PVC: Decisions and the World Cup will be games of intelligence

Last year ended with the image of Abel Ferreira and his index fingers towards his head, pointing to having a plan, which his team should not give up. The intelligence game had work, to rehearse the first goal of the final against Flamengo, and luck, for Andreas Pereira handing the second to Deyverson.

This is the week of Dorival Júnior x Felipão, in Flamengo x Athletico, as it was in the Copa do Brasil.

Corinthians coach Vítor Pereira used a fair idea, which went wrong, in the first half against Flamengo.

It only worked in the second stage, when I managed to take speed. A smart performance, in which short passes slow the game down and mean no risk of conceding a goal.

Corinthians circled the ball for 61% of the time in the second half and kicked four times on target, twice as many as Flamengo in the period.

In other words, having the ball is a better strategy than letting Flamengo play. In three clashes against the champion of the Copa do Brasil, Athletico did not score any goals and kicked only four times on target.

In the two playoffs of the Copa do Brasil, Felipão’s team defended with a line of five and only kicked the goal once. The attempt to stop Flamengo did not work. The one from Corinthians, yes. In both cases, we deal with study.

Facing the best squad in the country requires a plan. You can leave the house imagining a good path, which turns bad, because there was another car with a flat tire on the avenue.

There is no waze that predicts a game. There are technicians for that. Everyone knows that, currently, the strongest rival in the country is Flamengo. Dorival Júnior will put his team in the attack, try to have possession of the ball and wait for the genius of Filipe Luís to fix it, De Arrascaeta to pass, Éverton Ribeiro to watch and Pedro to finish, as in the goal against Corinthians, at Maracanã.

Flamengo’s best strategy was to have the ball and it will be like that against Athletico Paranaense. You may not be able to, which will depend on the opponent. The question is what will be Felipão’s planning.

This is the question about the Libertadores final, on Saturday (29), in Ecuador.

Felipão will only have a chance in case of rigor in the strategy, if the players follow what is trained. His cast has less ability to improvise. On the other hand, Flamengo’s risk is to bet only on the undeniable genius of its stars.

It is the current accusation against Dorival Júnior, an excellent coach, who leaves the solutions to the athletes to leave the markup. Unlike that, last year, Abel Ferreira designed the play for the first goal, which changed the face of the Libertadores final.

The technician is not the boss, he is the architect. Asked in an interview with the newspaper O Globo, if he will be able to play a hypothetical World Cup final with five attacking players, Tite said that it will depend on the study of the rival and the fit of his own team.

The letter of intent is to make Brazil strong in the Cup, like Flamengo against Athetico, Manchester City against anyone.

In this case, opponents will have to think to win.

Tite will need to have the strength to annihilate the adversary and also the antidote for those most capable of creating solutions.

Football is a game of intelligence.

THE DUDU ERA

Dudu’s goal was the second of Palmeiras’ 3 x 0 over Avaí and closed the result, which seemed easy, but was still risky. It has been the symbol of Palmeiras since 2015. More than the Crefisa logo. Against Avaí, he scored his second, among the five most beautiful goals of Allianz Parque.

ROGÉRIO CHALLENGE

The chance to go to Libertadores reinforces a challenge to Rogério Ceni. To be a star as a coach, as he was as a player, you have to let go. Remember that it’s up to him, as a coach, to improve players who don’t play at the level his teacher played.