Pre-match: AMISTOSO: Rússia X Brasil, 23 de Março de 2018

Discussion in 'Brazil' started by Century's Best, Mar 12, 2018.

  1. Century's Best

    Century's Best Member+

    Jul 29, 2003
    USA
    #1 Century's Best, Mar 12, 2018
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2018
    [​IMG] vs. [​IMG]


    Location: Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Russian Federation

    [​IMG]

    Brazil roster:
    Goleiros

    Alisson (Roma)
    Neto (Valencia)
    Ederson (Manchester City)


    Laterais

    Daniel Alves (PSG)
    Fagner (Corinthians)
    Marcelo (Real Madrid)
    Filipe Luís (Juventus)


    Zagueiros
    Miranda (Inter de Milão)
    Marquinhos (PSG)
    Thiago Silva (PSG)
    Pedro Geromel (Grêmio)
    Rodrigo Caio (São Paulo)


    Meias
    Casemiro (Real Madrid)
    Fernandinho (Manchester City)
    Fred (Shaktar Donetsk)
    Paulinho (Barcelona)
    Renato Augusto (Beijing Guoan)
    Talisca (Besitkas)
    Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona)
    Willian (Chelsea)

    Atacantes
    Douglas Costa (Juventus)
    Taison (Shakhtar Donetsk)
    Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City)
    Roberto Firmino (Liverpool)
    William José (Real Sociedad)


    The Brazilian National Team starts its 2018 season with a mixture of urgency, excitement, and pressure as it visits the host country of this year's World Cup. With the tournament on June 17th, Tite's Brazil will have an interesting (if not necessarily the most demanding) exam as it squares off against the hosts Russia.

    If in Wembley, Brazil visited one of the most historic stadiums in the history of football, by visiting Luzhniki, Brazil will visit a different type of history. It was here that the Soviet Union hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics - a sporting event marred by politics and boycotts (Brazil did not boycott). And whereas 38 years ago a drab and archaic stadium greeted visiting delegations, it will be a modern and reformed stadium - with the largest seating capacity in Russia and one of Europe's largest at 81k - that will receive Brazil.

    Unlike its men's ice hockey counterpart, which just won Olympic gold in PyeongChang and which remained competitive in the post-Soviet era (annual IIHF World Championship: gold in 1993, no medals until silver in 2002, with 11 podium appearances in 16 tournaments and 4 of them being gold), the Russian men's national soccer team has failed to live up to the high standards set by its Soviet predecessor. Whereas the old USSR, other than 1974 and 1978, was a team to be reckoned with in the World Cup, reaching usually the quarterfinals early in the Cold War and tapering off in more recent editions, the Russian side has never made it out of the group stage after the breakup of the Soviet Union. In fact, Russia failed to advance out of the group stage in last year's Confederations Cup - on home ground.

    In the European Championship, older Russian fans are likely to be nostalgic for the Soviet era as well. The USSR won the inaugural tournament in 1960, won second place 3 times and 4th place once. Russia in contrast has again failed to get out of the group stage, with the notable exception of 2008, where the Russians advanced to the semifinals (where they were defeated by Spain, the eventual champion - this was the first of Spain's triple crown of 2008, 2010, and 2012).

    Olympic soccer is again another area where Russia underperforms vs. the USSR. The latter won Olympic gold in 1956 and in 1988 (to the chagrin of Brazilians, who were up 1-0 thanks to Romário before the Soviets scored two). The former in contrast has never participated in Olympic soccer.

    As hosts, Russia were exempted from qualification, but it was nonetheless busy in 2017. It played a total of 11 matches, with 3 wins, 4 draws, and 4 losses. Russia's best result in 2017 was probably a 3-3 draw with Spain on home ground - likewise at home, the Russians drew with Chile (1-1), Belgium (3-3), and Iran (1-1). The Russian's couldn't handle Portugal (0-1) in the Confederations Cup, and they barely lost to a lackluster Argentina by the same scoreline.

    I personally expect Russia to outperform South Africa in 2010. The latter did not make it out of the group stage, but with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Uruguay as opponents, the hosts should be able to finish at least in 2nd place. But these expectations will be affected by however well the Russians perform against Brazil.

    With a few months having elapsed since the goalless draw vs. England, Brazil is ranked 2nd by FIFA as of mid-February 2018, and manager Tite has already begun to finalize the roster which he will take to this same country in the summer. Mainstays from the Tite era - Alisson, Daniel Alves, Marquinhos, Miranda, Marcelo, Casemiro, Renato Augusto, Paulinho, Coutinho, Neymar, Firmino, Thiago Silva, Fernandinho, Gabriel Jesus, and Willian - have been publicly declared as guaranteed in the final 23.

    I personally believe Brazil will win, and while most if not all of Brazil's players are acclimated to European winters and therefore not likely to be negatively impacted by the Russian temperatures, my perspective now other than fine-tuning the team further is to avoid injuries. With only a few months to go before the World Cup, every precaution is necessary.

    With Neymar out for several weeks due to a foot injury, Tite will have an opportunity and the obligation to test formations which will lose none of the competitiveness and efficacy Brazil has shown with Neymar during the Tite era. In the 8 years since Neymar has been on the national team, Brazil has had him on the field in 83 matches and won 56 - a winning percentage of 67%. Without Neymar, Brazil has played 20 matches and won 13 (65%). Under Tite, Brazil has a 75% winning percentage in matches without Neymar - albeit in a far smaller number of games (4 matches, 3 win, 1 loss).

    Manager Stanislav Cherchesov opted not to select naturalized Russian citizens Mário Fernandes and Guilherme, who were born in Brazil. The former plays at CSKA and suffered a muscle injury. The latter was part of Russia's roster in the 2016 European Championship and in the 2017 Confederations Cup, but has lately been ignored by Cherchesov.

    The following is Russia's roster:


    Goleiros:
    Igor Akinfeev, Vladimir Gabulov, Andrei Lunev e Alexander Selikhov.

    Defensores:
    Vladimir Granat, Fedor Kudryashov, Yuri Zhirkov, Igor Smolnikov, Vladislav Ignatiev, Dmitry Kombarov, Ilya Kutepov, Roman Neustetter, Konstantin Raush e Andrey Semenov.

    Meias:
    Denis Glushakov, Roman Zobnin, Alexander Samedov, Alexander Golovin, Alan Dzagoev, Alexander Erokhin, Daler Kuzyaev, Anton Miranchuk, Denis Cheryshev e Anton Shvet.

    Atacantes:
    Anton Zabolotny, Alexander Kokorin, Alexei Miranchuk e Fedor Smolov.

    Brazil head-to-head vs. Russia:

    6/20/1994: 2-0, Romário, Raí (World Cup)
    8/28/1996: 2-2, Donizete, Ronaldo (friendly)
    11/18/1998: 5-1, Élber, Amoroso, Rivaldo, Marcos Assunção, Oleg Kornaukhov, Amoroso (friendly)
    3/1/2006: 1-0, Ronaldo (friendly)
    3/23/2013: 1-1, Viktor Fayzulin, Fred (friendly)


    Brazil head-to-head vs. the Soviet Union:

    6/15/1958: 2-0, Vavá, Vavá (World Cup)
    7/4/1965: 3-0, Pelé, Flávio, Pelé (friendly)
    11/21/1965: 2-2, Gérson, Pelé, Anatoliy Banishevskiy, Slava Metreveli (friendly)
    6/21/1973: 1-0, Jairzinho (friendly)
    12/1/1976: 2-0, Falcão, Zico (friendly)
    6/15/1980: 1-2, Nunes, Fedor Cherenkov, Serhiy Andreev (friendly)
    6/14/1982: 2-1, Andriy Bal, Sócrates, Éder (World Cup)
     
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  2. leonidas

    leonidas Moderator
    Staff Member

    Palmeiras
    Brazil
    May 25, 2005
    NYC
    Club:
    Palmeiras Sao Paulo
    Would've liked to have seen Malcom over Taison. No Luan or Artur.

    Talisca is supposedly looking decent in Turkey.

    Happy William José got a look.
     
  3. Century's Best

    Century's Best Member+

    Jul 29, 2003
    USA
    I am a fan of both Luan and Arthur and envy Grêmio fans that they rather than my São Paulo have had them on their team. But as for the latter, he got injured and he is still on the way back. I can see Tite having excluded him in preference of testing "safer" options who have not bee injured.
     
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  4. Kaka10725

    Kaka10725 Member+

    Jun 1, 2007
    Arthur just came back from injury so it could be the reason to leave him off. Surprised to see Fred, Talisca and Willian Jose. Not a bad list overall definitely Malcom over Taison.
     
  5. leonidas

    leonidas Moderator
    Staff Member

    Palmeiras
    Brazil
    May 25, 2005
    NYC
    Club:
    Palmeiras Sao Paulo
    Willian Jose has been scoring goals regularly for the past 2 seasons in Spain. Long overdue, in my opinion. He may play on a smaller club, but it is still La Liga.
     
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  6. Estuardo A. Lopez

    Jul 9, 2014
    Club:
    AC Milan
    I get Fred from Shaktar, he's a great player.
    Taison, Talisca, and William Jose? This has to be some type of joke. None of these guys are anywhere near world class. When you have Luan, a player that is killing it for Gremio (my favorite club!). He scored yesterday, no?
    Sometimes I don't understand Brazilian coaches, even the great ones like Tite and Parreira. Remember 1994? Parreira actually selected Muller to be a backup for Romario and Bebeto. F*cked up, OK. I mean Muller should never use that name, it is actually a generational insult for that f*cker to use Muller ever if it was in honor to Der Bomber.
     
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  7. Century's Best

    Century's Best Member+

    Jul 29, 2003
    USA
    While this match and the match vs. Germany are friendlies whose purpose is to grant Tite the opportunity to test players, Neymar's absence is likely to be a blessing in disguise. I'm not even referring to him returning in May refreshed for the World Cup; rather, I point to the need for the team to know how to play well without him. He was injured in 2014 - none of us wishes for that to be repeated in World Cup play, but it is not an impossibility.
     
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  8. Kaka10725

    Kaka10725 Member+

    Jun 1, 2007
    Tite mention needing another striker with different dynamics than Firmino and Jesus. This is a excellent callup IMO. Scolari made the mistake of taking the exact same style of strikers leaving us with no flexibility.
     
  9. omajac

    omajac Member+

    Feb 9, 2002
    East Orange, New Jersey, USA
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    Sad picks!! Boy if this was the team we was taking to the World Cup(cutting 2) we would wound up just like we did in WC'90!!:cry:
     
  10. leonidas

    leonidas Moderator
    Staff Member

    Palmeiras
    Brazil
    May 25, 2005
    NYC
    Club:
    Palmeiras Sao Paulo
    Yeah, he is more of a target man and has a decent aerial presence. He's had a great season this year.

    Agreed about Scolari -- a bit silly to have Jo and Fred who are similar.
     
  11. celito

    celito Moderator
    Staff Member

    Palmeiras
    Brazil
    Feb 28, 2005
    USA
    Club:
    Palmeiras Sao Paulo
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    So Tite kept saying he didn't have time to try out a new goalie when asked about Vanderlei from Santos last year and now he calls up Neto who had never been called up by him ... :whistling:
     
  12. celito

    celito Moderator
    Staff Member

    Palmeiras
    Brazil
    Feb 28, 2005
    USA
    Club:
    Palmeiras Sao Paulo
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    Talisca ... that's a joke of a call up. Even a coming back from injury Arthur would be a better experiment. Luan is blah IMO.
     
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  13. Kaka10725

    Kaka10725 Member+

    Jun 1, 2007
    I take Luan over Talisca. I don’t think Talisca is NT material at the moment but I actually don’t mind that callup.
     
  14. omajac

    omajac Member+

    Feb 9, 2002
    East Orange, New Jersey, USA
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    Well one thing that continues with the coaches.....no one likes Lucas Moura!! :sick:
     
  15. celito

    celito Moderator
    Staff Member

    Palmeiras
    Brazil
    Feb 28, 2005
    USA
    Club:
    Palmeiras Sao Paulo
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    I don't see the big deal with Luan. For me he is a good Brasileirao player. Few times I have seen him play I was not really sold.
     
  16. omajac

    omajac Member+

    Feb 9, 2002
    East Orange, New Jersey, USA
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    The same could be said about Taison!! He's almost reminds me of the call ups Vagner Love used to get in the Dunga 1.0 stint!! Maybe Willian Jose might be the Afonso Alves!!:x3:
     
  17. omajac

    omajac Member+

    Feb 9, 2002
    East Orange, New Jersey, USA
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    I still have a soft spot in my heart for Weverton!! Go ahead @Kaka10725 roll your eyes!! Hahaha:p
     
  18. Century's Best

    Century's Best Member+

    Jul 29, 2003
    USA
    Filipe Luís (Atlético Madrid), originally selected by Tite, suffered a leg fracture on March 16 and he will not only miss the rest of UEFA's current season but is now a highly likely absence in Russia. In his place, Tite called Alex Sandro from Juventus, but Alex Sandro himself fell to injury (muscle, not bone).

    Tite has now capped Ismaily from Shakhtar Donetsk.
     
  19. celito

    celito Moderator
    Staff Member

    Palmeiras
    Brazil
    Feb 28, 2005
    USA
    Club:
    Palmeiras Sao Paulo
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    Never heard of the guy :ROFLMAO:
     
  20. Estuardo A. Lopez

    Jul 9, 2014
    Club:
    AC Milan
    I don't wish ill on anyone, but the Filipe Luis injury, while horrible, is for the best for Brazil.
    The natural replacement Alex Sandro, a player I believe is way better than Luis. It's too bad AS is also injured and hopefully it's not a long-term injury and he'll be at Russia 2018.
    Marcelo and Alex Sandro are a cracking pair of left-backs and Brazil will be extremely well protected on that side.
     
  21. omajac

    omajac Member+

    Feb 9, 2002
    East Orange, New Jersey, USA
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    It reminds me of the left back situation we had at WC'10 when we took a attacking midfielder in Michel Bastos and made him a left back!!
     
  22. Gio-13

    Gio-13 Member

    Aug 26, 2007
    watching skywalkers
    Club:
    FC Shakhtar Donetsk
    Good for Ismaily, despite Ukraine has nearly given him Ukr nationality. This UCL he thrashed Napoli, Roma and ManCity defence and Tite witnessed it live.
    I'm telling you, he really reached the top level now. While it's hard to make it to the spot with Marcelo, AS, LF and I will not claim he'll make many call-ups, I think your left spot is pretty much secured.
     
  23. Century's Best

    Century's Best Member+

    Jul 29, 2003
    USA
    Thanks for the insight. Ismaily is one of those Brazilian players who gets out of Brazil very young and quietly builds a solid if not very flashy career in foreign leagues. If Tite watched him live and if he and his assistants decided he was worth a shot, he has to be at least somewhat reliable. We will definitely watch how he does vs. Russia and Germany.
     
  24. celito

    celito Moderator
    Staff Member

    Palmeiras
    Brazil
    Feb 28, 2005
    USA
    Club:
    Palmeiras Sao Paulo
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    Ukraine would still be able to snatch him after this friendly if they choose to do so (and convince him).
     
  25. omajac

    omajac Member+

    Feb 9, 2002
    East Orange, New Jersey, USA
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    Fred has been awarded the no. 10 shirt!! WTF?? Over Coutinho, Firmino, or the great Paulinho!! SMMFH!!:rolleyes::confused:
     

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