The fact that they did not is clearly in no small part down to Justo Villar, Paraguay’s captain and keeper, who produced an inspired performance on those occasions when the resilient defence in front of him was breached. And when Villar was beaten, a defender appeared on the line to clear the ball away.
As soon as I arrived at the stadium before the game I understood that I had been wrong with my prediction that there would be plenty of goals. There was a key difference between Sunday’s 0-0 draw and the 2-2 between the same sides the previous Saturday. Both were played on sub-standard pitches. But the Cordoba field is much bigger than La Plata’s tight little ground. It is no co-incidence that the four games played so far in La Plata have produced just three goals. There is no space on the field.
On Sunday it worked both ways. Unlike the first match, Paraguay were unable to find the room to slip their left winger Estigarribia behind Brazil’s right back. But clearly Mano Menezes’ team suffered most. They took the initiative in the game, had the bulk of the possession, but could not turn it into goals.
Nevertheless, I honestly believe that the performance, especially in the 90 minutes of normal time, was better than the one against Ecuador the previous Wednesday, when Brazil won 4-2. Then they had the wide open spaces of Cordoba and an opponent with serous problems defending in its own penalty area. For much of that match Brazil’s passing was horribly laboured – some moments of individual magic and some poor Ecuador defending gave the scoreline a gloss that did not properly represent the collective display.
What was impressive against Paraguay was the way that the team pressed to win possession – either high or after retreating to the half way line. Winning the ball and breaking quickly, Brazil’s counter-attack remains one of the most impressive weapons in world football.
The problem is, though, that the counter-attack will not be enough to win the 2014 World Cup. O home ground Brazil will inevitably come up against defensive rivals who will not allow them the opportunity to unleash their favourite weapon.
This was the scenario that Mano Menezes inherited when he took over a year ago. “We have to learn how to overcome opponents who lay defensively,” said Mano at the time. “We get frustrated, but the opposition have every right to play that way.”
A year on, it is interesting to see how much progress his team have made in this respect – because there is a simple, undeniable truth about this Copa America. More important than anything that happens in the tournament is how it prepares teams for the battles to come – which for everyone else means the World Cup qualifiers, but for Brazil means the 2014 tournament itself.
And what seems clear at the moment is that Brazil are still very much a team in transition. There is a central idea – to play more through the midfield, hence the replacement of Gilberto Silva by Lucas Leiva. The most disappointing element is that this switch has yet to render the necessary results. Lucas has not turned himself into the ‘owner’ of the team, dominating possession, mixing up short and long passes, dictating the rhythm and making life easier for the attacking talents in front of him. This is a key function. But the way that Brazilian football has developed over recent decades, with its concentration on attacking full backs and the counter attack, means that players who can interpret this role are very hard to find.
As for Ramires, his type of game will never appeal to the purists. But there is value in his dynamism. Two of the goals Brazil scored in the tournament started with him breaking the line by running at the opposition and committing their midfielders. His shuttle runs into the penalty area might also prove more threatening if Brazil’s passing was better.
Which brings us to playmaker Paulo Henrique Ganso, the big hope for 2014. Watching him in his first senior tournament was fascinating, and should have served as invaluable experience in the development of a very promising player.
But this is the word – promise. Not reality. The hype machine of the Brazilian media can go into overdrive in its attempts to build up new heroes, and the danger lies in the prospect of the player believing his own publicity. There have been signs that Ganso has a tendency to fall into this trap – most notably his angry reaction to not being included in last year’s World Cup squad, something he had done nothing to deserve and which, it now stands clear, would have been ludicrously premature – though not quite as premature as claims made in Brazil over a year ago that he was the best in the world in his position.
He is languidly elegant, with the ability to play the killer pass – but the evidence of Argentina 2011 is that he has yet to understand when to try it. In all positions, but especially in his, to play well is to choose well, and Ganso chose badly, giving the ball away too often in his failure to realise that there are times when playing the killer ball needs patience. Like a chess master who sees the moves way in advance, Ganso has to learn that there are times when the killer ball takes preparation, fooling the defence into thinking he will pass one way and then switching the other.
His task would be easier with a creative partner around him. In flashes some of Brazil’s best football in the Copa came in the first half against Paraguay when Ganso and Jadson combined to good effect. It looked like a promising partnership, but Jadson was taken off at half time – it seemed to save him from a red card – and mysteriously was not seen again in the competition. For some unfathomable reason, Menezes reverted to Robinho for both remaining games.
I have great respect for Brazil’s coach, but I find some of his options baffling. The Jadson-Robinho choice was one, another is his continued inability to act on the clear evidence that has piled up over the last year – that his team functions better with a target man striker. Still, it is lessons like this, well digested, which can pave the way to triumph in 2014, when it really matters.
