Opinion – Tostão: In football, the player and the ball run together

Football is fascinated by intensity, the ability to defend and attack, to go and return with speed and vibrancy. It is an important feature, but that alone is not enough. It is necessary to have approximation, more exchange of passes, fantasy, inventiveness and lucidity to make the right choices. Content is more important than form.

In the middle of the week, I saw some intense teams, but with numerous individual and collective problems. São Paulo, as always, played with two separate blocks. As the midfielder was part of the back team and the midfielder spent the entire game running in the attack, there was no lucidity and approach to building plays in the midfield. The same happened with Atlético, against Athletico, when there was only one player in the midfield, midfielder Allan, as commentator Roger Flores observed during the match.

Corinthians has a line of three in midfield and another of three in attack, but there is no connection between them. The wingers are fixed, and the striker plays isolated.

Intensity can occur with different strategies. Manchester City are an intense team, with a lot of short exchange of passes, from one area to the other. Liverpool are intense, with few touches of the ball to reach the goal and a lot of inversion of plays. Fluminense looks like Manchester City and Palmeiras looks like Liverpool.

The old maxim that the one who runs the ball and not the player is obsolete, a pleasant memory. On the other hand, to say that, in modern football, the best team is the most intense, the one that runs the most, according to statistics, is a simple and mediocre concept. The player and the ball run together.

the end of dreams

Regardless of the fragility of the opponents, Neymar and Messi put on a show in PSG’s last two matches. I noticed, by the posture of the two before and during the matches, by the movement and speed during the game and by the desire of both to get in shape and shine in the Cup, that Brazil and Argentina’s chances in the World Cup increased.

In both games, Neymar played in front and from left to center, as he did at Barcelona, ​​alongside Messi, and as he played at the beginning of his career at Santos, without having to return to score from the left, a function of the winger, who defends and attacks from the side, in the scheme with three defenders. Messi played as he always does, from midfield to goal, through the center and everywhere.

Mbappé, injured, was out. When it enters, the positioning problems begin, as in the previous season. Mbappé likes to play like Neymar, up front, from left to centre. With this, Neymar should play more centrally, in front or coming back to receive the ball, as a link midfielder. I prefer Neymar closer to the goal.

In the Brazilian team, Neymar should play for the center, more advanced, with Paquetá close to him, coming from behind, in addition to two wingers who attack and defend and two midfielders. If Tite opts for a centre-forward, Neymar retreats and Paquetá should leave, who can be an option on the sides or further back, in place of Fred.

Neymar and Messi dream every day of winning the World Cup. As Brazil and Argentina are at the level of the other teams that are candidates for the title, it will not be surprising if the two find themselves in the advanced stages of the competition. It would be the end of dreams. Ever wonder?