The defensive shape right now is 4 in back - Militão on the right and Arana on the left. Casemiro in front of them and Paquetá in front of him with Jesus on the right and Martinelli on the left. Meanwhile Neymar alone up front and Richarlison trying to offer an outlet.
Bruno Guimarães for Paquetá. Fabinho for Casemiro. Only 5 mins to go. Let's get one more goal please. Japan trying to threaten though.
Alisson in trouble there. No possession for Brazil. The subs haven't really been able to stabilize the game at all.
No real possession after the subs. 1x0, final score. Good test. My impression is that the line-up against Korea might have fit this match better to start, but it's good that we tried this against a disciplined defense.
A Senegal friendly would have been great, but considering how poor the subs looked today and how off and on Neymar was, I understand the decision not to make another long trip just for one match. Most of these guys get three or four weeks off now, then pre-season in July. Next call-up will be in late August, for 2 matches in September and after that... World Cup call-up.
Arana was fine. Alex Sandro was indeed better, but he is the presumed starter anyways. Who would you take out for Richarlison? That is the big question here (usualkly phrased in a different way).
If my previous musings didn’t make it clear , I have little faith in this Neymar false 9 setup . The guys at JP in the 2nd half said they were disappointed at Vin Jr when he subbed off … I thought he was good in the first half . I don’t know what they were watching .
It is either Paqueta or Neymar and I said it before and I stand by it, it should be Neymar. Mind you I do not think Neymar was that bad today but I do think he needs a fire lit up his ass because his competition are more hungry than he is right now.
Should be. But it will be either Vin Jr. or Richarlison. The team up top today in Tite's mind is either the starting 11 vs SK or today vs Japan.
If Neymar continues to decline in the upcoming months and Vini Jr continues to shine - do you guys think that Tite will have the balls to take Neymar out of the starting eleven? Tite’s main philosophy for this world cup has been that he learned from 2018 that momentum is what matters for a short term tournament. I really hope he stickes to his words.
I'm inclined to say no. The only counterweight to my reasoning is that Tite has actually changed to the extent he'd be willing to make such a radical change given his own fidelity to his convictions may have cost us a semifinal spot in 2018.
Watching the highlights reinforces the impression it was a good test. Lots of shots created but not clear enough to argue it should have been anything more than 2x0. Japan can definitely beat Germany or Spain, or both, if they are on their game and those teams can't penetrate. It's easy to imagine Spain dominating possession but not threatening this Japan team at all unless Morata has a good day or their youngsters are in great scoring form. They will be underdogs, but solid. They also have to make sure not to slip up against Costa Rica/New Zealand but they should be favorites in that matchup. On our side most of the subs disappointed today. Too disjointed, unable to stabilize the match and hold possession in the closing minutes. The question mark is the same as ever. how do you fit Neymar + a left winger on this team since we don't want Neymar out on the left. Today it was the Neymar as false 9 and today it didn't really work but that was in some part due to Neymar slowing things down too much and making poor decisions. When he was on the end of the play he was dangerous (led to the chance off the post, led to the PK), but when he got the ball with acres of space in front of him he often made poor decisions. I suspect we'll see Neymar as false 9 once in September and a traditional 9 once as well.
Watching the 2nd half now ... Fred has gotten a lot better over time. Pretty impressed with his performance.
I agree with your hope about him really learning. However, I think it would still take something drastic to drop Neymar. In September I think it is much likelier we will see one match without a right-winger, meaning: Vini Jr., Richarlison, Neymar and Paquetá start together. Basically like the South Korea match but Paquetá takes the right-wing spot instead of left-wing. It would be nice to see Vini Jr, Raphinha and Richarlison, with Paquetá behind them for one match, with Neymar on the bench, or at least a second half like that.
There were a couple of very timely steals on his part that would otherwise have been open fields for Japan's offense.
As always, good analysis, Ombak. I had written earlier on that I consider Japan to be Asia's strongest national team, and while Japan lost, they gave Brazil a lot of difficulty by packing the midfield, although some of their players got a bit violent at times. If the Japanese bring a high level of tactical discipline without committing too many fouls and thus avoid yellows or reds, they can definitely give Germany and Spain difficulty. If Japan does reach the round of 16, it won't shock me. As for Brazil, I think your analysis on Neymar is spot-on.