Chapter 132: Atypical Five-Star Brazil
Dunga's Brazil team, from the day it was formed, has been controversial, especially after Brazil was bloodied by Argentina at the Olympics, Dunga's criticism was almost at its peak. But who knows, two years later, Dunga is on the verge of winning the World Cup with a strong, almost unbeatable Brazil team.
After returning home from Beijing with defeat and shame, Dunga continued his coaching journey almost in a relentless manner.
In the midst of media skepticism, Dunga chose to fight back with results, and coincidentally, Dunga's first South American World Cup qualifier after his Olympic journey was against Chile, where Dunga's Brazil team eventually beat their opponents 3-0 on the road.
Perhaps it was the role played by the players that played a role, Dunga's Brazilian team has always put defense as the first priority, and this practical style of play has made every team that attacks in front of them get only a heavy defeat.
Facing Chile as an opponent, Dunga can be said to have an absolute psychological advantage, because since Dunga became the head coach of the Brazilian team, he has led the team to meet the Chilean team five times, and the Brazilian team won all five games, and scored at least three goals in each game.
Before the game, Dunga said very confidently at the press conference: "The final winner will definitely be Brazil, there is no doubt about it, and we are now looking forward to the next match!" ”
Obviously, Chile was not taken into account by Dunga at all, although Bielsa was unconvinced by 10,000 points, but in the end the score of this game was once again fixed at 3:0, an atypical five-star Brazil easily defeated Chile and advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Cup.
Chilean coach Bielsa, known as the "madman", tried to wrestle with the Brazilians with his usual offensive style of play in this game, and the Chilean team put on a big offensive posture at the beginning, and the first five five minutes once made the opponent sad for half time, and in the first fifteen minutes of the game, Chile was also in the lead in possession, and it looked like they were the side with the upper hand.
However, after carrying Chile's three-board axe, the terrible aspects of the Brazilian team began to show, and the front trident of Kaka, Robinho and Fabiano gradually played interspersed with each other, and Chile gave them a lot of space and finally paid the price.
Kaka's header broke the deadlock and Brazil didn't give their opponents a chance, and the game went into their favourite and best counter-attacking route, Kaka's second goal came from Robinho's counter-attack with the ball, Kaka's hat-trick in the final moments was the result of Ramirez's long drive, and once Chile pressed up, leaving space in the midfield, the Brazilian was at ease in the opponent's vital areas.
Dunga's Brazilian team is extremely practical, they can shrink intensively when defending, do not give opponents gaps to exploit, quickly spread out when counterattacking, and advance from defense to attack at a very fast pace.
Chile's offense can't penetrate Brazil's defense, and in turn, it's easy for Brazil to counterattack.
Facts have proved that all the teams that are not convinced by Brazil's popular name and try to suppress the Brazilians with their attacks have suffered a painful defeat, and the Ivory Coast in the group stage has been bloodied, and now Chile, which insists on the 3313 strong offensive formation, has also lost all its money, and 4 of the 6 goals conceded by the two teams were scored by Brazil using the space pressed by the opponent to launch a fast attack.
An atypical Brazil team, no longer flashy in attack, but stronger and more fearful, and now it is estimated that no one will point fingers at Dunga's transformation.
Brazil are indeed strong, but there are also teams that can make it difficult for Brazil to play, and that is the teams that put on a bucket formation and are willing to defend to the death, Portugal in the group stage was an example, and Queiroz's team put themselves in a defensive first posture and allowed Brazil to score very few goals.
After the game, a number of Brazilian players said that it is rare to see such a team dedicated to defense in the World Cup, and the words reveal a meaning: I hope that the opponent in the future can attack, and the game is better to play more openly.
Look at the characteristics of the Brazilian midfielders, they are all suitable for fast attack and counterattack, Elano, Fabiano is the best at insertion, Kaka is also the type that needs open space to play, only Robinho is good at making a fuss in crowded places, if you encounter a team that is willing to defend and good at defending, these attackers in Brazil may expose the general defects of attacking ability.
With the strength of the North Korean team, no matter how much they defend, it is impossible to stop Brazil, but once those teams with extremely strong strength themselves adopt such a strategy, the Brazilians will be in more trouble.
Among the traditional powerhouses that are still alive, Belgium, Spain, Argentina, Germany and the Netherlands are considered to be the most likely to take on Brazil, and among them, there is such a persistent and good team to defend against the counter-attack, which is the same atypical Netherlands today.
Spain is perhaps Brazil's favourite opponent in terms of genre, and the Matadors' usual style of play is to keep the ball at their feet and compress the opponent into a half-court siege, and Dunga's Brazilian team is best at giving the opponent a quick and lethal blow in this compressed situation.
Argentina is also characterized by a strong attack, but the combination of the overall system and defensive ability are average, in the South American qualifiers, Brazil played a classic anti-counter battle away from Buenos Aires, and finally defeated Argentina 3:1, Maradona slammed the Brazilians after the game only defends, but there is not much way to take the opponent.
The situation of the German team is similar to that of Argentina, they are very sharp in their attacking interspersed with running and attacking, and they are good at exploiting the space left behind the opponent's pressing, but once the Brazilians shrink up to play, the Germans, who are not technically superior, may not get as many chances as they did against England.
Finally, Belgium has eliminated Brazil in the World Cup in Germany, but now this Belgium is very different from the beginning, more talented players have emerged, so that Belgium no longer has to live with a defensive counterattack, and now Belgium is more balanced in attack and defense, and most importantly, Belgium has a Degan who makes all Brazilians hate and gnash their teeth.
Among these five strong teams, Brazil may feel the most awkward opponent is the Netherlands, this year's Orange Shirt team pays more attention to defense and overall than in previous editions, and is good at playing boring battles with opponents, defeating Denmark in the first game and winning Japan in the second game, the Dutchman's game is a road, and the opponent is more patient in the stalemate, to see who makes mistakes first, and finally the Dane's own goal and the Japanese goalkeeper's mistake ruined the game. The Netherlands were regarded by public opinion as the most "ugly" and conservative team in years, but they won their first four games in the team's World Cup history, with Van Marwijk's side having a relatively tight overall defense and individual genius like Arjen Robben.
Brazil vs. Netherlands in the quarter-finals will face the first real tough test since the start of the World Cup, and people may see a big clash of anti-counter-tactics, like two Mourinho commanding two Inter Milan teams, competing who is more patient.
After a disappointing season, Kaka ushered in a big explosion in South Africa, and in this game, people finally saw the impression of the big stride forward and broke through with the ball and was brave again.
After the game, Kaka also said excitedly: "What I am looking forward to most now is to be able to meet Rod again, my younger brother, on the stage of the World Cup!" We had agreed to compete again in South Africa! ”
After the Brazilian team's game, Digan also called Kaka to congratulate him as soon as possible, and if the two brothers want to meet in the World Cup, they will have to wait at least until the final.
Originally, in the previous life, Kaka did not score in the World Cup in South Africa, but now everything has changed, Kaka actually completed a hat-trick against Chile, and Digan believes that Kaka, who is in great form, has the ability to lead this stronger Brazilian team to the final.
If all goes well, for the first time in the history of the World Cup, there will be a brotherly matchup.
It's still a long way off, but Deegan is excited just thinking about it now.
Kaka was also very excited, for the knockout round, he was able to save his strength in the group stage, and was sent off in the game with Ivory Coast, although Kaka was a little regretful, but it just allowed Kaka to get time to rest.
So there was the big explosion of today's game, the hat-trick, Kaka's first hat-trick in the World Cup.
Kaka's state is very good, which is absolutely good news for Brazil, but want to meet Belgium, the Brazilian team is still facing a lot of difficulties, after the three-goal clean pick off Chile, which is also from South America, although the five-star Brazil continues to soar, but the midfielder Ramires got another yellow card, will miss the next game with the Netherlands, and Kaka, who has just finished the red card ban, also got a yellow card in this game, once he gets another yellow card in the game with the Netherlands, he will miss the semi-finals.
In this game, it was Kaka who returned to the starting lineup after the ban, but the "innocence" of the Brazilian No. 10 only remained for 30 minutes, and the opening was exactly half an hour, Chilean player Vidal broke through with the ball along the left side, and Kaka tripped it, which was not a serious foul, and the referee did not mean to play cards at first, but after stabilizing the players on both sides, finally after consideration, Kaka was given a yellow card.
This is Kaka's third yellow card in the World Cup in South Africa, and in the second game of the group stage, Kaka received two yellow cards in two minutes in the final minute of the game, receiving his first red card in nearly seven years.
In this World Cup, FIFA changed the rules of red and yellow card shuffling, and the yellow card obtained in the original group stage will not be brought into the knockout round, but this World Cup needs to be washed off after the quarterfinals, that is, Kaka is now carrying a yellow card, if the next game with the Netherlands does not get a yellow card, then after entering the semi-finals, the yellow card on Kaka's body will be washed.
But if Kaka gets a yellow card in the next game, then after accumulating two yellow cards, Brazil's No. 10 core will face the threat of a ban again, and if ace Kaka is absent, the impact on Dunga can still be imagined.
The quarter-final against the Netherlands was the fourth time the two teams have met in the history of the World Cup, and the previous three collisions have been classic.
The first World Cup clash between the two teams was in the 1974 round-robin tournament, which was seen as the end of an era in Brazil, and four years ago Pele and others achieved the myth of the Forever Remet Cup at the World Cup in Mexico, but when the Samba Army appeared in front of the all-attacking Dutch team, Pele had already retired and most of the team had changed.
At Borussia Dortmund, the flying Dutchman was dressed in blue and looked nondescript Brazil, and Cruyff scored the famous flying cushion in a match that became a classic match for the new forces of the World Cup to overwhelm the old dynasty.
After 20 years, Brazil completed their revenge in the World Cup, with Dunga leading Brazil to a 3-2 victory over the Netherlands as captain. The game was up and down, with Brazil scoring twice through Romario and Bebeto, but the Dutchman scored from Jonk and Bergkamp to make it 2-2, and in the final stages, Blanco's long-range free-kick grazed Romario's back and smashed into the post, and the Brazilian was the winner.
Four years later, at the World Cup in France, the two sides met in the semi-finals, and this time it was the Brazilians who had the last laugh, Ronaldo's scramble almost gave the Samba Army the victory in the 90 minutes, but Kluivert's header just before the end of the game dragged the game into a stalemate, and the Dutch hated the World Cup in the penalty shoot-out, which was the closest they have come to the Hercules Cup in recent years.
In these three classic Baho battles, there is a quasi-king-level figure who has performed eye-catching, Cruyff opened a new era in 1974, Romario finally achieved positive results in 1994, and Ronaldo made his debut in the World Cup in 1998.
It is worth mentioning that the winners of the three Baho battles in the World Cup have all reached the championship and runner-up finals of the World Cup, not to mention the semi-finals in 1998, and the Netherlands won the round-robin round robin in 1974, and finally entered the final, only to lose to the host West German team. In 1994, Brazil defeated the Netherlands, followed by Sweden and Italy.
According to the semi-regional distribution of this World Cup, the winner of Brazil and the Netherlands will face the winner of Argentina and Ghana in the semi-finals, and has a certain advantage in strength.