When Luís Fabiano missed a smattering of matches for Sevilla in mid-season, mostly due to the minor knocks and niggles that footballers play through all the time, local journalists joked that the Brazilian was really suffering from “a sprained World Cup”. The implication was clear. Country mattered more than club. And, come South Africa, Fabiano wanted his body to be a temple — not a tired, crumbling, edifice.
Clearly he knew what he was doing. Brazil were already ahead through Juan's header when, shortly before half-time Fabiano started and finished one of the counter-attacks of the tournament. He expertly cushioned a skied punt out of defence to Robinho on the left, waited as the ball was squared to Kaká and — not a moment too late or too soon — spun away from his marker to collect a stabbed pass, take it around the onrushing Chile keeper, Claudio Bravo, and roll it into the net.
That goal came moments after an attempted backheel had got caught between feet and heel before embarrassingly squirming away, causing what felt like the majority of the 54,069 crowd in Ellis Park to laugh. Fabiano was the one smiling now.
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As he celebrated his third goal of this World Cup he brought hands to mouth and blew a kiss to the skies. The recipient of the gesture was obvious, even if Fabiano seems to possess few God-given physical attributes. He is not particularly fast or powerful or strong — and spends large parts of matches grazing. But he smartly holds up the ball, links play neatly enough and, near the penalty area, is quick to the sniff.
And, as the bald statistics confirm, his goalscoring record for Brazil — 28 goals in 42 games — is not just respectable but better than most of Brazil's strikers in the past 25 years, including Careca (29 in 60), Bebeto (39 in 75), Ronaldinho (32 in 87) and even Ronaldo (62 in 97) — although still some way below Romário (55 in 70) in the pantheon.
But while Fabiano provided the highlight-reel moment of the match, he was overshadowed by Kaká and Robinho who, after an even opening 30 minutes, frequently switched positions to destabilise Chile's defence. Their coach, Marcelo Bielsa, could see what was happening and regularly flew out of his dug-out in blue-veined rage but he could influence little. Kaká ended up with an assist, Robinho with the final goal of the game and Brazil with a comfortable victory.
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“I'm very happy with the victory and the goal I scored,” said Robinho afterwards. “But at the moment I'm concentrating on the team, if I am top scorer at the World Cup that will be fine, but the success of the team is most important.”
The Brazil coach, Dunga, meanwhile, praised his attacking midfielders for their initiative. “My players have the liberty to play, I only give them advice,” he said. “They can work things out for themselves and we are lucky to have players who can go in different positions. Robinho swapped regularly with Kaká, who sometimes went on the flanks, and that confused the Chile defence and allowed us to score.”
While Brazil's playmakers danced through tackles and created several chances, Fabiano was rarely on the end of them. That said, he did spurn a second-class opportunity in the opening five minutes from a Daniel Alves through-pass, allowing his first touch to take him away from goal before the next dragged a shot 20 yards wide of Bravo's post.
During the opening 45 minutes he led the line well, fighting off the snappy attentions of Chile's defenders and linking the play when required. But with a goal in the bag, and Brazil comfortably ahead, he contributed only infrequently after that. His only memorable moment of the second half was when he was smashed on the back of the head by Ismael Fuentes and it was no surprise when he was substituted 15 minutes from time and replaced by Nilmar. The Brazil bench, who high-fived him as he took his seat, seemed happy enough with his evening's work.
Fabiano's nickname is O Fabuloso – the fabulous one. He is certainly not that outrageously good. But, as his goal showed, there is ruthless efficiency to his game – much like Brazil's Dunga, one might argue.
© Guardian News and Media 2010