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I agree. Spain are currently doing a far better impression of 'Brazil' than Brazil are. But I think part of their mystique is the way they continue to confound expectations. In the last two world cups they reached the quarter and semi finals with really quite dodgy teams. They barely even qualified for the one they got to the quarters in. They have a way of grinding out results when they have to (or more likely feel motivated enough to). They're also notorious for dips in form when not playing in the world cup. In that sense, while I've seen plenty of terrible German, Spanish, English, Italian and French teams in recent world cups, I've seen plenty of average Brazil teams but never a terrible one. They may not always be pretty (they rarely are these days) but it's a brave man who writes them off, especially when it comes to the world cup.
But I would like to ban the term 'samba football' from any pundit talking about Brazil. (Just as I think it's about time they dropped the patronising 'efficient' when describing Germany.)
Edit: the biggest concern I see right now is that I can't remember a time when their players haven't at least challenged as the world's best, but I can't think of a single Brazilian player right now to compare with say Messi, Xavi, iniesta, Ronaldo, Rooney, Sneijder or Eto'o.
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