Olympic round-up: Brazil 3 China 0: Dullness, complacency and disorganization enough to carry Brazil through!

With qualification secured, Brazil should have been approaching this match with the optimism of fun, but with Dunga at the helm that was always going to be a problem. Brazil made a few changes to the team that had stumbled against Belgium and the team that had grown against New Zealand, in come Thiago Neves (yay!) and out came Anderson Alex Silva Rafinha and Hernanes whom had been replaced by Thiago Silva Ilsinho and Ramires, due to having already picked up yellow cards.

With these changes Brazil still managed to keep the same characteristics of the Dunga era, disorganization and ZERO creativity. China were never going to be any match for the Brazilians in technical ability, but Brazil in my opinion still made the match look harder than it was. The game itself didn’t really give us fans anything to really go away and be optimistic about, with the ball being moved around smoothly in flashes mixed in with a lot of miss judged passes and lack of creativity to draw out the Chinese team and their parked bus inside the penalty area. Ronaldinho the talisman of the last performance, the man who made us feel he was coming back to some sort of R10 form decided to be complacent and unbothered by playing to win, instead being satisfied by walking around with the ball and letting the cameras take pictures of him then giving the ball to a teammate. With Ronaldinho definitely not in the mood to play football it was on the other’s shoulders to make an impact. Diego had a better game than his previously horrific displays breaking well from midfield and looking to quickly move the ball into spaces, (at least when he wasn’t diving around on the floor being a bitch!) this is what brought about the first goal. Good movement and a very intricate pass by no show Ronaldinho to play him in to easily round the goal keeper and finish making Brazil’s practice game get off to a calming start. Throughout all the matches Diego has worked his socks off to push the ball around the pitch, working for the team. But my one criticism of him can be his readiness to be a ballerina diving around plus the narrowness in which he plays in midfield. Thiago Neves finally got his big chance to show why he should at least be considered for a starting position. He scored two well taken goals, plus showed a different intent by pushing and playing the ball forward, even though he really wasn’t able to get the team going in midfield. I blame this really on the disorganized un-tactical set up brazil play with, which makes it very difficult for the players to play any defined role in midfield. Look at a player like Lucas normally he is known for running hard from midfield up and down the pitch like a Brazilian Steven Gerard, but with Brazil he isn’t even able to make those breaks consistently by the tightly organized square we have which can explode at any given moment. Lucas in today’s match was the main holding midfielder, but he also had a topsy turvy game by making too many silly mistakes and fouls. Pato was another player who has disappointed so far, his miss today showed a little air of low confidence today, along with Roanldinho’s poor imitation of a chip shot. Good performances were from Rafeal Sobis in parts, with a good attitude of making diagonal runs across the defensive line, and Thiago silva who looks to be the perfect foil for a big man like Breno or Alex Silva, he does all the slick clearing up for one of the big men (still those two starting wouldn’t be bad either). But our best player without a doubt would be Marcelo, the left back looks to be the reincarnation of Roberto Carlos, he’s very good on the ball, consistent and extremely good at getting back on defensive duties. Throughout the whole 90 minutes you can safely bet he’ll be up and down the wing, the future left back from now to the World Cup and our best player in the Olympics without question.

In the end China proved no match, and the hosts only presented a minimal threat. Brazil in this match should’ve really used this game to get their flow and movement to perfection, Ronaldinho importantly should’ve shown that he wants to improve instead of the usual not caring approach which has plagued his mind over the last years. (Maybe this dude plus Roger Federa need a sports psychologist to get them back to understanding their Love for their sports) The game didn’t mean anything so hopefully this was one of those things he just wanted to get out of the way in his book. Diego was better and showed a little form, but I definitely think we can see the best of him if he plays in central midfield. He can only play centrally he naturally moves and positions himself infield plus his recent hard work and energy have also shown that he can and should be used in a deeper role to pick passes and make those crucial breaks from the midfield area. The main problem with Brazil’s team chemistry at this moment is the tightness in which the midfield is being played. Both the attacking midfielders are basically standing on top of each other, this is how consistently we lose the ball in midfield areas, the bigger better teams will exploit this and will stop us from playing in these areas, look even Belgium managed it. by spreading the pitch and penetrating wider inside positions we become more dangerous and stretch teams out of position, remember Thiago Neves second goal? Diego went wide right and attacked the opposition whilst Ramires (I was happy with how he always looked to get forward and then work back extremely well) broke from midfield, this opened up the space for Diego to put a ball across the outside of the box in which Thiago Neves came in from an inside left position and hit the ball to score. The way Brazil play relies far too heavily on the Full-backs to create width, making the midfield have no areas in which to stretch opposition defences. Ronaldinho who naturally plays from the left drops back to make the width on the left in order to provide midfield with any options, thise leaves Pato all alone to be isolated and useless as was his performance against China.

Here’s the match Highlights (Follow the link)
Brazil 3 China 0 BBC

I think Brazil must play a little wider and aggressively attack wide and inside wide areas to pose more a threat to teams. Obviously we should try to play little closer to the box and allow our greatest weapon the, fullbacks, to bomb on and attack the wings, that’s part of Brazilian football it is one of the most deadly things in world football. Our heavy reliance on the fullback’s presence to provide width allows teams to anticipate our every move, so playing with more width would frighten any opposition, causing them to re think. The attacking midfielders should play out of the right and left receptively as Messi and Ronaldinho did for Barcelona as half midfielders and half forwards, starting on one side of the pitch and playing out of that side or close to the touch line giving them license to roam the areas near the box. Hopefully this would open the midfield up so the central players will be able to play balls around the pitch causing opposition to chase the ball and get stretched, giving them chances to break forward during the match.

I believe Brazil should play like this throughout the next few matches:

GK Renan

CB Breno Thiago Silva

FB Rafinha Marcelo

DM Hernanes
CM Diego

AM/FW Thiago Neves Anderson

FW Ronaldinho

CF Pato

Maybe if Diego is too erratic with form you could put Lucas back in next to Hernanes, or play Anderson alongside Hernanes in role he has been doing for Manchester United to some good effect. A good move could also be to put Ronaldinho back in the Left attacking midfield forward side, a very natural position for him, but with him forward like a pure number 10 with Pato creating passes and dropping deep to make the play gives Brazil that extra incisive pass and cutting edge they really do need to get into the box.