WORLD CUP USA 1994 : Santos Makes for Heavenly Defense : Brazil: The previously unheralded 24-year-old emerges as a standout on stingy unit.

Marcio Santos did not grow up in Brazil dreaming of playing defense. No one does. Boys in Brazil grow up wearing the No. 10 jersey, like Pele, or--more fashionable this summer--the No. 7 and No. 11, like forwards Bebeto and Romario.

But even though Brazilian defenders might never become heroes in their own land, Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira continues to preach of their importance in his team’s march to today’s World Cup final at the Rose Bowl against Italy.

FIFA, the international soccer federation, agrees with him. Of the four Brazilians named last week to its 11-man all-tournament team, two are defenders.

That one of them is Jorginho is hardly a revelation. From his professional base with Bayern Munich in Germany’s Bundesliga, he already had emerged as one of the world’s outstanding right backs.

That the other is Santos is evidence that FIFA voted based on performances in this tournament instead of reputations, because he did not have one.

The central defender from Bordeaux in France’s first division did not even have a starting position for Brazil until Mozer and Ricardo Gomes were sidelined because of health problems.

But Parreira said last week that Santos, 24, has emerged as Brazil’s principle defender, one of the men most responsible for the fact that opponents have been able to place so little pressure on the team’s goalkeeper, Claudio Taffarel. Facing only 42 shots in six games, he has been required to make only 12 saves.

“Traditionally, it has always been thought that Brazil is suspect defensively,” Santos said through an interpreter after a practice Saturday at Cal State Fullerton. “But we really believe that we wouldn’t be in the final without the play of our back four.”

At 6 feet 1, 169 pounds, Santos is not an intimidator. He is successful because of his agility, which enables him to take the ball away on the ground or in the air. Equally important, he is adept enough with the ball to initiate the offense.

That, he said, should not come as a surprise considering that he is Brazilian.

“I’m a young player, so I’m just happy to have a place on the team,” he said. “I don’t care who scores the goals.

“But, of course, I did start out as a midfielder.”

Everyone does in Brazil.