‘The world’s best side’, ‘The number one team in Fifa’s rankings’, ‘The World Cup favourites’. Just a few of the quotes retrieved from ITV’s coverage of England’s defeat versus Brazil on Saturday, as Clive Townsend and Ian Wright jumped on Dunga’s ever-growing bandwagon of praise. Granted, Brazil were better than England and deserved their victory, yet Dunga still has much work to do before Brazil have a chance of winning the World Cup next summer.
Brazil’s setup consists of a typically South-American 4-2-2-2 formation, seen here:
Brazil's Current 4-2-2-2
Ex-Arsenal midfielder Gilberto holds fort in midfield alongside fellow battler Felipe Melo. Two fullbacks in the form of Bastos and Maicon forage forward, while an attacking quartet of Kaka, Robinho, Luis Fabiano and Elano(position not comfirmed) lies ahead. The side essentially, is built for counter-attacking football. Elano, Kaka and Robinho, all of whom play behind Fabiano are looking to be released into space in order to drive at opposition defences with dangerous speed, with only Elano possibly dropping deep to link play, yet he commonly draws wide and vacates the middle for Kaka to work within. None of the other attackers will naturally drop and link play with midfield to offer slick possession football, none of them will look to take a deep seat in midfield and orchestrate the attack with vision. Each of them thrives on space to drive into on the counter.
In Melo and Silva, Dunga has two excellent ball-winners, capable of soaking up pressure from the opposition, squeezing space and then quickly hoofing the ball fifty-yards for an attacker to run onto. Again, using two defensively-minded defensive midfielders is a common trait of counter-attacking football, as is the use of rapid fullbacks to stretch a defence on the break. However, their is a downside to Brazil’s system and it is something which England discovered in Qatar; Brazil are a one-dimensional side.
For all the possession they had, and for all the times they were camped inside England’s half with the ball, Brazil manufactured relatively few chances. The bulk of their chances on goal came from counter-attacks in which Nilmar had space to drive at Upson and Brown, not through excellent passing football. This unfortunately for Dunga, is a drawback of the system he uses; neither Kaka nor Robinho are content with linking play and working the ball around until the gap appears, and neither Gilberto nor Melo are going to dispatch a forty-yard daisy-cutter into the feet of Nilmar, in-behind a defence, and as explained, although Elano can do a job of similar description, Dunga tends to use him as a more peripheral option and allow Kaka space to thrust team centrally. Brazil, quite simply, are incapable of creating a gap in the opposition defence. They need the gaps to be already there, otherwise, as we saw on Saturday, they become frustrated, as a mediocre, make-shift English side held their own comfortably for large periods of the match, despite Brazil dominating possession.
We saw earlier in the year just how reliant Brazil are on a tactically weak side who leave spaces as they go forward, during Brazil’s encounter with Argentina earlier this year. Brazil defended comfortable all game, dismissing Argentina’s feeble attacks with ease, in the process having three counter-attacks, and scoring from all three, as Maradona left his side greatly exposed at the back, giving Kaka plenty of space in which to work on the break. Similarly in the Confedartions Cup, despite brazil winning the tournament, flowing possession football was scarce from Dunga’s men and the majority of Brazil’s goals were the result of sharp counter attacks or moments of individual excellence from the likes of Kaka.
This will only serve to the detriment of Brazil’s world-cup hopes. As they face tactical robust, mechanical opposition such as Spain and Holland, they will soon find themselves undone. We refer to sides who will drop a midfielder into defence as the team roams forward, sides which embrace the entire breadth of the pitch and will create gaps themselves within Brazil’s defence by stretching the two central midfielders. Sides which circulate the ball quickly, with slickness and trenchancy into feet, which will interchange positions at will and draw the ageing Lucio and Luisao out of position, and sides which also possess the creative quality to find attacking men within these gaps.
Torres: Just one of a hsot of forwards ready to pounce unless Brazil adapt
Brazil are yet to face a side capable of closing of space at the back while attacking and which possess incredible creative and destructive talent in midfield and attack – the likes of Arjen Robben, Fernando Torres, David Villa, Robin Van Persie, Wesley Sniejder, Rafael Van der Vaart, Andres Iniesta and Xavi, and until they do, it is far too early to advocate Brazil as potential World Cup winners. Dunga will need to adapt, find the personnel and system for possession football to offer variety to Brazil’s game, and quickly.
November 19, 2009 at 8:10 pm |
That was well thought out and great to read mate. Are Spain and Holland your picks for the World Cup then?
November 20, 2009 at 8:01 pm |
I’d like to think Spain most certainly will be up there pal – as long as they take that fighter mentality we saw at Euro2008 into the tournament, I’d certainly back them to go all the way. Holland, I’m less sure about. There’s so much pressure on Dutch sides these days, it’s ludicrous. At the European Championships, in my view, they should have walked it – but then they got to the quarter-finals, and all those years of international failure and heartbrake suddenly come to the forefront of everyone’s mind. The way the moved the ball in that tournament was such as spectacle – the way Van der Vaart and Sneijder ran things was beautiful – like watching Iniesta and Xavi at times. Yet against Russia, all of a sudden they look stiff, lacking in ideas, key players look nervous on the ball, they start uncharacteristically hoofing the ball forward – they simply did not have the mentality to deal with the pressure.
I’d love Holland to win it, truly love it – it would certainly put all those who feel a team playing beautiful football cannot win the world cup in their place, but whether or not they have the grit and strength to do it, is as I said, highly questionable. Apart from Spain and Holland, the door’s still open for England. I do not feel they have looked convincing, yet they are in the hands of an undoubtedly world class manager. If Capello can lubricate England’s passing game, and tighten a few potential loose screws at defence and upfront, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them make the semi-finals – I also thing Capello needs to change the defensive midfield pairing. Barry and Lampard is not balanced enough; Hargreaves must be used alongside a creative man – I think Lampard prefers a more liberal role and thus isn’t suited to it, and Carrick is a man whose passing range crumbles substantially when pressed, so as for who plays alongside Hargreaves, I think it’s still up for grabs.
Essentially, I think Holland and Spain will up there come the final rounds, and England have potential to make it.