A football World Cup in winter may raise a few eyebrows but Brazil’s 2002 World Cup-winning captain Cafu does not belong to that school of thought.

“Normally the World Cup is in June-July, but this year it’s going to be in Qatar in November-December (November 20 to December 18). It’s an advantage for most of the players. The league stops and the World Cup starts straight away. This allows the players to resume their training with their respective national teams. This is also a big boost for the national team coaches,” Cafu said during a news conference at a hotel in New Town on Friday.

Regarded as one of the greatest right-backs of all time, Cafu reached the city on Friday on a four-day visit. He is expected to play in the Kolkata Police Friendship Cup, a charity football match, at the Mohammedan Sporting ground on Saturday.

“It’s going to be an attractive World Cup in November since in June, after a gruelling season, the players are fatigued. When you have a World Cup mid-season the players are fresh and will have the ability to give their best,” the 52-year-old Qatar Legacy Ambassador said.

The run-up to the Qatar World Cup has seen a glut of footballers being ruled out for the tournament with injuries. Top players like N’Golo Kante, Paul Pogba (both France), Diogo Jota (Portugal), Reece James (England) and Alexander Isak (Sweden) will miss the Cup, while the likes of Angel Di Maria, Paulo Dybala (both Argentina), Romelu Lukaku (Belgium) and Son Heung-Min (South Korea) are racing against time to get fit.

Cafu on Friday. Santosh Ghosh

Cafu was the captain when Brazil won their fifth World Cup in Yokohama, Japan, in June 2002. A Ronaldo double helped Brazil beat Germany in the final. That was the last time the Latin American giants tasted a title triumph though they never had any dearth of talent. At every World Cup, from Germany (2006) to 2018 Russia, they were billed as one of the favourites, but Brazil let their fans down. This year, as usual, Tite’s men are once again one of the prime contenders and Cafu hopes they finally end the jinx.

“I hope they win it this time,” the only player in history to have played in three consecutive World Cup finals (1994, 1998 and 2002) said through his ‘on-the-spot’ interpreter and former footballer, Alvito D’Cunha.

He, however, did not agree that Brazil are still dependent on Neymar. “If this question was asked to me four years back then I would have agreed. But now Brazil do not depend on Neymar. This time we have players like Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, Richarlison and Raphinha. These players are capable of winning the Cup for Brazil on their own. This side is much different than we saw in Russia,” he said. Brazil lost 2-1 to Belgium in the quarter finals in 2018.

A side-back par excellence, Cafu also lamented the lack of real talent in that position. During his AC Milan days he and Italian great Paolo Maldini were the two side-backs and those days still make him happy. “Those were great days with Paolo. But I am very sad that we cannot see any good full-backs nowadays. There is a lack of quality now.”

Tennis icon Leander Paes presented Cafu with one of the shirts he wore during his Wimbledon triumph. Paes will be playing with Cafu in the celebrity game on Saturday.