Opinion – PVC: The only way to select Tite is to play well

Brazil entered the field against Cameroon with its fans celebrating the good path announced with the victories of Japan over Spain and South Korea over Portugal. He came out under the alert of reality.

The first defeat in an initial phase of World Cups since 1998 and the end of Tite’s 17-match unbeaten record indicate that this Cup will not be an easy game. So much so that no team ended up with 100% of the points.

Brazil has flaws.

At the same time that Tite assembles the most offensive lineup in Brazil in World Cups since 1982 and indirectly pays homage to Jô Soares and his character Zé da Galera, when climbing the wings, Brazil sometimes seems to be a slave to the ends of the field.

The screen at the Lusail stadium showed, at halftime, the actions in the last third, after the middle of the attacking field. Project by FIFA’s World Football Development Department. Read, the brainchild of former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger.

The graph showed ten moves by the left wing, seven by the right wing, three by the wing that entered diagonally from the right, and only five actions by the center.

That will be one of the problems against South Korea. Without Neymar, the team depends too much on Vinicius Júnior, mainly because Raphinha fell too much in technical terms, after a reasonable first half against Serbia.

A friend of Neymar says he is much better. If it was against Uruguay, maybe it would force the bar to play, but South Korea’s classification would break that need. It can’t be like that.

South Korea has to be respected as if it were Portugal or Uruguay. Son’s team, Tottenham star, beat Germany in the Russian Cup four years ago, eliminated Uruguayans and Ghanaians in Qatar.

If it is second in its group, it is better than Uruguay, which did not qualify.

So let’s ask the two key questions: Is Neymar fit to play? Does the national team have football to beat South Korea without him?

Only Rodrigo Lasmar can answer the first question, and he probably won’t. For what they played against Cameroon, Brazil can beat South Korea. But it has problems to solve. One of them is scoring goals. Preferably like this, in the plural.

The best chance of the selection was in a play by Raphinha, on the right, at 39 of the second half, a cross that Bruno Guimarães finished off and saw come out in a corner.

Brazil shot three times more than the Cameroonians, had 59% possession, which only serves to reinforce a bizarre World Cup figure: only 35% of the teams that have more time with the ball win.

Even knowing that 22% of games end in a draw, it’s amazing how many teams can’t figure out what to do with the ball.

Brazil knows, Spain too, Argentina as well. Even so, the Spaniards lost to Japan, the Argentines to Saudi Arabia, and Tite’s selection fell against Cameroon.

It’s no use thinking that life will be better with the starters, neither with Neymar nor against theoretically more fragile rivals.

The only way is to play well.