Brazil's defense is more attentive in this half. This was right after a arremesso lateral by Russia. Notice the number of blue unifroms and how they're all lined up.
The last time I saw Brazil score off a header with such poor defending by the opposing team was when Luisão headed the ball into the net without a single zagueiro near him to start what ended as a 3-1 win by Brazil in Argentina in 2009.
Ow, Brasil is taking a serious downgrade here... Coutinho and Willian off for Fred and Taison... 3-0 lead helps deal with that I guess...
And there you have it. You can only beat the team in front of you. The next friendlies will be more indicative of what Brasil can do with no Neymar. Those defensive mistakes though... teams like Germany will make Brasil pay if they don't tighten that up... Looking at you D.Alves <-<
I am not particularly impressed . Some of the guys were very good.... the problem areas still remain a major headache ( dani alves is one of them ). Gabriel Jesus looked a tad sluggish. Russia, with good finishers should have pulled back at least one.
I took this game for what it is as an opportunity for Tite to see what works and things that need improving on. - Coutinho in midfield made us more creative in midfield and better offensively IMO but it look more vulnerable on the counter IMO. Probably gonna need a bit of disipline versus the better opposition. -Alves is a concern obviously. His age has been showing for a while now. It seems very likely Tite will back him up with either Danilo or Fagner which is a downgrade even to an out of form declining Alves. -Casemiro, Silva and Miranda were excellent and it’s very good we have a strong base defensively and it pretty interchangeable with Marquinhos.
Saw the highlights. I see Paulinho missed 2 absolute sitters. His problem is that he is stiff as a board. He doesn't have too much ability in turning his body quickly on those 1 time shots and make quick adjustments.
I agree - he is older, so his ability to turn, etc is diminished. However, he has a "sixth sense" of being positioned in a strategic location where he can touch the ball into the net. He has a good vision of where to go as the team builds an attack towards the goal. That is how he gets a lot of goals for Barcelona...
I saw a sports program yesterday that showed his runs into the box in the scoring chances he had and it's was quite ridiculous marking from the Russians to be honest. The goal he scored there was a defender right there who just didn't care to put a body on him. It's no magic really, he just runs into the box.