Goalkeeper Julio Cesar, over 30 and past his prime, is the weakest link in the team which all of Brazil expects to win the World Cup this July. The country's best-known goalkeeper was probably Barbosa, and he became famous not for a great save but for the national agony he caused by letting in Uruguay's two goals against Brazil that won the World Cup in 1950. ''If the kid is good enough with the ball, probably he will not want to play in goal,'' Zetti, a reserve goalkeeper in Brazil's 1994 World Cup-winning squad, said in a phone interview. ''Kids are usually scared of playing in goal, and most of the time parents are always trying to convince them to play in a different position.'' Zetti opened Brazil's first academy exclusively for goalkeepers six years ago.
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