Brazil legend Rivaldo doesn't want to talk about tactics.
"The team is in good shape," he tells ESPN FC of Brazil ahead of their Group E opener against Switzerland on Sunday, speaking in his capacity as a Betfair World Cup ambassador, but that's about the limit of the analysis as far as Tite's system is concerned.
What Rivaldo really wants to get into is the mental side of being at a World Cup: the business of coping with pressure, overcoming difficulties, writing a new story for oneself.
These are subjects the current crop of Brazil players would do well to confront head on as they seek to bounce back from the seismic shock of the 7-1 semifinal defeat to Germany in 2014. And Rivaldo, who still looks like he could do a job for the Selecao at the age of 46, is well qualified to hold forth on them. He was a losing finalist in 1998, when France took full advantage of Brazil's listless display at the Stade de France, and played a key role as they made amends in Japan and South Korea four years later, scoring five times on the way to lifting the 2002 trophy.
While it was Ronaldo's personal redemption story that melted hearts, those close to the Brazil set-up will tell you that Rivaldo was the driving force in the dressing room in 2002, cajoling his team-mates and urging them on all tournament long. "All he talked about was wanting to win the World Cup," Roque Junior, one of his teammates that year, told me recently. Rivaldo was usually painted as the silent, stoical type during his career, but there was steel lying beneath the surface.
"It's a bad feeling, losing a World Cup," he says, reflecting on 1998. "We got to the final and it's so sad returning home without the trophy. Brazilian people don't forgive. In Brazil, you know that only first place counts; in other countries, you might celebrate coming second, third or fourth, but not in Brazil.
"So in 2002, we always talked about that before games and in training sessions: 'We have to win, for our families and for the Brazilian people.' In every game, we were determined -- not just me, but Cafu, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo. We had gone through a lot and didn't want to suffer again."
The parallels between that year and this are obvious. Six members of Luiz Felipe Scolari's 2014 squad are present in Russia, and while the Selecao's progress over the last two years has encouraged players and fans alike to start dreaming of a much-desired sixth World Cup title, memories of the 7-1 -- the "little ghost," as Tite calls it -- have yet to be fully dispelled. They may never be.
Rivaldo, though, isn't one to wallow in the doom and gloom of it all. Like in 2002, he is keen for Brazil to move on -- and to re-establish the national team as a unifying source of pride for a country beset by economic troubles and bitter political factionalism.
"What happened against Germany was an accident," he continues. "The way I see it, you could play that game 10 or 15 times and not get that result again. Many of those in the squad now didn't play in that match, and in football you cannot live in the past. I think that defeat has already been overcome. We have to think about what lies ahead.
"Away from the pitch, the context now is like it was in 2002: Brazil has so many political problems. All this turbulence with the politicians, with arrests... it's a tricky situation. Back then it was the same, but we became champions and gave some joy to the Brazilian people. So there would be nothing better than these players doing the same."
Brazil's first task -- qualifying from a group that also includes Serbia, Switzerland and Costa Rica -- looks relatively straightforward. Thereafter, a possible path through the knockout phase would involve games against Mexico, England or Belgium, and France, with a final showdown against Germany a very real possibility. And you can bet that Tite, Brazil's bookish strategist-in-chief, is already thinking that far ahead.
"For Brazil, the World Cup really starts in the knockout rounds," says Rivaldo with a knowing smile. "Getting past the group stage is an obligation. It's after that point that you go to sleep thinking about the game -- imagining winning, but also knowing you could lose. You think, 'Tomorrow I might be packing my suitcase and heading back to Brazil.'
"That's when players have to be strong and show personality. You can't be worried; you need sangue frio [cold blood] to play, because if you lose concentration, you're going home. One moment of weakness, even for a national team with such history, and you're out. So you have to be really careful in those sudden-death games."
Ruthless, too, which is why Brazil are putting such great stock in their best player reaching peak fitness in the latter stages of the tournament. Neymar returned with a bang in the pretournament friendlies, scoring mesmeric goals against Croatia and Austria, and showing only the slightest hint of rustiness after his three-month lay-off following surgery on a metatarsal injury.
"He'll have to get up to speed, but those group matches will help him catch up with the rhythm of the game," says Rivaldo of the 26-year-old. "I think we'll see the real Neymar after that. That's when he has to show why he's the No. 10, show that he's the man. It's in the knockout games that you discover who the great players really are. I think Neymar will raring to go at that point."