Bolivia – Brazil Recap

Apologies for the tardiness of this recap, it was a busy day today. I just found the time to put this together. Basically, and unsurprisingly, yesterday’s match sucked, there was no other way to put it. Its gotta be hard to motivate yourself for a rather meaningless match in a very difficult and exhausting setting due to the altitude.

However for players on the pitch who are fighting for a place on the national team there should have been significant amount of meaning. Even those individuals looked like they did not want to be there whatsoever. The midfield was a disaster right from the start.

Diego Souza must already know he doesn’t have much of a chance at South Africa, and played like it. He was completely invisible in the first half, other than one atrocious attempt at a shot. He was justifiably subbed for at half, with Alex coming on in his place.

Josue….what else can I say about him that already hasn’t been said. He is a nice player for his club team, but is awful for the national team. He gave up fouls in bad spots, and poorly distributed the ball in my opinion. His marking was crap on the first Bolivian goal.

Ramires has continued his steep decline in play since bursting onto the scene in the summer. I feel like he has gotten progressively worse in every single appearance with the team. He had a great run into the box at one point in the match that he followed up with a terrible touch on the ball, too far forward and right into the hands of the keeper.

Adriano reverted to his 2008 form before sustaining an injury that required substitution. Not many strikers would have completely botched a rebound like the one he saw in the first half. He was walking around the pitch in the first half like he had been out there for 120 minutes.

The only person who played well in this match was Nilmar. He was a threat when he received any service from the midfield and scored Brazil’s only goal of the match.

Although this was a disappointing match there are some positives that Dunga can take from this. This was an opportunity to see many players who do not get a regular look. A manager like Dunga should be able to see that guys like Diego Souza, Josue, and Miranda are just not cut out for this. I suspect there will be further changes for Wednesday qualifier against Venezuela. I think we’ll see a more unfamiliar and enthusiastic lineup later this week.

Player Ratings

Julio Cesar, 6, He couldn’t do anything about the first goal, but should have done better on the second. Should that have been saved? Probably not, but he didn’t even see the ball.

Maicon, 6.5, Didn’t make as many runs as he wanted because of the Bolivian attack. Assistant on the Nilmar goal.

Luisao, 6, I thought he was a bit shaky at times, but was not at fault for either goal.

Miranda, 5, Was careless at times and did a poor job marking. Him and Josue’s marking on the first goal off a corner kick was not good.

Andre Santos, 5.5, I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of his performance. He did play with a decent amount of energy, I didn’t think he did anything beyond average though. Was replaced by Elano in the second half.

Ramires, 5.5, He is quickly playing himself off the team.

Josue, 5, Please Dunga no more, please.

Dani Alves, 6, Got off to a slow start, but did much better in the second half. Nearly scored on two occasions.

Diego Souza, 4.5, You barely heard his name while he was on, and when you did it wasn’t for good reasons.

Nilmar, 7, Was very active and energetic, left it all out on the pitch.

Adriano, 5, Poor performance. I know he did not receive a great deal of service, but that botched rebound gets him this rating.

Subs

Diego Tardelli, 6, Was an improvement on Adriano, did not have the greatest touch yesterday though.

Alex, 6, Things started to improve and open up when he came on and settled into the matchf.

Elano, n/a

Remember the U20 team is in the World Cup semis tomorrow at 2:00 ET against Costa Rica. I’ll have the preview of the Venezuela match up tomorrow night.