On a day when the world was left shell shocked by the exit
of the defending world champions Germany, the anxiety among the Brazil fans was
immense before the last group game against Serbia. Normally, if one takes
Brazil’s improvement under Tite since 2016, last night’s encounter should not
have bothered the Selecao fans that much. But in a world cup with plenty of twists
and turns, the Samba Boys found the going tough in their first two Group matches.
They were given a scare by both Switzerland and Costa Rica,
where the in form players simply struggled to get their acts together. And
thus, the match against Serbia became a do or die battle for the Selecao. One
could realise after looking at the faces in Brazil dugout – an acute tension
was evident, but none was expressing it.
When Tite was forced to replace a limping Marcelo, the
tension grew, but the substitute Felipe Luis gelled so well as a left-back,
none did not feel the absence of Marcelo. Luis might not have pressed hard like
Marcelo, but he was as calm and composed
as ever, which allowed Neymar and others to move on and orchestrate brilliant
moves.
Brazil pressed hard, even though Willian and Gabriel Jesus,
failed to make an impact, but Philippe Countinho, the best performer of Brazil
in group matches so far, delivered the ideal pass, bypassing the Serbian
defence, where a certain Paulinho did not make any mistake to script a cool
finish.
In the second half, Brazil were pushed back and the memories
of match against Switzerland came into the minds. But, thankfully, the
Brazilian defenders and goalkeeper Alisson were simply outstanding to dent each
and every threatening moves from Serbia. Thiago Silva and Miranda maintained
their composure under pressure, while Fagner was equally brilliant with his
defensive abilities. He even came up to join the attack when Willian was seen
to struggle.
After Silav scored the second, Brazil took the game to a
different level. They simply toyed with Serbia and that’s what the world wish
to see from Brazil. There were those chicky passes, triangle formations, dribbling,
typical back-heels and high-press – a vital factor to Tite’s success over the
years.
As the match grew older, it seemed, Brazil are coming out of
the shell and making all of us forget about their slow start. Brazil won back-to-back World Cup matches for
the first time since 2010, when they won their opening two group matches. Brazil
have qualified from the group stage of the World Cup for the 13th consecutive
tournament, a run stretching back to 1970 and since 1982 until now, they have
qualified for the next round as the group champions. Brazil have won 19 of
their 24 matches under Tite (D4 L1), giving the Brazilian manager a win
percentage of 79%.
It was a good performance from the Selecao in comparison to previous
matches. But Tite’s boys need to be the best for Hexa mission. Willian and
Jesus’ pale display is still a headache for Brazil and it seems Tite would
persist with these two in the second round match against Mexico as well bring
them out from the “mental block”. A goal or two might change the scenario.
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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