It would have been dramatic and ugly, and possibly could have failed, but statistically, in that situation, it was much more likely to work. Nobody is saying park the bus right away. It wasn't wrong to try some attacks in the 2nd half of extra time. But they needed to be balanced attacks. And there was no justification to have 7 players in the offensive half and allow a 4v4 counter. Neymar's golaço, which could have crowned our campaign, along with Richardson's in the opener and oitavas, will be forgotten. Nice curiosities in a meaningless effort that was squandered by carelessness and tactical naivete.
In another forum I post before the match (redcafe), that Brazil could lose the midfield. I think the quartet of Neymar, Raphina, Rycharlison and Vini Jr is very offensive. And it gives a lot of space in the midfield. I would have put one between Fred, Bruno Guimaraes or even Fabinho in Raphinha's place. It could work if Neymar was in great shape, like Mpabbe. During the game, my fear was confirmed. Tite did not make the correction. Still could have won because Brazil created more chances. But i would never have taken vini jr off the team.
Yeah. But we only ended up conceding when Fred was in the game. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We lost the midfield in the 1st half but we were pretty good in the 2nd.
True, but I think Neymar, Vini Jr and Richarlyson would play better with three behind. Anyway, we'll never know.
i was shocked when the camera panned back and there was 4x4 in our defensive field. Was not expecting such a naive mistake in such a critical moment from a team and a coach playing their second WC.
Hi again everyone, Some of you guys might remember my name on this forum site as I use to post a lot here over 10 years ago. I still lurk on here once in a while during World Cup period. I'm now 26 years olds - non Brazilian but I've been a passionate Brazil NT supporter since a young kid. I really thought 2022 was going to be the year Brazil lift the cup. I was too young during 2002 WC, and just want to see Brazil win at least once in my life. The 2014 knock out and what happened today against Croatia shocked me, very hard to watch. Brazil always have that high expectation to win, the pressure is on them. In this modern game all teams know how to play and anything can happen its hard to predict, The game is quicker, more tactical, less space. Neymar's goal in extra time was good to see, it was world class!, I thought semi-finals here they go. Brazil should have parked the bus or at least had the defence line solid until the whistle. When Croatia hit back with a goal I had a feeling Brazil were not going to do well in penalty shoot-out. So much pressure on a young player going up first, I think Neymar should of went up and relieved the pressure off the team. It will be interesting to see what 2026 brings for Brazil. Neymar will be in his mid 30s hopefully he can keep in good form. Good luck and hopefully 2026 can be the year.
And to top it off, one of the 4 wasn't even marking Petkovic who received the cross livre with space pra bater. At 115 mins, up 1-0, we should have been defending with duas linhas de quatro. No minimo. There's no excuse.
God was definitely on our side in this tournament. Due to a combination of unlikely results we got the easiest QF and R16 bracket ever , both on paper in actuality (as much as I like Croatia as a team and as a country they didn't do jack shit today). God even gave us Argentina in the semis , so we didn't even have to get over our recent "can't beat any of the big guys from Europe" complex. But as Mob boss and devout Christian Michael Franzese likes to say, God doesn't tell you to be stupid. We squandered the easiest railroad to the semis in history.
Damn I've been in the house all day depressed about the loss. I just can't believe we lost on penalties!!!!
I think that World Cup squad was a mistake - just 8 defenders ( with Dani Alves ) are not enough and 9 forward players are too much.
100% agree with this. Remember 2002 where Felipao replaced Juninho Paulista with Kleberson after the round of 16 match against Belgium? Tite wasn’t willing to make a similar adjustment
Bye bye guys. Will join you guys in 2026 to hopefully witness Brazil win the world Cup Next copa I will turn 50. Want to see Brazil win at least 1 WC in my lifetime.
I was shouting at the TV when they were doing that and soon enough the defence was outnumbered and the goal conceded. Marquinhos with a deflected goal and a PK miss (unfortunate for him). Why Gabriel Jesus? He was in spectacular form at club level.
O NEYMAR E O TITE TINHAM PEDIDO! 😔🥺🇧🇷 O estagiário não vai superar tão cedo! Faltavam 4 minutos... que tristeza! #TNTSportsNoQatar pic.twitter.com/dJNGhucKjb— TNT Sports BR (@TNTSportsBR) December 10, 2022 Uma análise de cabeça fria:Quem errou no gol do Brasil? Qual foi o lance capital?Lá no @geglobo, mostramos toda a sequência de posse que originou o gol de empate na Croácia, bem no fim da prorrogação. https://t.co/fRKwi4EH9h— Leonardo Miranda (@leoffmiranda) December 10, 2022
Looking at this picture actually upsets me even more. Absolutely unforgivable. Seven players in attack with 4 minutes to play. This is more egregious then 1982 when they conceded a goal with all 11 players in the box. Like I already said about Fred, enough of these type of midfielders on the NT.
How is Fred even that far up? Dude is practically off sides and he's supposed to be helping out Casemiro in the midfield? You know, I used to think the same about guys like Vampeta in the 90s and 00s teams, but Vampeta was never that undisciplined.
Simple he failed the last world cup and this one was the same thing and even though I rooted for him to redeem himself and to score for Brazil.
In hindsight, Tite should of brought in Fabinho instead of Fred. It is ridiculous how far Fred is up this pitch. I don't like the positioning of Casemiro as well. None of the other players tracked back. Just an all around mess.
I've been away from this forum for many years ... I think everyone should re-watch how Brasil conceded that equalizer. It started from a Danilo's throw-in. He aimed at Pedro but the throw was intercepted by Modric, who then passed by the ball to Lovren. Pedro immediately applied pressure on Lovren, forcing him to pass the ball to Gvardiol. Fred forced Gavrdiol to rush his pass, the ball then deflected off Fred to Pedro. That was great work done by Pedro and Fred, who won possession back for Brasil in Croatian half. What should Pedro do with the ball then? Go to the corner flag! I think that was his intention, and that was why he tried to play the ball to Fred. If Fred could control the ball, he could bring the ball towards the corner flag. But Gvardiol made an excellent sliding tackle, the ball then rolled towards the byline and Lovren was first to the ball. What should Fred do now? Retreat or pressure Lovren. He chose to pressure Lovren, which ultimately was the wrong decision. But I must emphasize that, that was in fact a sensible decision. Fred's pressure meant that Lovren could only made a clearance rather than pass the ball. When I was watching the game live, I expected Lovren's clearance to go out of touch, so that Brasil would get a throw-in in the opponents' half. If that happened, everyone Brazil fan would be applauding Fred. But somehow the clearance stayed in touch and found the head of Perisic. Perisic headed the ball forward, and Danilo was there to head to ball towards Croatia's penalty area. The ball then fell to Majer who gave the ball to Modric. Casemiro should have conducted a tactical foul, but he was on a yellow card ... the rest was history. What I want to express is that, the players had little intention to attack. Fred was up there not because he wanted to create or score a goal. But his decision ultimately led to a disaster becasue of Gavrdiol's excellent tackle, Lovren's clearance that somehow stayed in touch, and Casemiro's yellow card (which I thought was very very harsh). Maybe he should have retreated rather than pressuring Lovren. But if Brasil conceded when everyone was back in their own half (like through a high ball in the area), it's likely that people would also blame players for sitting too deep. Football is a cruel sport. The decisions made by Pedro and Fred, under that situation, were sensible decisions. If they did not try to go to the corner flag, what should they do? Of course, they should aim to maintain possession in the midfield area. But Brasil just do not have the players to control possession confidently in the midfield area. Remember, even in the Copa America final in 2019, Brasil struggled to keep possession when up 2-1 in the second half against Peru. This is Brasil's weakness and also the main reason why while Brasil are one of the favourites for the title, they are not the overwhelming favorite. When you don't have a midfield that can control the tempo of the game, the influence of luck and randomness increases. With the decline of Arthur Melo, Brasil do not have have a top-class deep-lying playmaker. And Tite designed a system that let the attacking players flourish at the expense of having a proper midfield (you can blame him for that, but there's a trade-off he had to make). We can also blame Tite for not bringing one more defensive player on for Neymar/Anthony/Rodrygo ( I do think that that counter-attack PERHAPS could have been prevented if Neymar or Rodrygo stood in a more central position when the two teams were contesting possession). But the narrative that Brasil went out to attack in the second half of extra time, despite its popularity, is simply incorrect.