Opinion – Tostão: Generosity and solidarity are needed to form a great team

Due to the quality of the squads, there shouldn’t be much news in the performance and results of most Brazilian teams compared to recent years. The biggest doubts, especially in the Brasileirão, are the performance of the big clubs that returned to the First Division (Cruzeiro, Grêmio, Vasco and Bahia). They’ve all signed a lot of players, some who’ve done well for strong Serie A sides.

Certainly, for a good period, we will hear that there is a lack of chemistry. Time is important to form a good team, but even more important are the quality of the athletes and the lineup of players who complete each other’s styles.

Suárez is a special player, one of the great strikers in the world in recent times, but it is too soon to say that he will be a success in Brazil, after scoring three goals on his debut for Grêmio, against a fragile opponent.

Suarez is much more than a scorer. Although in technical decline, he is still a star, due to his movements, collective lucidity and the passes he gives for goals. At Barcelona, ​​between Messi and Neymar, he was the beacon that illuminated their passage.

So it was also in many clubs and in the Uruguayan national team. At PSG, with three superstars (Neymar, Messi and Mbappé), they lack a striker like Suárez.

At Grêmio, Renato, with his delightful jokes, said that if he had played with Neymar and Messi, he would have scored more goals than Suárez. He could even do it, but he wouldn’t be a great facilitator for the two.

Pelé and Coutinho was the best duo I’ve seen play, as they complemented each other on the pitch. Coutinho was a reference for the King. The two combined the moves by looking, by body movement, by breathing and heartbeats.

Benzema and Vinícius Júnior form another sensational duo, complementing their styles. It is the union of dribbling, speed and skill with technique and collective lucidity. The Brazilian team lacked a Benzema. Cristiano Ronaldo’s best moment was at Real, with the help of Benzema.

I repeat, for the thousandth time, as there may be someone who hasn’t read it yet, that, on the first occasion I trained alongside Dirceu Lopes, at Cruzeiro, in 1964, both aged 17, it seemed that we had already played together for a thousand years, because we completed each other in our characteristics. One thought the other’s thoughts.

Argentina, in the World Cup, after the defeat in the first game, formed a new midfield, with Enzo Fernández in the center, De Paul on the right and Mac Allister on the left. Coach Scaloni has changed strategy and lineup several times, but has always kept the three together. The three and Messi completed each other.

At Fluminense, Ganso and André complement each other in midfield. Despite being marked and in small spaces, they exchange short passes, without losing the ball, and advance with the collaboration of their teammates.

Ganso, when he appeared in football, shone brightly, but soon after, he faded, because he looked like an ET, at a time when the midfield was divided between midfielders who scored and midfielders who attacked. Goose was strange in his way of playing. Times have changed, and he, with the help of his teammates and coach Fernando Diniz, is back to shining, just like he used to play.

The game of football does not want to teach, but it teaches that, in order to form a great team, in addition to the association of talents, of styles that complement each other, of desires and strategies, it is also necessary to have generosity and solidarity.