South America Friendlies round-up
Questions for Brazil coach Tite as Argentina revive under Scaloni
Back in July, Brazil beat Argentina 2-0 in the Copa America semifinals and, while there was some controversy about refereeing decisions, there was no doubt that Brazil were the better side. Five days later they deservedly won the Copa, while Argentina got ready to lose the services of Lionel Messi to suspension after he accused the competition of being riddled with corruption.
Yet, little more than three months later, it is Brazil coach Tite who is under pressure while Argentina’s Lionel Scaloni is sitting pretty.
In four subsequent games Brazil have managed no wins and kept no clean sheets, while doubts exist about the architecture of the side. After years of setting up in a 4-1-4-1 (or 4-3-3 according to preference), Tite has tried to do something different by bringing Neymar into a more central role. The experiment was hampered by an injury he picked up early on in a recent friendly against Nigeria, forcing a swift substitution, but the questions remain. Do Brazil possess the attacking mobility to get the best out of Roberto Firmino at centre-forward? And does fielding Firmino and Neymar plus two wide attackers leave them too open to the counter-attack?
When Tite took over a little over three years ago, the parts dropped instantly into place. Now he is going to have to work harder to find the right blend.
Argentina, meanwhile, are moving with surprising serenity, despite the absence of Messi.
Upgraded from caretaker to permanent coach, Scaloni has introduced a new generation of midfield and attacking talent. Centre-forward Lautaro Martinez scored a stunning hat-trick to turn a potentially tough game against Mexico into a 4-0 rout, while midfielders Exequiel Palacios, Nico Dominguez and Alexis Mac Allister all made their presence felt. In addition, striker Lucas Alario and wide attacker Lucas Ocampos have also been successfully brought into the squad.
Even allowing for the fact that Ecuador are in transition and have a caretaker coach, Argentina’s 6-1 win over their South American rivals was an impressive
scoreline – as was the 2-2 draw away to Germany.
Some problems do remain, however. There is a worrying dearth of top-class defenders, and backed by the Dortmund crowd the Germans took quick advantage to go two goals ahead. Scaloni, though, read the game well and made an adjustment at the interval, switching from a back four to a line of three, stopping the Germans higher up the field and giving his side the platform to snatch a draw.
Results, of course, are never the be all and end all of friendly matches, and events over the past two months will be quickly forgotten as soon as the next World Cup qualifying campaign gets underway in March. But there is a chance coming up to measure the respective progress of Brazil and Argentina as they meet in Saudi Arabia on November 15.
For the continent’s other sides, the November FIFA dates are the only chance to warm up at full strength – hence the fact there is a sense of urgency as Ecuador look to announce a big-name coach.
Ecuador’s quest to reach Russia 2018 started brightly, but became derailed along the way. The first reaction was to re-appoint Hernan Dario Gomez, the veteran Colombian coach who took Ecuador to their first World Cup in 2002, but it was a controversial choice as he had been in charge of Panama when they lost 6-1 to England and many felt that was a less than adequate audition. Gomez then got himself into trouble by downplaying the importance of the recent Copa, and when his team performed badly – thrashed by Uruguay, beaten by Chile, held by an experimental Japan – he was dismissed.
The latest name in the frame to replace him is Germany’s Jurgen Klinsmann, with whom the Ecuadorian Football Federation has reportedly been negotiating for some time.
This is a bold move as Klinsmann will not come cheap, with the local media speculating he will cost three times as much as Gomez. And there is also an easy line for criticism, with the suspicion that he might spend most of his time in California.
However, Ecuador are the reigning South American under-20 champions, with a side that claimed third place in the recent World Cup at that level, so there would be some interesting raw material for Klinsmann to work with.
If agreement is reached with the Ecuadorian FA, it will be intriguing to see what he does with it.