This was tactical suicide as the two Dutch strikers
had plenty of time and space to receive the ball and ride their bikes. On each
of those occasions, they had the opportunity to create dangerous one versus one
situations as well as two versus one against each central defender. The
recovering runs from the midfielders came too late and were ineffective given
the pace of Robben. Thiago lost the ball and his man passed the ball to the
speeding Bayern Munich striker, and had to make a run to cover himself up as
his partner tried to run back and cover him up, fouling the bald flying Robben
just outside the penalty box. The referee pointed at the whitewash.
RVP stepped up and blasted the penalty kick past
Julio Cesar for one of the earliest goals of the tournament. The central
midfield position continued to be exposed and loaded the back two heavily.
Brazil failed to take up defensive positions quickly enough as they tried a
little too hard to be on the score sheet. Luiz played a little ahead of the
natural defensive position while Oscar came to the central midfield position to
pick up the balls and sprint forward. Maicon found spaces on his flank, but his
position always provided a pathway for attacks and counter attacks.
Robben played Deguzeman on the right to cross the
ball into the prime target area. David Luiz headed to the penalty spot for
Blind to control and hit the roof of the inside netting. The hosts began to
throw caution to the wind, with Oscar, Willian and Ramirez looking to right the
result. Their urgency became an Archilles’ heel as they committed numerous
unforced errors in their rushed attacks.
AR and RVP played a little wide of each other,
staying between the central defenders and the touch-line. This resulted in Luiz
and Silva being drawn uncomfortably wide. Gustavo should have played in between
the two strikers at minimum. Ideally, he needed to stay between his defenders
to shorten the recovery distance to either defender. Upon receiving the balls wide
on the centre line, there was no stopping for the Dutch, as they sprinted
centrally and support came from their wings. Their midfield took off faster and
were ever quick off the blocks. There was never much attacking options for the
South Americans as soon as they won the ball under these circumstances.
As much as the South Americans fought a better fight
in the second half, they failed to penetrate a resolute Holland defence. The downfall
of the Brazilian attack was going through the solid middle. When the wing play
was involved, the attacks threatened the Europeans but the crosses became horrible.
In most cases, cutback options saw the ball over the second post or too close
at the near post, usually intercepted or played out for a corner-kick. Under
all circumstances, each Dutch attack looked like it would produce a goal.
It was concluded at the right flank at the dearth
when Robben checked over his shoulder and picked up a run from deep to tuck a
timed third man run. The cross was met by Wilnadum to side foot a first time
shot. In the last two goals, the crossers of the ball were not pressurised and
the charging towards the scorers came at a snail’s pace, giving too much space
and time to calmly finish. Cesar needed to firmly push the last attempt
strongly past the post.
Brazil concluded a miserable 2014 Fifa World Cup
with their tails between their legs. An embarrassing 3-0 defeat looked better
than the 7-1 drubbing, but that would never appease the fanatic crowd that
booed their villains with no end. For the record World Cup champions, it proved
how much they regressed over the years since their last victory in 2006. There
would be little doubt that the honourable thing to do for the technical team would
be throwing in the towel.
Holland scored their own record equalling 15 goals
in their conquest for third place, and all members of their squad at least
tasted some action.
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