"This is not a team."

Simon Kuper has the best piece I've seen on what's been happening with Brazil, and in particular with Ronaldinho:

This is not the football [Brazil coach Carlos Alberto] Parreira wants to see. But he doesn't aspire to "joga bonito" either. Instead he wants Brazil to pass the ball around for long stretches. "When we put the ball on the ground, we have a technical advantage that is superior to any opponent," he says. But to pass, you need players willing to run into space to receive the ball. Ronaldinho ran in 2002, when he was the team's junior member. This year only Robinho - currently injured - has budged much.

Ronaldinho has grown so frustrated that against Ghana on Tuesday he actually stopped smiling. Several times after passing into nothingness, he turned to the intended recipient (usually Adriano) and demonstrated with his hands how the player should have run: hook sideways, then sprint deep. Once, after crossing a ball that Adriano could have headed in had he but moved, Ronaldinho made an even simpler gesture: he nodded an imitation header. Presumably Adriano understood. Ronaldinho excels at Barcelona where Samuel Eto'o and Ludovic Giuly chase his passes, but with Brazil he is helpless.