Well, hell, it is Brazil…
If you thought after Brazil’s embarrassing Copa America opening loss to Mexico that you were witnessing a Brazil side that was at far less than full strength and would put up a poor defense of their championship from three years ago, then what happened on July 15th quickly put that notion to rest. Even when not at their best, the national side from Brazil – hell, any national side from Brazil – is always – ALWAYS – going to be considered a serious contender in any tournament or competition they enter, regardless of significance.
From start to almost finish nobody was playing better than Argentina. From their first fixture through their semi-final matchup with a surprisingly in-form Mexico – themselves not at full strength but nonetheless arguably the most in-form they had ever been – Argentina crushed everybody they played and were clearly hitting on all cylinders. Anybody who witnessed them play – and at the same time witnessed Brazil sputter out of the gates and sleepwalk through the group stage – had to believe that this time Argentina were going to steamroll through this tournament. Their defense was suffocating, their tempo and pace was spot on, and their attack was as sublime and mesmerizing as any ever – and they were scoring goals at an obscene rate. It was hard to imagine them losing…
…But for some unfathomable reason over the last 17 years, Brazil can get into their heads. Argentina had gotten behind twice in this tournament before the final, and both times they got off the schneid, righted themselves and proceeded to overrun their opponents. Against Brazil, however, they got behind quickly – and proceeded to panic. Julio Baptiste, who had not really contributed anything going forward the entire tournament, got on the end of a long pass by Elano – who himself had not had any impact to speak of all month long – and caught the Argentine keeper out of position with a long strike from 20 yards.
From that moment on Argentina got away from all the things that had worked for them until then. The free-flowing movement off-the-ball? Gone. The sublime one-touch passing? Gone. The flair on the wings? Non-existent. The coordination going forward? Vanished. The organization and closing down in the back? Gone. The creative link-up between the midfield and the forward attack? Evaporated? This confluence of non-events was all the more exacerbated by Roberto Ayala’s own-goal in the 40th minute. By then Argentina had no chance: Brazil had stolen momentum and control and no amount of changing tactics and personnel was going to change that.
If there was ever an opportunity for Argentina to finally take out their neighbors to the east, this was it. Dunga, Brazil’s inexperienced coach, had spent the last year since the national sides unceremonious elimination in the quarterfinal stage of the World Cup attempting to instill a continental-inspired backbone and hardness into the melodious samba that is “The Beautiful Game”, with little success.
You could see in the intervening months how Brazil was trying to close down opposition players all over the pitch, constantly man-mark players as far upfield as the offensive end, and institute hard tackling and close physical play. Dunga brought in new physically imposing players on defense who were not afraid to take people on, a trait that had been lacking in Brazil’s backline even when they won the World Cup for the fifth time in 2002.
Getting this new generation of Brazilian players to buy into it – especially when you consider that it went against the decidedly Brazilian instinct to be imaginatively creative – was like pulling teeth. And after Brazil was being out-played creatively by Mexico, it looked like Dunga’s days – no, hours – were numbered. But a funny thing happened on the way to unemployment: Dunga’s side finally began click. By the time Argentina came around in the final, Brazil was closing down opponents and physically taking possession before the opposition got to the backline. It worked so well that Argentina had run into a Brazilian side they had not seen before: A side that was getting up in their grill and not giving them the space to create anything while systematically making even attacking Argentinean players have to track back to deal with the Brazilian counterattack.
Nothing better exemplified this new Brazilian tactics than the final goal scored in the 69th minute, when Gilberto Silva dispossessed Pablo Aimer near the half-touch line and quickly countered with a pass to a streaking Vagner Love through the middle, who then drew both central defenders to him when he split them both with a perfect pass to Daniel Alves on the right, who beat the offside trap and easily put the ball past Argentine keeper Roberto Abbondanzieri for the final nail in the coffin.
I don’t know if this new continental defense is going to stick with Brazil, or if Dunga is going to last long enough to make it work over the long haul, especially when you consider that it isn’t beautiful and the Brazilian populace is about looking good while you win. But it was a ruthlessly efficient performance for Brazil and another bitter pill for Argentina in a long line of bitter pills shoved down their throats by their rivals…
…But, hell, this is Brazil.
– daveydoug