It was Brazil's first competitive home defeat in 64 matches and more than 38 years. The last time they were defeated at home was in 1975 Copa America semi-final: 3-1 for Peru. That game also was played in Belo Horizonte. A city that Seleçao's fans would happy to erase from the map of their country.
Absences. Can you imagine a worse way to approach a semifinal than losing your two best players? Everybody knew that Neymar was the only hope to win the World Cup for Brazil. Losing Neymar means losing not simply a huge talent nor just a leader, but also a key tactical weapon. We'll explain this aspect in the following point. Julio Cesar and David Luiz showing Neymar's jersey during the national anthem was a sign of weakness: after a week talking about the number 10, they showed to be still obsessed by that lack. Zuniga's foul was regrettable, but the truth is that these kind of things happen in football. Germany's coach Joachim Low couldn't call Marco Reus (who is considered the most talented German attacking player) and Ilkay Gündoğan, an astonishingly complete midfielder due to their injuries. We never saw any German player crying everyday for that. But we must admit that bad luck plagued Brazil, as the Seleçao lost their captain and defensive leader: Thiago Silva, who was suspended. His leadership not only appeared clearly at the end of the match, when his team-mates looked for him to find consolation, but inside the match as well, as Brazil's defence was totally thrashed by German players. David Luiz wasn't enough. Actually, he was part of the problem in a nightmarish night.
Scolari's hubris. Apart from the talent and the goalscoring threat, Barcelona's ace Neymar gives depth to his squad, allowing his team-mates to attack the opposite third and to cut inside. Unfortunately, he could not take part to the most important game of his career, and that was a shame. However, Scolari refused to deploy a three-men midfield. He refused to modify Brazil's tactical setting and he brought such credo to the limit, replacing Neymar with Bernard, who barely plays in the starting eleven of Shakhtar Donetsk. Germany chose to specifically attack Brazil's left side, where Bernard, Marcelo and Fernandinho were nullified and ridiculed by the opposite trio Lahm-Khedira-Muller. If Loew's side decided to convey 53% of the attacks on their right side (left side and central way were exploited for a 24% only) the reason is quite clear. They knew they would create superiority on the right. And that happened. But it would be unfair to explain Brazil's collapse with their inadequacy on the left only, as it was the entire Seleçao's midfield to be totally overpowered. The 4-2-3-1 was a more-than-expected suicide: everybody knew – before the match – that German players were better passers (3576 passes against Brazil's 2470) and more precise passers (82% vs 73% of accuracy). Scolari said to his players that he was going to take the entire responsibily for this epic fail. Sure, he is a culprit, but winning the World Cup with this team would have been an impossible task for anyone. Yes, even for Van Gaal.
Pumped up expectations. Let's say the truth: media have a huge responsibility for the humiliation and the powerlessness Brazilian people are experiencing in these dramatic hours. Ok, a 7-1 is ignominious but before this match, people were persuaded that the Seleçao would win the World Cup hands down. The epilogue of the competition was obvious, almost self-evident: Brazil would raise the sixth trophy. Why? “Because they are Brazil, because they host the World Cup”. Oh, ok. Has anyone among these optimists put Brazil under X-rays? Apart from Thiago Silva, David Luiz and Neymar the team lacks talent, especially in the midfield and in attack, where Barcelona's number 10 has never had a decent support neither from Fred nor from Oscar (who played a beautiful debut game, then faded out like a candle in the wind) and Hulk. Sure, Dani Alves and Maicon were amazing full-backs in the past, but unfortunately some years have passed. The holding midfielders, Luiz Gustavo and Paulinho, were clearly out of form (although we still believe that they are overvalued footballers). Overall, Brazil has never impressed in the 2014 World Cup: they struggled with Croatia in the debut game, the same with Mexico, then they won an easy game with Cameroon (the worst side of this World Cup without any doubt) and beat Chile in the penalty shoot-outs. Only in the quarter-final match against Colombia Scolari's side made a good impression, with pace, aggressiveness and offensive presence. Is it all Scolari's fault? Of course not: this is Brazil. There are no unheeded prodigies, no talent who watched the World Cup on his sofa at home. Now, the ones who pumped up this mediocre team will have to say the truth to the people: “Our apologies: we only wanted to increase audiences and sell more newspaper copies”.
The host team is always favoured. This is an old and prehistoric cliché. In the last 30 years, only France managed to win the World Cup at home. Sure, home factor has an influence, but technical values' weight is greater. Fortunately, FIFA has changed in the last decades and it not as submissive as it used to be, when home countries could count on more or less shameless favours. After the penalty kick generously conceded by Nishimura in the debut game against Croatia, Brazil was treated fairly. The ref of the semifinal, the Mexican Rodriguez Moreno, was stainless. He's the same referee of Italy vs Uruguay, when some Italian journalists tried to blame him for sending off Marchisio only to justify the Azzurri's smallness. With the wisdom of hindsight, playing the World Cup at home was a double-edged sword for Brazil, which proved to be unable to bear the pressure of an entire country. Finally, they were crushed by expectations.
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Wednesday, July 9 th, 2014
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