Former player Zico published on his social networks an analysis of Brazil’s elimination from the World Cup. He pointed out two problems in the penalty shootout defeat to Croatia. One of them was the positioning of defensive midfielder Fred, who went on the attack and allowed a counterattack in the equalizing goal for the Croatians. Another was the fact that Neymar did not execute his shot in the tiebreaker.
“When Fred enters in the second half of extra time, with Brazil in front, due to the characteristics, it is to protect, not to give the opponent the opportunity to have a greater number of players attacking. Unfortunately, in the only opponent attack this did not happen and then the goal came out”, wrote the carioca.
“The second [problema] it was in the penalty shootout: Neymar didn’t open the series or even after hitting Marquinhos, since it is not necessary to pass the order to the referees, as it used to happen years ago”, he added.
Neymar would be Brazil’s fifth penalty kicker. Didn’t get to kick because the dispute ended with four charges for each side, 4 to 2 for Croatia. The dispute ended in Marquinhos’ mistake.
Zico has important penalties in the World Cup on his resume. In the 1986 quarter-final against France, he conceded and missed a penalty during the full 90 minutes, stopping goalkeeper Joël Bats. In the tiebreaker dispute, he was third to hit and converted. But Socrates and Julius Caesar were wrong, and Brazil fell.
For the former midfielder, the moment is to forget the failure. “Now it’s time to move on, because we have a very good generation”, he concluded.
With the elimination in the Cup, the Brazilian team goes into recess. He will wait for the definition of the new coach by the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), since Tite said goodbye in the match against Croatia.
The first squad list should be announced in early March. There will be friendlies in the first FIFA window of 2023, from the 20th to the 28th of the third month of the year.
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