SAMBA MISSING A BEAT
Brazil march on and step up tempo but it’s hardly vintage
SOME may say this is not a vintage Brazil team, not yet anyway. But they do have classic Brazilian traits. Tite’s team are talented yet capriciously vulnerable and isn’t that just how we have always loved them?
Nobody likes a flawless football team and this is certainly not one. They won deservedly here and have recovered admirably from the shock of drawing their opening group game against Switzerland. But the way Serbia were applauded from the field by their noisy, vibrant supporters told us that this had been a bit closer than Brazil would have liked.
Brazil face Mexico in the last 16. They remain beguiling to watch and will probably get better. Last night, for example, there were signs that Neymar is growing into the tournament after recovering from his long-term ankle injury.
But they were not always convincing and this remains a tournament that feels as though it could throw them from the tracks at any moment. When Mexico go looking for encouragement, all they require to do is to watch the first 20 minutes of the second half.
A goal down and needing victory, Serbia pushed hard at the Brazilian door and more than once, it almost flew open. The problem is simple. Brazil are not adept at dealing with quality crosses. They have a goalkeeper who prefers to punch than catch and central defenders who do not communicate with him or, indeed, with each other.
That is never a good combination and it really was only through a smattering of good fortune that it was not their undoing.
Tite may wake up this morning, look at the remainder of the competition and wonder if his team would have been wiser to finish second in the group. They are now in the tougher half of the draw by far.
The Brazil boss admits he has had sleepless nights trying to figure out the right blend with these players, but he believes they will only get stronger as the tournament develops.
‘We don’t live off expectations. We live off reality,’ he said. ‘It’s a team that’s growing strong mentally.
‘I was not able to sleep sometimes, thinking about the chemistry and balance, but I’m still going to have a caipirinha tonight. In terms of the emotion of the team, there is still more to grow. They have grown in these three matches. From here, it’s only up.’
Serbia sat behind the ball and made it hard for Brazil to pierce them. The South American sections of the crowd got excited early on when Gabriel Jesus looked as though he may score but he was offside, while another move involving the Manchester City player ended with goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic pawing away an effort from Neymar that may have passed safely across the face of goal anyway.
Jesus then got clear down the left in the 29th minute but chose to cut back inside instead of trying the shot from an angle. His shot struck a Serbian leg and went behind for a corner. That rather summed up Brazil for a while. Nearly but not quite. And when their goal arrived, it was more direct. The excellent Philippe Coutinho spotted the run of Paulinho and dropped a perfect pass over the top of the Serbian back four and into his path.
Unlike the ball that Lionel Messi had turned into a goal for Argentina 24 hours earlier, this only required a touch and that was to lift it over the
goalkeeper. Maybe Stojkovic committed himself a little early but maybe there wasn’t much choice. So, Brazil were ahead and Serbia had no choice but to attack.
Twice, early in the second half, they came close. Thiago Silva cleared an aleksandar Mitrovic header off the line after keeper alisson had palmed a clearance straight to the newcastle striker. Then, the same attacker headed a cross powerfully down for the keeper to save.
There were other moments of panic as Brazil struggled to cope, but, soon after Fernandinho was sent on to shore up the midfield, Thiago Silva headed in a corner and settled the game. It was not a very Brazilian goal towards the end of what had been, at times, a very Brazilian display.