Brazil in the Final
Bruno Romani | Jun 25, 2009 | Comments 2
It wasn’t going to be easy. The home team always grows in FIFA competitions. And difficulty increased as the locals have a coach who knows so well the Brazilian players. The only option for Brazil was to take advantage of the nerves of their rivals. So Brazil started the match marking South Africa in its defensive field as a way to force a mistake.
If in one hand a few mistakes appeared here and there, the first 20 minutes produced no chances. South Africa got more comfortable. And the roles switched. South Africa was the one looking for mistakes in the Brazilian defense. The locals found one soon, after a ball was crossed. Too bad it was missed.
20 minutes header
Meanwhile, Brazil got stuck in trying to attack through the middle instead the sides of the defense. At that point, Ramires looked the main offensive option.
South Africa started to play an intelligent match. If it could not force gigantic mistakes at every play, the team headed by Joel Santana started to get free-kicks. In one of them, Julio Cesar made an important save.
Ironically, as the match looked good for South Africa, it started to look good for Brazil. The reason? Brazil loves to counter attack. Kaka, who at that point was having a very shy participation, appeared twice. With 2 good chances. The first-half was over with a fair draw.
In the second-half, South Africa got in charge of actions, taking advantage of the countless wrong passes of the Brazilian players. Not much was created in terms of goal chances, but when that happened, Julio Cesar saved Brazil in a deflected ball. It was the best chances in the match for the locals.
In the attack, Luis Fabiano fought alone to create chances. Kaka, Robinho, Ramires and the two side-backs showed no signs of inspiration. The number 11 had time to miss an important volley.
From there, there was no spaces for goal chances. The teams seemed to agree on the zero draw.
This is when Dunga made a excellent replacement. Not only because of the outcome. By sending Daniel Alves to play as a left back replacing the insecure Andre Santos, Dunga sent a message to Kleber: you’re out of the national squad.
But the moment for Dunga is so good that the sub he made had very short term impacts. When everyone was ready for the draw, Brazil had on its hands the same weapon South Africa tried to used throughout the match: the free-kick. Ramires was fouled when Alves decided to take it. The goal was fantastic. It shattered the dreams of the locals and dissipated the Spanish ghost that has been lingering in African stadiums since yesterday.
Brazil is in the final. And now it hopes to keep the football universe in order.
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Filed Under: 2009 Confederations Cup • Featured • World Football
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Good recap as always. I too was surprised that Brazil did not attack on the wings a little more, especially on the right side. Marcelo could have been helpful for this match. I really hope Dani Alves coming on to play left back is the end of the Kleber era.
What were your thoughts on Gilberto Silva and Luisao? I thought both played a sub par game.
Given their limitations, it was a decent match. But we know that there’s a lot of talent to replace them. And Dani Alves on the left sounds good. Like Juca Kfouri wrote the other day, one of our greatest left backs, Mr. Nilton Santos, had the right foot as the dominant one. Maybe we could emulate that decades later. or maybe we could try Marcelo and Fabio Aurelio.