Five mistakes that help explain Brazil’s elimination from the World Cup

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The only five-time world champion, the Brazilian team always arrives at a World Cup as a candidate for the title. In Qatar, however, Tite’s team was seen as a favorite, the team to be beaten, due to its undefeated campaign in the Cup Qualifiers (14 wins and three draws) and also to the names of its squad, commanded on the field by striker Neymar , hitherto in good physical and technical shape.

This Friday (9), however, the second consecutive elimination of Brazil in the quarterfinals, with a defeat on penalties by Croatia, exposed the failures that had a direct influence on the final result and on the early return home.

1 – Lack of friendlies against strong teams

About five months ago, coach Tite announced that the Brazilian team would not play friendlies on the eve of the Qatar Cup. The reason given by the coaching staff was to avoid the risk of injury to the players. As the coach would only have ten days of preparation for the group before the debut in the World Cup, against Serbia, he decided to avoid more heated disputes.

At the time, the coach stated that this decision was influenced by the opinions of former players Juninho, Cesar Sampaio and Taffarel, who are part of his commission. “I said: five days before the Cup, we’re going to play a friendly, and they (former players) looked at me and went back. The risk of injury outweighs the technical and tactical benefit when it’s very close. If it’s meant to be, it has to be done. be nine or ten days before, for example, like the game that Peru is going to play. Very close, the head doesn’t work, and when it doesn’t work, the body doesn’t work. For me, the answer is no”, said Tite .

Before the Russian Cup, in 2018, also with Tite in charge, Brazil faced Croatia and Austria in preparation. However, the training period at the time was three weeks.

In Qatar, the team did well against Serbia and Switzerland in the group stage, but, when facing Croatia, a stronger and more experienced team in decisive games, ended up being eliminated.

2 – Unbalanced summons

The call for the final group to compete in the Cup had a more contested name: right-back Daniel Alves, 39, who had not played for two months. He was benched by coach Tite, who cited his experience and leadership in the group. However, when he had chances to use him in the Cup, as in the injury of the starter Danilo, the coach opted for the improvisation of Éder Militão.

Dani Alves only entered as a starter in the duel against Cameroon, in the last round of the group stage, when Brazil was already qualified for the round of 16. Thus, the duel served only as a luxury friendly.

Another problem with the call up was the abundance of forwards called up in contrast to the few defenders. So much so that, with injuries to full-backs Danilo, Alex Sandro and Alex Telles, Tite had to improvise.

Meanwhile, up front, the commander had many options, but they did not manage to yield what the fans expected. Only Vinicius Junior and Richarlison had solid performances whenever they were on the field.

3 – Neymar’s inconstant production

Brazil started with a good victory over Serbia, but striker Neymar suffered an ankle injury that kept him out of the next two games, against Switzerland and Cameroon. On his return, in the round of 16, he found a perfect scenario to play, since South Korea does not have a marking as strong as that of the other rivals.

Thus, he was able to circulate on the field, suffering only three fouls, and even scored a goal, a penalty.

In the game against Croatia, however, he had a much below average participation most of the time, with little movement on the field. The goal in the first half of extra time was a glimpse of the good player, but the moment ended up not being decisive.

If he still feels pain in the injured ankle, it is not known, but in many of Brazil’s plays, especially in defense, he only walked the field. He lacked the something more of the team’s main name, to set his younger teammates on fire.

4 – Ineffective substitutions

The commander failed in the substitutions in the decisive game against Croatia when he did not find solutions to surprise the opponent. When the team needed to find ways to break through the rival defensive blockade, the commander made only six substitutions for half a dozen: Rodrygo in the place of Vinicius Junior, Antony in Raphinha and Pedro in Richarlison.

With the three new players, the Brazilian performance did not have major changes. It improved a little with Antony’s speed on the right, as Raphinha wasn’t having a good day, but the Croatians didn’t need to change their defensive system, which continued to fit in with the Brazilian style of play.

And, when they found a counterattack, they were fulminating and scored the goal in the only shot that hit Alisson’s goal.

5 – Wrong decisions in the game

The big failure against Croatia was precisely the move that gave rise to the rival’s goal, taking the decision to penalties. Midfielder Fred replaced midfielder Lucas Paquetá after Neymar’s goal, in overtime, to compose the defense and hold off pressure from his rival, who went all out on the attack. However, Fred lunged forward, wrapped up with Pedro and provided the counterattack. With the defense unguarded, the Croatians reached the draw.

During the match, the Brazilian marking was also loose in the midfield, giving a lot of space for the creation of Modric, who, even at the age of 37, moved throughout the field, providing the attack.

After the game, coach Tite stated that there was no disorganization on the part of the Brazilian team during the tie.

“I don’t agree with the disorganization. First, we were in an offensive action, putting volume in front, and the play was broken. When it was broken and pressured, we had Pedro infiltrating Fred, a splashed ball in front, Danilo back and forth, and in that back and forth a ball pulls deep. We managed to come back and close the central part of the field, but the ball came back, finished, deflected and entered, in a single finalization”, he said.

One last point that gained criticism on social networks after the elimination was the sequence of Brazilian players for penalty kicks. Fans questioned why the first was Rodrygo, the youngest player in the squad (21 years old), while Neymar, 30, ended up not having the opportunity to charge, since the dispute ended earlier (4 to 2). The number 10 said it was Rodrygo’s request to start the series.

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