Those were my big two takeaways. That spine of the team was a wall, even with Felipe Luiz getting caught in no mans land numerous times, I felt pretty comfortable befote the penalty in terms of Getting the win.
Paraguay is not very good. Their only real chance at a result was that strange, lucky penalty call. Robinho looked terrific again today. It would be nice to see Willian Neymar Robinho up front now when Neymar comes back.
Look at the players. I said it before the game that it may be Dunga's specialty tactic wise, but you need the human capital to make it work. Before he had Kaka' and Robinho (younger). With Neymar gone, there was nothing left in the counter attacking department.
Ta explicado http://www.gazetaesportiva.net/noti...res-com-virose-mas-maioria-diz-estar-bem.html "Não é desculpa e nem atenuante, mas 15 jogadores tiveram uma virose e tivemos que limitar os treinos. Esse era um jogo que exigia velocidade, e não conseguimos", disse. "Eles tinham muita dor de cabeça, nas costas, mal estar no corpo. Uns sentiram mais do que os outros. Tivemos que diminuir bastante a intensidade dos treinamentos para tentar recuperá-los. Alguns tiveram ânsia de vômito. Tivemos que atenuar os treinamentos", reforçou.
Man I can't believe we lost to Paraguay of all teams. I didn't think we'd win this Copa but I didn't think we'd go out so early. I am glad we won't participate in Confederations Cup though. That tournament gives every manager false hope. This way we'll go into WC18 battle hardened after the qualifiers. This sounds extreme but its time we clean house on multiple players who will be over 30 in 2018 or play in weak leagues. I'd rather gamble on Rafinha, Lucas Silva(hopefully getting loaned), Casemiro, Wendell, Alex Sandro, Wallace, etc be promoted and prepped for 2018 than the likes of Elias, Felipe Luis, Fernandinho taking up spots. It probably won't happen under Dunga tho. The idea that you need a squad filled with world class players is a myth but Dunga has taken this literal with the amount of scrubs on this team.
Take aways from this Copa Am. Players who should no longer be starters: Firmino David Luiz Felipe Luis Thiago Silva Coutinho Players who should start: Miranda Robinho Dani Alves Willian Neymar Captain: Miranda or Robinho The rest is still in question.
Douglas Costa was so good. Can't believe you guys still don't rate him just cause he plays for Shaktar.
Based on this tournament and looking ahead to qualifiers, I would keep Miranda and Willian as starters and I also add Alves to the team. From the injury list I would add Danilo, Luis Gustavo and Oscar. Everyone else left a bad taste in my mouth at one point or another. Some should be completely dropped from the NT permanently. Some should be bench players and some have to earn there spot again IMO.
Brazil played better football under Scolari. Until the match against Germany at the World Cup. His line up Julio César - D. Alves, DL, TS, Marcelo - Paulinho, Luiz Gustavo, Oscar - Hulk, Fred, Neymar wasn't bad, but the substitutes weren't good.
We played a bunch of long balls under Scolari. Dunga relied on the flanks and tried to build up play but it consistently broke down in the final 3rd. Neither was very appealing to watch. The only constant was the inability of the midfield to control the game and link the defense to the the attack.
Improvement over four years ago. At least we converted on some PKs, even though Douglas Costa pulled an Elano. Everton Ribeiro took the PK with "500 kilos de bosta" in his shorts.
First half Brasil played very well, second half once again was a disaster. Substitutions of Robinho and Willian IMO was a terrible mistake. Why take out the only two players that are making things happen? Why take out your leader Robinho? I am still very puzzled at the choice of penalty kickers. Robinho is one of the best PK kickers in Brasil, then you have Diego Tardeli. We need to relax - this is a rebuilding process, and champion teams are made from a base which we have. The team responded well without Neymar, but it is still clear that Neymar is still desperately needed. No doubt Dunga will continue as our coach, as long as we have a good showing in the WC qualifiers. Now it's on the WC qualifiers and I am confident we will do well.
We fared worse in 2011 with a better roster. Maicon, Dani were sill in their 20s, JC was there, Lucio was there, Neymar was very young but at least he got to play all 4 matches. Still we exited the tournament with 1 win and 3 draws.
It's tough to judge the team only by results. For example, in 2011 we completely outplayed Paraguay from beginning to end and should have won. Even if we take the CA winning teams of 2004 and 2007, they struggled a lot ... in 2004 we needed to PK shootouts (SF and F) and were completely outplayed by Argentina in the Finals. Granted, it was our B team at the time. In 2007 our group phase form was absolutely terrible and again we needed a miracle PK shootout vs Uruguay to get to the Final where we hacked the shit out of Argentina.