Opinion – Tostão: There’s a Modric missing in Brazil

The World Cups reach extraordinary dimensions. Important and unimportant details are overrated. Any idiocy becomes big news. It is also a show, a ludic theater, a portrait of human feelings and contradictions.

The World Cup is still an affirmation of national pride. The Brazilian defeat is treated as a tragedy, as if it were more serious than violence, misery and the very low human development index (HDI), scourges that have plagued the country for a long time.

Losing, when you have conditions to win, as was the case in Brazil, is like an unfinished work of a writer, a musician, a painter, although some artistic creations that did not end and some defeats in World Cups are revered for always, like the Hungarian team in 1954, the Dutch team in 1974 and the Brazilian team in 1982. This is not the case with the current team. The team is good, better than Croatia, but it’s not to be eternalized.

A great team needs to unite the domain of the ball and the game in the midfield, with a lot of exchange of passes, a symbol of the collective game, as Croatia does, with the aggressiveness and dribbling of the Brazilian midfielders and forwards, symbols of individual talent.

For this reason, having both qualities at a very high level, Real Madrid is the champion of Europe. Thus, it was Santos in the 1960s, a team that paced in the midfield and accelerated in the attack, within the characteristics of the time. The main reason for the 7-1 result was the total dominance of the midfield by the Germans.

Brazil hasn’t had, for decades, a midfielder like Modric, who plays from one intermediary to the other. He hasn’t, because lately he’s been concerned with training a lot more skilful, fast and attacking players than game builders and thinkers. Vinícius Júnior said that he learned to pass and kick the crossbar, from the corner, with the outside of the foot, from Modric, who must have learned from someone, who must have learned from Didi, in the 1958 World Cup.

Evidently, many important things happened during the match against Croatia. I didn’t like the substitution of Vinícius Júnior, who didn’t stand out because Brazil didn’t have the ball and because he didn’t have the help of the full-back. They liked the wingers so much, that they forgot about the midfield and the offensive plays and the center lines, with the exception of the beautiful goal by Neymar, in a table with Paquetá.

Casemiro was left alone in the midfield, against three Croatians who were good on the ball, as Paquetá advanced, the wingers were always open and Neymar is an attacking midfielder.

Tite should not have abandoned the option of fielding a midfielder and advancing Paquetá, to form a partnership with Neymar later on.

The players and coach are to be criticized as long as they are not turned into villains. It’s just another football game, even if it’s in a Cup. If Casemiro had fouled Modric or if the kicked ball had not deflected off Marquinhos, Alisson would probably have saved it. Predictable and unpredictable details and serendipities helped eliminate Brazil. Now, “Inês is dead”.

Morocco vs France and Argentina vs Croatia will make the semifinals. Messi spends the whole game waiting to receive a ball between the midfield and the defenders to decide the match, as he has done.

The Cup continues, bright and with great emotions, like the game in France’s victory over England, by 2-1, two teams clearly superior to Brazil.