Opinion – Tostão: Neymar needs special preparation for the World Cup

Tite will hardly list a player who has not yet been called up for the next Cup. If the Worlds were today or a month from now, which would be the starting lineup and who would be the 23 called? Not even the technician knows. In recent years, Tite has experimented with various tactical options, but, if the Cup were today, he would climb, as the team has shown in recent games, the traditional formation (4-4-2), with a line of four defenders, two defensive midfielders, two open players, who attack and defend, and two attackers.

Thus, he played for the England team, champions of the world in 1966. This does not mean that it is an outdated way of playing. It is perhaps still the most used tactical scheme in the world, which can be defensive or offensive. It will depend on numerous other factors, mainly the type of marking, more indented, more advanced or intermediate.

This tactical formation makes it easier for Neymar, who can play free, closer to the area and the center forward, without needing to score and without having to return to the field to set up the plays. After the departure of Neymar from Barcelona to PSG, he, in an attempt to be the center of the team, started to play far behind, in the middle. This hurts him as, on the long way to the goal, he is usually unarmed or knocked down.

Whatever Neymar’s stance, I think he’s had a physical fall in recent years, due to repeated injuries and decreased movement and speed. It became less difficult to mark him. It has spectacular moments, but it doesn’t maintain a regularity or the same intensity as before. Ideally, for the Brazilian team, he would have a special preparation for the World Cup, longer, which is impossible on the calendar. Pelé, before the 1970 World Cup, was quite worn out physically, but he prepared a lot and arrived at the Worlds in exceptional physical and technical shape.

One of Tite’s questions is how to climb together Neymar, Vinícius Júnior and Paquetá. He would have to climb Paquetá further back, in Fred’s place, or further ahead, beside Neymar.

I don’t expect the team to play team football in the Cup, with the beauty and efficiency of Manchester City, but I hope the team will act with more intensity, more pressure to retrieve the ball, more passes and more control over the game and the ball, without relying so much on lunges, isolated, individual throws, especially Neymar.

After almost two years of quarantine, I miss doing many things, like traveling, wandering around Brazil and around the world. I miss being present at a Worlds. I’ve been outside Brazil, in five consecutive editions, from 1994 to 2010. I miss seeing the greatest stars in the world, partying in stadiums and in the streets, meeting with several journalists I admire and don’t see. long time.

Happy New Year, with everyone vaccinated, including the children.

Transience

Cuca, celebrated and earning a very high salary, asked to leave Atlético after alleging family problems and, at the same time, assured the club that he will not lead another team in 2022. Cuca has always been an unpredictable coach, who likes short jobs and quit after succeeding. There are probably other health reasons, emotional ones, such as the trainer’s known oddities and superstitions.

Cuca, with his gloomy vision, usually demonstrates, in interviews, concerns about uncertainties and the transience of things, such as that, after great moments, bad facts will come.