehandedly in Sevilla when they were a man down.. Drove the whole team on, scored and set up a goal.

Its not bashing really, I think Neville is a good dependable fullback... used to be terrible, but grew better with time....

But not in the same bracket as a Zambrotta or a Zanetti or a Maldini... these guys were MOTMs for their teams very regularily (and in Maldini and Zanetti's case, Player of the season for their teams), inspite of having world class strikers/midfielders in their midst. Neville never reached that kind of performance.

Tweedle wrote:Zambrotta hasn't had the best of seasons for Barca to be honest.

I don't get the Neville bashing - he's probably the most soild full back defensively around - he may no be the best dribbler or passer, or anywhere near the most composed on the ball but his crossing is top class and he has great timing and movement in the final third. Guesing cos he's english

Terrible? like when? for his first few games when he was 18 maybe.

He's no Maldini or Cafu but I can't see the problem with comparing him to Zanetti or Zambrotta

I guess thats your opinion. You already know whats mine...

Watch neville's games before 99... when he was 21-24.... we used to call them The Neville Sisters, Serie B material. Most ManU fans used to agree - I have a lot of mates who support ManU.... Credit to Gary, he improved a lot since.... perhaps you were too young those days to appreciate it. That would probably also explain why you cannot appreciate Zanetti, he has been a legend since 1995.

Every England player is not world class, Tweedy.

Tweedle wrote:Terrible? like when? for his first few games when he was 18 maybe.

He's no Maldini or Cafu but I can't see the problem with comparing him to Zanetti or Zambrotta

Too young? I watched most of my football back then.

I know where your opinions lie, everything Italian is World Class, everything not isn't.

At least I manage to appreciate some Italian players but to come out with a comment like 'every England player is not world class' pretty much shows how Iti-centric and quite frankly worthless your views are

Can't say i've ever been impressed by Cicinho, he looks bloody awful defensively. I wouldn't select him to play at RB for Newcastle, that's how bad he is.