Team Focus: Neymar Reliant Brazil Still Showing Problems of Old
Brazil’s Copa America group match against Peru may ultimately have produced the result that had been widely anticipated, but it’s fair to say nobody was expecting the game to play out quite like it did. Dunga’s Brazil was supposed to be dogged and cautious, to have shorn the wildness that ultimately undid Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side at the World Cup, but the game in Temuco, in the first half in particular, was raggedly end-to-end.
Brazil had won 10 friendlies in a row since Dunga took over at the end of the World Cup – one more than they had under Scolari in the build-up to that tournament. That seemed room for cautious optimism, but after two minutes, very familiar old failings had surfaced. David Luiz seemed to have done the hard part, shepherding Paolo Guerrero off the ball, but then he nudged the ball oddly across goal. It may be that if Jefferson had kept out of the way, David Luiz would have belted the ball clear with his right foot, but the goalkeeper prodded it uncertainly towards Dani Alves, who was wrong-footed, allowing Christian Cueva gleefully to belt the ball in.
The response was almost instant, Neymar drifting unmarked between the two Peru centre-backs to head in a Dani Alves cross after five minutes. There then followed 15 minutes of almost constant pressure in which Peru looked defensively hapless. They somehow survived, though, and while Brazil had the better of the rest of the game for the last 70 minutes, Peru were trading blows with them. Just when it looked as though Peru had got the draw, though, Neymar played an astonishing pass, finding a gap in a thicket of defenders to set Douglas Costa through. He was in so much space he almost seemed embarrassed as he jabbed the ball past Pedro Gallese.
After Colombia’s defeat earlier in the day, the win left Brazil top of the group, but the nature of the performance raises far more questions than the result answers. Peru are ranked 61st in the world and have been in wretched form; if they can cause Brazil as many problems – they had eight shots in the game, three on target – then a better side – a Colombia, Argentina or Chile – could do real damage.
It wasn’t just the openness at the back that was a concern, though; it was how dependent the team was in Neymar and, to a lesser extent, Dani Alves, who wasn’t even in the squad until Danilo was injured last week. Of the 16 shots Brazil attempted, six were from Neymar. He played four of 12 key passes (and Dani Alves another four). He had 89 touches; no other forward or midfielder had more than Willian’s 68. Neymar completed five dribbles; Willian completed two, nobody else more than one. He put in four crosses; Dani Alves put in four, Filipe Luis three, nobody else more than one.
Brazil are Neymar-dependent to a staggering degree. It’s not quite like watching Liberia when George Weah played for them, but it’s not as far off as it ought to be, every player simply looking to give the ball to the one great star. What’s difficult to know is the degree to which that is to do with Neymar’s demand to be centre stage and the level to which it’s a result of the inadequacy of others.
The strange incident just before half-time when Neymar got booked for wiping away the referee’s foam at a free-kick he was about to take, shoving away Flipe Luis and Elias, suggested just how dominant a figure he demands to be. Either way, it’s not a healthy situation. This Brazil seem to have all the defensive shakiness they showed at the World Cup and, if anything, to be even more focused on their one great star. That’s not a recipe for success.
Will Brazil win the Copa America or is there too much of a burden for Neymar to carry? Let us know in the comments below
Surely they won't
Team player.
Brazil has absolutely no chance of winning this tournament.
Teams need to work out a way to stop one man teams. My suggestion is for weaker teams to man mark the opposition's best player out the game. Get the fittest player to shadow them for 45 minutes. Then bring on the 2nd fittest player to do the same job second half. Everyone else defends properly and doubles up when necessary. If you stop Neymar getting a goal or an assist then you have a much bigger chance of getting a result. It surprises me teams won't adopt abnormal tactics against abnormal players like Neymar, Messi, C.Ronaldo etc.
@TacticalMastermind Yea? that tactic works in high school... but Neymar, Messi and Ronaldo are the best attackers in the world for a reason. They can win 1v1 against the best defenders regardless of how tired they are and the second you double team them it opens up space for other people to run in behind
@Demand If you play a deep line no one is running in behind. Double up at the right time. No one tries it so you don't know if it would work or not..
@TacticalMastermind people try this constantly. you're not the first person to think of man-marking or doubling up on the best player the opposition team has. change your name.
@physafunk I'm talking about man marking the entire game and always being tight to the player by the way. You'd probably have to play 4-4-1 and then have this man marker. Obviously Messi in particular is impossible to deal with 1 on 1 once the ball is at his feet. The point to the strategy is mark them so tightly they barely touch the ball. Double up instantly if he might have the ball in any sort of space.
@physafunk Having a designated player to man mark someone is completely different. This player isn't in his team's usual system. He shadows the player wherever he goes. I can't remember seeing a team using this strategy. This is impossible to do for very long and will massively tire the player out doing the job. Hence why I mentioned the half time change and doing it with the two fittest players in the squad. It probably isn't enough. You'd probably have to make a change at 30 mins and 60 mins. Do it with 3 fresh players in 30 minute windows.
@TacticalMastermind 70s called. They want their tactics back.
@blitz Show me a game where a team has ever properly shadowed a player recently like I mentioned with the rest of the team defending normally. It doesn't happen. I've used obscure tactics in real life to beat much more superior teams with my side so I really don't care about meaningless dislikes on here.
@TacticalMastermind I thought Messi was 1v1 marked against Bilbao... until the first goal
Just like in the Wolrd Cup, if Neymar goes down Brazil is fish out of water. But let's be honest, they have nobody else to take on their burden, Oscar and Gustavo are out which makes things even worse. You got guys playing in China starting for the pentacampeao and you gotta ask yourself: wtf? You got a 2nd division keeper starting when Diego Alves was one of the best in Liga. Then the worst part: you got David Luiz on your team. Let alone fact that he's ahead of Thiago Silva. Wow. I'd rather have Dante lol.
@lolzzzzzzzz Alves may well have started for Brazil this summer had he not picked up a serious knee injury at the end of the season.
@WilliePete Nah Dunga made Jefferson his 1st choice keeper a long time ago. He never gave anyone else a chance really, partially because Jefferson played decently in all those friendlies and Brazil rarely conceded. Brazilian coaches are stubborn as hell, if they like someone they are sticking with them even if there are better options... we saw that when Felipao stuck with Fred, Paulinho, Henrique despite them being on crap form leading to 2014.