Portugal 0-0 Brazil: two solid defences, and little creativity
The starting line-ups
A quiet game with both sides content to take a point – Brazil are the winners of the group, Portugal are the runners-up – but which, if either, will face Spain?
Brazil’s side saw three changes, all in the attacking band of three behind Luis Fabiano. Elano (injured), Kaka (suspended) and Robinho (rested) were out, with Dani Alves, Julio Baptista and Nilmar in.
Portugal played a defensive 4-1-4-1 shape, with Cristiano Ronaldo has the lone striker. Duda and Danny tended to swap sides, with Fabio Coentrao staying at full-back, Pepe replacing Pedro Mendes in the holding role, and Ricardo Costa in at right-back.
Carlos Queiroz knew that the best way to stop Brazil attacking was to play deep, rarely push men forward, and prevent Brazil from counter-attacking at speed. The two wide players played very defensive roles, looking to track the Brazilian full-backs, and were rarely able to get up to support Ronaldo.
The most interesting battle was down Portugal’s left, Brazil’s right, where we effectively had four full-backs spread down the flank, as Duda spent most of his time on the left. Dani Alves played very centrally – probably more so than Elano or Ramires when they’re in the side, as both drift from inside to outside. Alves was a lot more direct and had numerous long-range efforts, with his central position allowing Maicon forward on the overlap.
Full-backs vital
It was Maicon that provided Brazil’s brighter moments, often with fairly unBrazilian crosses into the box. The best example of this was when Fabiano nodded Maicon’s centre just wide of the far post before half-time, but Maicon was stretching the play well throughout.
It’s a good example of why attacking full-backs are so important that Portugal’s full-backs on that side, Coentrao, was the biggest threat going the other way. His driving runs took him into great positions in the final third, although more often than not he only had Ronaldo to aim for in the centre.
Portugal defended very deep, and very narrow. Here, their four defenders are within 15 metres of each other in the centre of the pitch, with the five midfielders sat ahead
On the opposite side, Nilmar had a very disappointing game and tended to end up far too central – Robinho, to whom Nilmar is the understudy to, takes up much wider positions, up against the right-back – whereas Nilmar was often in confrontation with Ricardo Carvalho. Ricardo Costa was under instructions not to get forward, whilst Danny doesn’t look suited to a wide role.
Ronaldo runs the channels
Cristiano Ronaldo will probably be described as an isolated striker who moped around the pitch and shot from ridiculous angles (Cristiano Ronaldo in ‘Being Cristiano Ronaldo shocker’) – but actually, he did quite well. Of course he was often on his own, because Portugal’s gameplan was defensive – hence their midfielders sat solidly in front of the back four. But if you could leave any player in the world in an ‘isolated’ position with four players to get past, you might choose Ronaldo – he barely ran when Brazil had the ball, but he conserved his energy for some lightning quick bursts into the channels and caused Juan and Lucio real problems.
Twice he came close to breaking the deadlock. In the first half, his movement and run in behind Juan completely caught out the Roma defender, who was forced to handball above head height to prevent Ronaldo being one-on-one with Julio Cesar. He was extremely fortunate not to be sent off.
In the second half, Ronaldo’s direct running on the ball, his pace and his persistence got him past four Brazil defenders, and the ball ended up at the feet of Raul Meireles, making a late break into the box, who should have scored. His free-kicks were utterly useless all game, but Ronaldo actually played his lone striker role rather well.
Portugal more dangerous on counter
Indeed, with both sides looking to play on the counter-attack, but Brazil having the advantage in terms of territory, Portugal were the bigger threat throughout. They probably needed one more creative player on the pitch to really make Brazil suffer – and Queiroz tried throwing Simao Sabrosa on for Duda, but he didnt influence the game at all, and his most notable impact was to let Maicon go free a couple of times – rather justifying Queiroz’s decision to field the more defensive-minded Duda in the first place.
Portugal's defence was excellent. The defence shifted well across the pitch when the ball was wide, always having two lines of cover.
Brazil created little. Portugal pressured Gilberto and Melo when they received forward passes, but let them have the ball when it was passed backwards towards them. Neither ever looked to get into the final third, and so Portugal generally had 7 v 4 when Brazil’s attacks started to develop, and 9 v 6 when the Brazilian full-backs joined in. This is the kind of situation where you can understand the Brazilian public’s frustration with two holding midfielders, but then Brazil didn’t need to win the game, so they never really had any incentive to push forward.
Brazil disjointed upfront, Portugal resilient at back
In truth, Brazil lacked their coherence in the final third because their three creative players were all back-ups rather than first choices. Brazil play well when the Kaka-Robinho-Fabiano triangle links up, because those three have such a good understanding together, having been played in the same roles for so long and so consistently under Dunga. They can manage without one of Kaka and Robinho, but probably not without both. Alves provides great running in the right-midfield position, but the direct play that looks so attractive from right-back looks rather rushed and naive further forward, hence why Dunga has been reluctant to field both Alves and Maicon in the same team.
Portugal defended brilliantly. Three clean sheets in the tournament, and 22 in their last 26 games. Their positional awareness was fantastic, always with a man covering, always with bodies behind the ball, always with three men around a player in dangerous positions. The ‘double cover’ tactics (above) when Brazil played the ball wide (and they always did, as Baptista was invisible) were particularly impressive. The nearest-full-back comes towards the ball, the two defenders on the far side hold the defensive line, the centre-back between those two and the advanced full-back takes up a position halfway between. Hence, if the first full-back is beaten, the first centre-back covers. If he is beaten, the second centre-back covers. Basic on paper, tricky in practice against a side with such great movement. Carvalho and Bruno Alves have been two of the best players in the tournament so far.
Conclusion
Not one for the neutral wanting a goalfest, but two finely crafted, intelligent teams getting the result they wanted.
Brazil will play better when Kaka and Robinho return – this game was not taken lightly (not under Dunga) but was not played at 100%, with the second round match only four days away. There were two causes for concern, however – Melo typically got himself booked and was then removed by Dunga before the referee did it for him. Juan was poor both positionally, and on the ball – almost giving away a last minute goal to Danny by trying to control a cross into the box. It’s highly unlikely they’ll be replaced, but it adds weight to the theory that attacking the left side of Brazil’s defence is the best way of scoring against them.
Portugal can be pleased with their performance so far. Queiroz is often frustrating tactically, but he’s played the last two matches very well – Portugal are certainly better without Deco. The problem for Queiroz is that he’s used so many different players, he’s probably slightly unsure of how to proceed. In the three games so far we’ve seen three right-backs (Paulo Ferreira, Miguel, Ricardo Costa), three left-wingers (Danny, Ronaldo, Duda) and three strikers (Liedson, Hugo Almeida, Ronaldo) starting. Only four outfield players have started all three games in the same position, and 19 of the 20 outfield players have been used. His real challenge beguns now.
Portugal 0-0 Brazil: two solid defences, and little creativity
Can you read too much into a game in which boths sides wanted a draw?
Why not? Tactics are designed to achieve an intended result, not sure it matters too much what the intended result is.
True, but their prospects in this tournament are not enlightened by their performance in this match.. But sure, still interesting!
Ivory Coast never deserved qualification (they played dirty against Brasil) and north korea, well they just suffered too many goals
without Eriksson’s (or Drogba’s??) risky tactics IC had a big chance to draw against Brazil too and go through to the next round …. but they gave it away when they tried to beat Brazil…..
Completely biased comment. Is it a way of justifying a pact signed by Brazil and Portugal during the theatrical spectacle this afternoon?
Regarding CIV, you would also be frustrated when you lost the chance to draw because of a double handball of Brazilian striker. Bad referee always denies all the effort you have put into preparing tactics.
I really can’t understand Portugal in this game. If they win, they win the group and don’t play Spain in the next round. If they lose, they get the same fate as if they had tied. So, why play for a tie? The competitive spirit of some of these countries is lacking or distorted. Algeria, for example, playing for a tie when they had to win and now Portugal, with nothing to lose, playing as if their life depended on a point.
Nothing to lose? Côte d’Ivoire could still catch up, furthermore Spain was still second in the group at that time.
CIV were never going to put 5 or6 past DPR.
Sorry but I don’t agree with you. Both Portugal and Brazil played for a draw because a win here was useless.
For Brazil, both a win or a draw secured 1st place.
For Portugal, it wouldn’t matter to win and secure top spot once it was unpredictable if Spain would be 1st, 2nd or if it wouldn’t even qualify at all.
Besides, this was more of a damage control match for the Portuguese. It was important not to loose players via injury or suspension, it was important to rest some players and, most of all, it was important not to loose to keep the high confidence and good run of form coming from the match against Korea.
If for a few cms more of space to Raúl Meireles, Portugal would have won.
For Portugal it was vital not to lose. It was also important to give Pepe a match, and maybe for group spirit give some players a chance to play. Defense can win titles, and I am glad to see that this new set up of defense was up to the job of holding Brazil.
Avoiding Spain, well, we will know for sure how wise that is on Tuesday night, but at the moment Spain is honestly, shaky, very shaky, there was no way to be sure if they would really top the group. Also consider one thing, if Portugal goes past Spain ( on Cape Town, big historical-mythic location for Portugal, and the place of the 7-0) they would meet Japan-Paraguay in the quarters. Chile-Brasil will meet Holland-Slovakia, though admittedly the winner of that will have the survivor of that so easy other quadrant in the semi.
Portugal´s recent historical record with Spain is rather good. I know everybody is hyping Spain to the heavens, but maybe they are not better than Portugal. If they are better than Portugal they are just a little bit better, not as much better as all odds makers and reporters seem to think.
You wrote, “It’s highly unlikely they’ll be replaced, but it adds weight to the theory that attacking the left side of Brazil’s defence is the best way of scoring against them.”
Do you think the left leaning Kaka-Fabiano-Robinho triangle helps to insulate the left side of defense from pressure? Certainly it would make one think twice about getting too many players forward on that side. Coincidence or design?
Interesting point!
I definitely noticed that the formation today was almost an inversion of the weight on the other flanks in the group matches. Would have liked to see Grafite start with Fabiano, he seemed to give the Fullbacks more to think about towards the end of the match. Didn’t it seem that the lack of Robinho was far more of a problem than the lack of Kaka? Maybe it was a part of way that Portugal wasn’t closing space until Nilmar got the ball.
Would pushing those players left leave more room on the right for Maicon, who is a much more dangerous player than Bastos as far as I can see?
If only a draw would have meant that one team would have been knocked out – such a great game to watch now with Spain vs Chile – could have been same for Portugal vs Brazil.
Definitely the best match I am watching in the group stages…
Did you watch Denmark – Cameroon? The last fifteen minutes of SP-CH were painfull. Den – Cam were playing till the very end…
Nopes. Just saw the highlights.
As for Spain vs Chile yes end was awful, but atleast they gave it a good 75 mins.
Must just say it was impressive to watch a side with one man down to continue pressing with so much effort. Aside of USA, saw no other team with a similar effort fighting against knock out (well maybe Denmark). And that with one man less and against SPAIN…
@ZM
For the second yellow -> red, I just saw you retweeting that .gif – we had a really good slow-mo on TV that clearly showed that the knee touched Torres and lead to him falling. You can hardly see this in the animated gif, due to camera angle, though freeze framing the .gif you can see the incident pretty well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urs_Meier (Excellent former international ref turned TV pundit) analyzed it as a ‘concession’ red. Stating the referee messed up by not sending him off for the foul before. (After the first yellow he had a hard tackle but didn’t book him).
I think Bielsa should have swapped him out after that second foul though easy to say now.
Torres did die like a swan though
I must disagree. It was all too lopsided, slapdash and congested before the contest-neutering red card. Yet again though, Spain seem more timid and less swashbuckling than perceived.
But each to his own. I have fond recollections of the tournament opener, as well as Denmark-Cameroon, and for pure unpredictability reasons, Chile-Switzerland!
Brazil are far weaker with Alves in midfield. Everything he does is obvious, or momentum-stifling. He gets infield, carries it sideways to the right, and lets the opposition midfield drop and cover.
Indeed, it wasn’t a game played at 100%. When both sides realized that attacking like crazy would backfire, they just knocked the ball around, with Portugal being dangerous on counter-attacks. The 1st half was all brazilian, with good chances for LF and Nilmar.
I disagree with Nilmar having such a bad game. Sure, it wasn’t great either, but he did try to move, but he just isn’t the same player Robinho is: Robinho likes to start wide and drift inside or all-around with the ball; Nilmar is a more direct player, he likes to run towards goal, not to the sides, and had a good chance by moving inside the area. On 2nd half he vanished, just like everybody else in Brazil. Alves didn’t had the game we expected (he should link up more with Maicon) and Baptista was dreadful, really awful.
Other thing that people didn’t notice: Elano is a big loss. Not as much as Robinho or Kaká, but he is a key player in this team too.
I’m positive that having Elano, Kaká and Robinho back, Brazil will again play the football we’re used too.
I also get the feeling that if it had been a better attack in the middle for Brazil that this would have opened a bit more space for Ronaldo, Meireles and Coentrao to run riot. The addition of much more offensive minded players would have open much more space on the counter for Portugal which is where, like Brazil, they will cause the most damage.
I’d also add that teams with strong defensive coverage and fast counters like Portugal and Brazil are Spain’s worst nightmare in the whole WC.
One of the dreariest Brazil games I’ve seen in many years. It is now clear how much they rely on Kaka and Robinho for creative options upfront, and we all know that the former isn’t at full strength. So far I haven’t been able to decide whether this Brazil side is extremely competent (albeit in the Dunga mode), or really quite ordinary. It may be clearer now. Even allowing for their decision to ‘rest’ players and not to push for anything other than a draw, there was nothing in this match that gave one hope that Brazil could move up a gear and turn on the style and quality when it counts. Their cynicism (admittedly matched by that of the Portuguese), has always been a sign in the past that the Brazilians know that things aren’t quite right, which suggests that there may not be much more to come in terms of charm and joy, which is what we’ve all appreciated in the better Brazilian teams of the past. What a pity…
ZM, why do you write Nilmar takes Robinho role and not as striker? Coz I think he was really placed on striker position along with Fab.
Brazil fielded a team without a man to pull the strings, simple as that. That man can be either Robinho or Káka, but they need one. One that is confident and skilful enough to take on defenders, one that can set up the unexpected decisive play any time. The band is tuned, they just need the man of the solos.
Brazil were way to pushed to their right. If they had Robinho on the left Ricardo Costa would have broken his spinal, he simply hasn’t got the quality to be in that squad (you didn’t referred his awful first half) and so he made too many mistakes. Aye, we didn’t had to win the game… but what’s wrong with trying? Not fielding Miguel was a mistake in my opinion. He didn’t had to be a starter, but looking at the blatant asymmetry of the brazilian squad, an attacking right back would have been an good option to push Brazil back.
According to Tostao, in his column in one of Brazil’s newspapers, Queiroz would have done better to have fielded another centre forward, who would have allowed Ronaldo to take on Bastos on Brazil’s left. He agrees with ZM that this is Brazil’s weak point, and further suggests that the way to beat Brazil is to mark Melo and Gilberto Silva tightly, as well as attacking down Brazil’s left. Will this happen against Holland, if they meet in the quarter finals?