Brazil Preview Part 3: The Forwards.
January 25th, 2009 | By: Julian | 14 Comments »
I’ve said before that Brazil’s midfield is worse on paper than their defense. (”Worse” might be the wrong word to use here. It’s more like “Less solid” or “Not as good”). That being said, it’s really their front line that we have to worry about. Kaka, Maicon, Cesar… all very solid, very good players. Possibly even world class. But their front line could run an aging Azzurri defense ragged. The best strategy for Lippi here would be to call up younger, pacier guys to keep Brazil in check- Chiellini is a must- and on the counter we could face big problems. The Netherlands showed us that, but luckily we’ve come a long way since then.
Call ups for their last game:
9 FW Adriano
11 FW Robinho
21 FW Alexandre Pato
I was shocked to see that they only called up 3 real strikers. Then again, when guys like Kaka are in the midfield, maybe you don’t need as many forwards.
Possible other call ups:
Julio Baptista, Jo
The funny thing is, out of all 5 of these guys, the one I fear could do the most damage to the Azzurri is the youngest. Pato has proven to be exceptional at Milan. He has a decent scoring rate- 9 goals in 20 games this season- but it’s really his pace that’s really setting the league alight. He’s outrun defenders like Mexes and scored against teams like Roma, so it’s not like all of his goals are against relegation fodder. He also scored on his Brazilian debut, which means he’s not a choker on the national team (CoughGilaCough). I expect him to play, and I’d expect Lippi to instruct Chiellini to mark him very closely. I’m not sure which other defenders will get called upby Lippi, but I’m pretty sure that he can run guys like Zambro, and even Canna, ragged. The worst part? He’s only 19 and he’s sure to get better. Luckily, he still tends to make mistakes and poor decisions at times, but that’s mostly because he’s young. That can only help us.
As for the rest of them, they’re all relatively famous footballers. Adriano has people divided, and many want him to leave Inter, but he can still score (as he proved today) with got good pace and ball control. Baptista is a good scorer, though with a poor first touch. He’s incredibly physical and Brazil could use him as a battering ram of sorts against our backline. The fact that he wasn’t called up last game should tell us what Dunga thinks of him, though.
And then there’s Robinho. The mercenary rebel who left Champions League football at Real Madrid for the much more exciting relegation/mid tableness of Man City. He’s scored quite a few goals this year though; the move hasn’t seemed to affect his game. But then again, he’s also arguably being overshadowed by Stephan Ireland over in the Premiere League, too. He’s undoubtedly a gifted footballer- around this time last year, some were calling him the best in the world- and he will be one to watch out for.
Now, I don’t mean to sound like our defense sucks. It doesn’t. It’s not at the level it once was, but it’s not like France’s defense. The biggest problem is age vs pace. A lot of Brazils’ guys are fast, and our backline is in a state of transition. Some of them should be ok- Canna might have the experience to make up for what he lacks in pace- but others might not be. Ideally, we should control the midfield and prevent them from gaining possession at all, but that’s unrealistic. I expect DDR and GC to have huge roles in this game, ensuring that Brazil doesn’t get too close to Buffon’s net.
But just in case they do…thank God he’s back.