More thoughts on Brazil

This Brazilian team looked really dangerous. It's filled with creative players, who will take all the chances they get. On top of that, they're in sync.

Their first goal against Uruguay for example, was classic. Wingback Maicon and right midfielder Julio Baptista switched place, with Robinho dropping back to provide lateral support. Maicon went down the middle while Robinho sending the ball down to Baptista on the right wing. Baptista then crossed it into the box with 3 other brazilian inside and Robinho rushing towards it...

One of Dunga's primary weapon seemed to be the set plays. He had carefully designed this rushing tactic. There are alot of HUGE people on the Brazilian team. Maicon, Alex, Alex Silva, Gilberto Silva, Gilberto, Naldo, Afonso.... And Dunga's set piece tactic extremely effectively utilized all these size and height advantages. They lineup shoulder to shoulder, and rush into a tight line in front of the goal after the service. It's like a huge pingpong pedal with one end touching the far post. Without big defenders it looked almost impossible to stop them from scoring... We'll need luck, but more importantly we need to NOT GIVE OUT SET PLAYS.

Doni is a terrific keeper. He will stop any shot that's not taken carefully. We need to get good position before striking, so possession will be the key to winning this battle.

Brazil's weak link is its defense. Especially defending balls played on the ground. Their defenders are all tall, so not very agile at the same time. And their big movements on defensive plays could draw themselves fouls and cards. Dunga used 2 holding midfielders and a winger that's good with tackles to assist their defense and still allowed 2 goals from Uruguay. This Brazilian backline looked really shaky.

So, our opponent is a team with an offense that focuses on producing runs and long through balls. It also finishes very well on set pieces. Their defense on the other hand is less effective, and 3 of their midfielders need to help them out.

Like in this earlier analysis, I think 4-2-3-1 would be the ideal option against Brazil. 2 Midfielders would increase the depth of our defense, allow better restriction over their forwards. It'll also free up our fullbacks from shouldering too much center defensive duties. Allowing them to concentrate on shutting down the wings. Also, Veron played mostly at a defensive position. Why don't we just use another DM? Or even dropping Veron permanently to parallel with Mascherano... But ref will watch Veron if he plays DM, and Gago is probably more reliable.

4-3-1-2 would obviously add more offense to the team, but I don't see why it would be necessary. We played hard for 25 minutes (20'-45') against Mexico, created 4 chances and scored a goal. The Brazilian defense isn't nearly as proficient as the Mexican one. 3 offensive players and Riquelme should be able to open them up from the get go. Our priority should be minimizing losses instead of opening the floodgate. They have the big Jesus in Rio De Janeiro, we have to maintain control of our own fate.