Maybe, but I'm sure our defense at their best can hold Ronaldo and Adriano. Great players, but not magicians. And Ronaldihno is a magician.
Attack Roque Junior and Lucio straight up the middle. Put pressure on them with fast forwards. They're not even the 10th best central defensive combo in this tournament. Clearly Brazil's Achilles' heel. They would have a very difficult time with a Rooney, Drogba, Henry, etc. running straight at them. I don't know that anyone in the group has strikers of this caliber, however.
Play defensively, taking long shots whenever the opportunity arises. Brazil's defence sucks, and their Goalkeeper isn't that great. If you have expert shot-takers (Ballack, Lampard, Gerrard...) you'd probably end up scoring a couple. Unfortunately, Brazil once again ends up with the easiest group. (Damn you, Pele.)
You don't follow Brasil a lot do you? Dida is regarded by many as one of the top 5 goalkeepers in the world, and other than him we have 3 or 4 excellent keepers Long range shots is not a concern, if anything our defense gets troubled with aerial game
oh why if it isn't my Japanese friend.... who won the last game between Japan - Croatia??? refresh my memory haha
K, name some other than Dida. While Dida is decent I don't regard him as one of the top 5. I feel any keeper can be beat with a good enough long-range piledriver.
He isn't as good as Mark Schwarzer....The last time Brasil met Australia he let a pretty bland headder go through from Shaun Murphy....(SHAUN MURPHY!!! )
Haha you aussies are funny Sure, sure, Schwarzer is world class, Dida is not Perhaps that's why Boro has the 2nd worst defense in the EPL this season So Dida is not as good because he let in a header (assumedly the weakness of any Brazilian defence) in a meaningless 3rd place playoff in a meaningless Confederations Cup 4 years ago? Doing great in that World Cup playoff (aka rejects match) doesn't make Schwarzer top class overnight
Huh dead? He's been starting regularly for Inter in Serie A http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/gamelog?id=39748&cc=3888
schwarzer has let in some really crappy goals this season in the EPL. happens to all keepers. i think he's an above average keeper, like dida.
He was trying to be funny by making the connection between Julio and Julius mistakenly. Julius Cesar. Ring any bells? Anyways, Long shots would still work, as long as you had someone like Lampard or Gerrard behind them.
Well had he said 2000 years I would have had a better clue....guess you can't count on historic accuracy for BS posters
ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK. Attack-minded teams like Brazil hate to be attacked. Most of Brazil's goals come from inside of 10 meters when they play. Why? Because they put so much pressure on opposing teams that they are able to move their buildup all the way into the goal box. The key is not to let them attack you at will. The only other hope is that they miss easy opportunities and/or the goalie has the game of his life (See Brazil-USA 1997 and Kasey Keller.) Look at some of the high-stakes losses Brazil suffered in WC. They usually ran into a team that put them under pressure. Brazil aren't designed to defend for extended periods of time.
And where does Julius Caesar (who's been dead for way over than 500 years btw) equate to this thread subject?
I don't understand why peolple are scared of Brasil? They are only soap bubble of team! They do not have decent player except Ronaldino, Kaka and maybe Adriano! Their defense looks more like Swisse cheese than a powerfull defense! I mean look for example at Croatian defense line it's much stronger then Brasilian one, and in todays football game is base on strong and compact defense. Entire Brasilian defense is made of players who were substitutes of Robert Kovac, Boris Zivkovic, Zvonimir Soldo, Jo Simunic in Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern, Stuttgart or Herta. Let us move on: Wings: Cafu and Roberto Carlos : How old are they? something like 100 years in together. Croatia in the other hand have two pearls of european football Dario Srna and Marko Babic!! And attack Ronaldo - Fat pig, he was at his best 6-7 years back, he is now a veteran! Adriano is OK, but it is not accidental that he is named of Croatian See (Adria) So people we should not be affraid of that soap bubble!!!!
And that's why Brasil are current World Cup, Copa América and Confederations Cup holders, and Croatia are what again...? People who say Brasil are just an average team because of our average defense obviously don't follow international football enough - our game is based on attack, why should we care if our defense is not top notch? Actually, I should have just stopped reading your post when you said Brasil are just Ronaldinho, Kaka and Adriano
My wife is Brazilian and I follow the selecao a lot. It seems that everyone on this discussion believes Brasil to be unbeatable, and that simply is NOT true. There weakness, I believe, is their impetual lack of team-minded play. Even the great Pele has said this. Brasil is known for great attackers, but not great team-oriented selecao. I have seen Brasil blow teams like Mexico away one year, and lose in the next. They are not unbeatable. IN fact, they have not managed to blow the U.S. away in 8 years (10 games). Brasil during qualifiers tied against some very mediocre South American teams. I have a lot of love and respect for Brasil as a nation and a team. But they are not untouchable. If a team's strategy can successfully keep Brasil's star-minded players off balance for a long-enough an upset can occur. Though I am cheering for Brasil in the WC (as long as they don't play the US), I don't think everyone should be striving to pick up the leftovers from Brasil. THIS attitude will result in loss, not striving to beat Brasil. To want to be second to Brasil is mediocre. To strive to beat them and end up second is NOT. They are a phenomenal team.
everybody knows that you are the biggest dreamer here but i do agree with you on one thing that brasil is very overrated
Brasilians should know better not to overestimete the Seleção or underestimate the opposition, for that matter. Simply because 1950 and 1982 (my generation) haunt us forever.. Of course, there will always be those cocky youngsters who haven't been through that yet. 2006 could be their lesson.We'll see...
They may not be team oriented, but the difference between Brazil and other teams is the amount of stars on their team. I like to bring up the Turkey-Brazil semifinal on BS. That was the best I've ever seen a team play Brazil. Turkey scared the crap out of me and I felt they could have easily won. The difference between these 2 teams in a very tight match was Ronaldo...who showed up for about 5 minutes and scored the game's only goal. And that's where Brazil has an edge over many teams. An individual flash of brilliance. And they have many of players who are capable of this. Many other defenses can focus on only one player, but when you play Brazil, things change. Brazil is obviously beatable...and Brazil lives and dies by these stars of theirs. The games they lose are usually the ones where these players simply dont show up. I also think Brazil dont really give it their all in some of these qualifiers and the Confederation Cup. Many teams dont in the South American qualifying dont because it isnt particularly contested, at least for Brazil and Argentina. But yeah, as a Brazilian, I'm very weary of Mexico (because we can lose to them 1-0 and beat them 4-0 in a year's span)...Paraguay, and Italy. Defense defense defense.