When Franz Beckenbauer speaks, people listen. Not because the German footballing legend always speaks sense but because he is a World Cup winner, he is a footballing man.

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And he is getting old, which triggers in the young listening that he is wise to football and has seen it all before.

At a recent Soccerex event,  Beckenbauer had more to say about the Brazilian national team than the German one.

Ahead of the draw for next summer's World Cup, the Kaiser said he was disillusioned with Brazil, who will as ever start the tournament as pre/joint favourites.

Beckenbauer asked of the Brazilian team: ''Where are the attackers''?  He quite rightly knew that Brazil have at their disposal Luis Fabiano, Kaka, Robinho and perhaps the young Pato, but that isn't what he meant.

What he did mean, and it is a begging question, is: Where are the STARS of the current Brazil team?

He concluded that when he thinks of Brazil, he thinks of 1970, the year in which an attacking, almost nonchalant Brazil destroyed all before them,  playing football from the heavens and winning their third World Cup.

There is, according to Beckenbauer,  not one single player to pick from the Selecao.

That one player, and arguably the finest player this decade, could have been Ronaldinho. But his fall from grace has been a rapid dissent.

Sent out through the back door of Barcelona after partying too hard, he struggled to maintain a place for his new club AC Milan. With Carlo Ancelotti now gone,  he may be rediscovering some form.

Lucky for him, perhaps, that Milan are now managed by a Brazilian. However, Ronaldinho may have done too little too late to justify his place in the Brazil squad.

Then there is the childlike Kaka. But since deservedly winning the FIFA World Player of the Year in 2007,  he has only shown flashes of his brilliance.

Kaka's new career at Real Madrid is yet to take off. Luis Fabiano has been consistently brilliant for Sevilla over the past few seasons. But he doesn't play for one of the elite clubs in Europe that his talent deserves, and begs the question: Is there a reason?

Well, one reason is that Sevilla have priced him out of the market. But maybe he will simply not climb any higher mountains. For Fabiano, think of the gloriously talented but flawed Bebeto.

Robinho, despite being at the richest club in Europe (in terms of what they can provide on their bank statements), is a curious case - playing for Real Madrid one season and Manchester City the next. Was it greed? Yes, but remember Robinho was being pawned to any club that would listen in the summer of 2008.

He has had his highs and lows with City and also injuries. So, as Beckenbauer was clearly referring to, does the Brazilian star who  may win a World Cup play for Manchester City when he should be at Real Madrid or Barcelona?

Or does it just show how far the Premier League has come? After all, 11 years ago Arsenal had an abundance of World Cup winners in their squad and that trend has continued throughout the top tier.

Or does it show that Beckenbauer is living in the past recounting the glory years of a bygone era? Let's face it, once you hit 30 you tend to start looking back at the 'good old days'.

Beckenbauer has indeed hit a raw nerve. There is certainly no Pele, Garrincha, Tostao or Zico in this team.

Instead, what we do have is a COMPLETE team. Perhaps more disciplined, more counter-attacking and more structured. What we don't have, as Beckenbauer may have been wanting to say, is a ROMANTIC team.