Opinion – Tostão: My hopes that Brazil can be world champion have increased

After the 4-0 rout over Paraguay, I had two looks, feelings. One of pleasure and hope, with great individual and collective performances. Another one of prudence, because of the enormous fragility of the opponent, apathetic, because he had no more chance of going to the Worlds.

When dribbling, skilful, fast midfielders and forwards, like those of Brazil, find it easy, they display their entire repertoire, even more so when it ends in goals. They are the ball artists, representatives of football art, who enchanted the world.

However, that’s not all. The great Brazilian teams, since the 1960s, were spectacular and victorious, because they combined skill with technique, improvisation with tactical discipline, passing with dribbling, inspiration with perspiration, prose with poetry. There is no art without technique and dedication.

Brazilian football, even with modernization, continues to be praised for dribbling and goals, but it forgets the importance of collective play, passes and game dominance. Goals are built from defense. At 7-1, Germany didn’t dribble, or nearly so.

Against Paraguay, Couto, as he is called by Tite, played as you know, closer to the opponent’s area, where he dribbles and finishes very well. Paquetá showed, once again, that he is also a good midfielder, capable of playing from one intermediate to another. Daniel Alves went to the middle, to set up the plays alongside the midfielder Fabinho, and Paquetá advanced as an offensive midfielder. He is the model for Manchester City, who often do it on both sides.

Will Tite, against stronger teams, use Daniel Alves more in the middle, leaving spaces for the opponent on the side? Raphinha will have to run, throughout the match, back and forth, to help him. The exceptional Marquinhos will have to be a defender and full-back. Against the main European teams, will Tite play with just one defensive midfielder, Casemiro, without Fred at his side? Why not? At Manchester City, it works very well, because the team presses and recovers the ball very quickly. Brazil did the same against Paraguay. Will it do against a great opponent? Why not?

There are other options and solutions, like playing with Paquetá in front, as he did many times at Lyon, teaming up with Neymar. Paquetá is smart, fast and accurate in short passing, in small spaces.

Tite learned from the mistakes and unforeseen events of the 2018 World Cup. For this reason and for the rise of some players, such as Vinicius Junior, Raphinha and Paquetá, my hopes increased that Brazil could play beautiful and efficient football and win the world title. .

layoffs

Corinthians played well, beat Santos 1-0, and everything changed in five minutes. The boy Marcos Leonardo scored a beautiful goal, and the Corinthians defender committed an elusive penalty. Two individual moves and the unexpected changed the game’s history. Fans and social media asked for Sylvinho’s departure, the press responded, and the board complied.

The next targets are Rogério Ceni and Abel Braga. Protests and discussions on sports programs have already started. The directors are already on duty.

Club World Cup

Chelsea are the best team, but in such a short championship, it will not be a zebra if Palmeiras, or even another team, wins the title. Palmeiras prepared better, and the expectation is that the team, even if it is eliminated in the semifinal, will play with more quality than last year.