Brazil and Russia played to a spirited 1-1 draw at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge stadium in a match
full of chances that both teams failed to convert with the exception of one
goal apiece. Fabio Capello’s Russian team appeared rested after having missed
their scheduled friendly to Northern Ireland due to weather. Russia threatened the
Brazil goal in the opening minutes thanks to strikes by Kerzhakov and Ignashevich. As the first half wore on, however, Brazil gradually began to assert
themselves through the efforts of Neymar, who selfishly attempted to go for
goal himself on more than one occasion when either Fred, Oscar or Kaka were
better positioned to convert. Kaka and Marcelo contributed to the Brazilian
attack while Hernanes remained largely in a deeper playmaking position and
distributed passes to both flanks with impressive precision. Russia, however,
maintained good form and cohesion both defensively and in midfield, thereby
displaying superior positioning in comparison to Brazil, who played in
characteristic Samba fashion with Neymar, Oscar and Kaka slicing their way
through midfield supported by dangerous flank attacks from Dani Alves and
Marcelo. Just as Brazil began to gain momentum, however, Russian midfielder Fayzulin
picked up a pass from Kerzhakov and unleashed a rocket of a shot that Cesar narrowly
deflected in the 41st minute.
Brazil emerged from the break determined to take control of
the game as Neymar and Kaka began pressing attacks fed by passes from Oscar and
Hernanes. The match began to turn, however, soon after Oscar’s substitution for
Hulk in the 67th minute. In the 73rd minute, Russia
finally broke through after the ball bounced as if through a pinball machine in
the box for a couple of minutes before Fayzulin finally shot it past a line of
Brazilian defenders into the back of the net. Russia appeared headed for their
first ever victory over Brazil were it not for the efforts of Hulk on the left
flank, who began to show that his experience with Zenit had not gone to nought as he consistently troubled the right
fullback Eschenko. Just when it appeared that Scolari was headed for his second
loss in three games as Brazil coach, Marcelo played a give and go with Hulk
whereby the Zenit striker drifted inward and returned the ball to the onrushing
Marcelo, who in turn crossed to Fred in the box for the equalizer. Brazil piled
on the pressure in the closing minutes but were lucky not to come away with a
defeat given a late Shirokov shot from close range that went wide in
the 93rd minute.
Key points from today’s game with respect to Brazil were as follows:
- Brazil continues to develop an impressive midfield marked by extreme pace, vision and creative attacks and combination play.
- Fred remains far too static for a number 9 to cause any serious difficulty for the opposition. Ronaldo, recall, used to retreat deep into midfield and run at the heart of defenses. Fred, however, is both incredibly static and unthreatening for large parts of the game. Nevertheless, the Fluminense striker has now scored for four consecutive games in a row for Brazil, so Brazil fans should be thankful that at least someone can put the ball in the back of the net.
- This was yet another disappointing display by Neymar, whose inexperience with European defenders is becoming painfully apparent. Scolari will need to figure out how to more effectively position the Santos sensation so that he can properly execute the threatening runs into the box that he would like to make.
- Hulk inspired the Brazilian attack today after a disappointing performance against Italy four days ago. Were it not for his strength and vision, Brazil would have lost yet another match and dropped even further in FIFA World rankings.
