Brazil v Venezuela preview

Having started a World Cup qualifying campaign with defeat for the first time ever, the expectation on Brazil to take 3 points against Venezuela in Fortaleza tonight is significantly increased. First and foremost, the Seleção are in need of points. Argentina’s shock 2-0 home defeat to Ecuador last week reduces some of the pressure on […]
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sambafoot_admin
2015-10-13 18:19:00

Having started a World Cup qualifying campaign with defeat for the first time ever, the expectation on Brazil to take 3 points against Venezuela in Fortaleza tonight is significantly increased. First and foremost, the Seleção are in need of points.

Argentina’s shock 2-0 home defeat to Ecuador last week reduces some of the pressure on Brazil, but a home match against Venezuela should be viewed as a likely three points in a notoriously competitive qualifying group, which acts more like a continental league.

There is also the pressure of playing in front of an expectant home crowd, a rare burden for this Brazil side, who have spent much of the last three years playing outside of the country. A distance has grown between the supporters and the team, which has been exacerbated by a decline in the quality of the squad. The notorious 7-1 defeat to Germany at the 2014 World Cup was briefly considered to carry a flicker of consolation. It was hoped that the seismic result would drive the change the country’s football so desperately needs. The swift resolution to reappoint Dunga as head coach killed off these nascent bonds of optimism.

Brazil were booed during both of their pre Copa América warm up friendlies in São Paulo and Porto Allegre in June. Keeping the crowd entertained has featured heavily in the pre-match rhetoric. Hulk spoke explicitly about getting the supporters onside , whilst Dunga, a usually surly man that concerns himself little with the idea of entertaining the masses remarked, “Football is about joy for Brazilians, we’ll try to give them that tomorrow.” The message is clear, to win is not sufficient, to win with a flourish is a minimum expectation.

Dunga is a functional coach, deprived of his star forward in Neymar; it will be interesting to observe his attempts to deliver a result in style. Reports already suggest that the manager will make changes in an attempt to inject greater flair into the side. Lucas Lima and Lucas Moura look set to replace Oscar and Willian. In Ricardo Oliveira and Hulk, Dunga has two strikers that are in the target man mould, so any attempt to achieve a more fluid style will depend on the supporting cast.  In his dissection of Thursday’s defeat to Chile, Dunga lamented, “Chile’s defence were exposed on several counter attacks. We missed easy chances with bad control or a misplaced pass.”

In this respect, Oscar was a repeat offender and the decision to replace him with the in form Lucas Lima seems a logical one. On the right, PSG’s Lucas Moura has a slightly more eye catching style than the industrious Willian, though the Chelsea man would be very unfortunate to lose his place in the team. The entire material of this Brazil team is imagined around the image of Neymar. The coaching staff rarely takes the opportunity to experiment with contingency plans. So it stands to reason that Dunga is scratching around for solutions without his captain. That said, Dunga only had 2 training sessions with the team prior to the Chile match, giving him little time to embed a different solution. Chile coach Sampaoli gambled on the fitness of Alexis Sánchez and Arturo Vidal largely because he also did not have time to reimagine his team without them.

With a few more days of training and a competitive match behind them, the bonds of this Brazil side should be slightly stronger. The Seleção have defeated Venezuela 19 times in their 23 meetings, though their Copa América encounter back in June was a little close for Dunga’s comfort. He famously finished the match with 6 defenders on the pitch as Venezuela pushed for a late equaliser. A similar display of caution in Fortaleza will do little to please the natives, for whom success will be measured by the size and the style of the victory.

Predicted Line-Up: 1.JEFFERSON, 15.DANI ALVES, 3,MIRANDA (c), 13.MARQUINHOS, 16.FILIPE LUIS, 17.LUIZ GUSTAVO, 8.ELIAS, 20.LUCAS LIMA, 22.LUCAS MOURA, 7.DOUGLAS COSTA, 21.HULK.