It never rains for Brazil and they are whitewashe 3-0 by Holland

 

Brazil were unlucky to concede a penalty and not to be awarded a few of their own throughout the match to determine who receives the bronze medals and wooden spoons. The yawning gaps in midfield from the semi-final match against Germany remained visible. From the onset, Thiago Silva and David Luiz played too far apart, a situation worsened by Luiz Gustavo who played further ahead of the pair, including the opposing lethal pair of Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie.

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.     

2014 Brazil Fifa World Cup: The best form of defence is.......?

How often do you hear that practice makes perfect? In truth, it makes permanent. Attack is the best form of attack and defence is the best form of defence. Nothing less and nothing more. Never ever confuse the two.

There was clearly plenty to do in Brazil on that fateful night when Brazil lost a record 7-1 to Germany, starting at the stadium as this busy man proves.

 

This is how it happened in pictures; Marcelo entirely forgot he was a defender as soon as the 4^th minute after a Brazilian scoring chance, as seen here with the ball out of play. He was too far up the pitch and had the ball thrown over him.

So advanced were Brazil that Dante sprinted back to cover the damage done on that gap attack by Germany. David Luiz managed to invest in a successful tackle on Miroslav Klose.

After five minutes Brazil were so far forward that there was no one around an under-pressure Fernandinho to receive a pass other than five Germans. He gave the ball away.

There was total lack of protection for defence as seen here. Three Germans were completely free in the middle after four minutes.

Brazil were caught on the break and gave their opponents a ridiculous amount of space after just eight minutes. Hulk and Marcelo provided Germany with an attacking corridor on that flank, as the former never defended and the later played off-position.

 

The ultimate defensive chaos was highlighted in the seventh minute as the entire Brazil team desperately ran backwards after a neat but unremarkable Sami Khedira turn in the centre circle.

The left-back area was completely exposed as everyone else ran towards Julio Cesar and looking over their shoulders in blind panic in the 9^th minute. Germany players were in twos and sometimes in threes. This made them receive the ball and suddenly outnumber the Brazilians at that point, which was always around the edge of the penalty area. Brazil conceded a corner shortly afterwards, then sloppy marking allowed Thomas Muller to score the game’s first goal.

Klose made it 2-0 twelve minutes later. It took 108 seconds for another goal to make it 3-0. Thereafter, the hosts lost rhythm and concentration, becoming ever more vulnerable and clueless. Germany made it 4-0 just 50 seconds after making it 3-0.

There was something frighteningly predatory and calculated about that goal, Toni Kroos and Samir Khedira trading passes again and again, all the time reducing the percentage chance that a goal wasn’t about to happen. The midfield trio were clearly instructed to stay tight to each other as shown by the blue triangle, and very importantly, for the some of the half, the central defenders stayed where defenders are supposed to be, as seen pointed by the red arrows.

Cesar shoulders some blame for  pushing the ball back to Klose to get a second bite of the cherry. He was beaten at the near post by and André Schürrle. 

Phil Scolari did not change anything until the second half, swapping Bernard and Hulk on the right and left wings, meaning Marcelo had a more disciplined wide player in front of him who was not going to give the ball away every time he got it.

 

David Luiz passed the ball horribly wrong. He made one absolutely brilliant 70-yard cross field pass in the early stages of the game, but all this seemed to do was give Luiz false confidence. Later, Luiz even managed to make five yard passes difficult for his team-mates, as seen here.

Without the centre back, Thiago Silva, telling his team-mates to wise up and stop being disorganised, the defence and midfield completely fell apart, and the strikers, and the goalkeeper. It was a disastrous calamity where a footballing super power tumbled like a deck of cards. A catastrophe; a team that lacked leadership and one that failed to look beyond the first goal. Their body language was that of frightened boys and they coiled into their shells and stayed retracted the entire match.
 
(Special thanks to T. Gibbs)