Brazil Defeat Costa Rica 1-0 As Mano's Midfield Experiment Continues

Brazil carved out an unimpressive 1-0 victory against Costa Rica on Friday thanks to a goal by Neymar. Despite a dominant performance against Argentina in the second leg of the Superclasico, coach Mano Menezes stayed true to form by juggling the Brazilian starting line-up. Most interesting about Brazil’s formation was Menezes’s midfield pairing of Ralf and Luiz Gustavo, behind Ronaldinho, Lucas Moura da Silva and Neymar. Fred started the match as the lone striker. Manchester United's Fabio earned his first cap as Brazil right back while Barcelona's Adriano took up the left back position.

Costa Rica threatened in the first ten minutes and episodically throughout the match as well, but Brazil gradually found their rhythm and began stringing together combination passes in midfield in the second half. The goal came in the 60th minute from a Dani Alves cross that skirted by the onrushing Fred, and then bounced into the path of Neymar who poached the ball into the back of the net for his second consecutive goal in the yellow jersey. Twelve minutes later, Brazil had yet another chance when some deft midfield combination play allowed Ronaldinho to lob the ball to Fred, who headed a difficult ball that the Costa Rican keeper Navas saved. The ball subsequently ended up back near the top of the box, from which Neymar’s curling shot caromed off the top of the post.

For all of Brazil’s critics, and there were plenty after a match like this, Brazil’s midfield is starting to gel in a distinctly Brazilian fashion that bears little resemblance to European football. Oscar and Hernanes replaced Luiz Gustavo and Lucas Moura at halftime in a substitution that revealed the depth of Mano Menezes’s options in the center of the park. Fans should begin to relinquish the expectation that Brazil will stick to a rigidly tactical formation. Mano is slowly but surely building a squad that switches positions and attacks through the midfield, alongside the traditional counter-attacking flank attack. The flank attack remains powerful, as evinced by Dani Alves’s role in Neymar’s goal, but Mano’s immediate investment is clearly around building a group of 6-8 midfielders such as Lucas Leiva, Ramires, Ralf, Luis Gustavo, Oscar, Hernanes, Lucas Moura, Jadson and Ganso that can maintain possession and substitute for one another throughout a difficult tournament such as the World Cup. Mano’s next problem is scoring more goals, but for now, he evidently believes that the midfield is where Brazil has had its problems since 2002.

Germany Secures Historic 3-2 Victory over Brazil in Friendly

Germany 3 - Brazil 2
Gottlieb Daimler Stadium, Stuttgart, Germany
International Soccer Friendly

Goals:
Schweinsteiger, Germany, 61st minute (penalty)
Gotze, Germany, 67th minute
Robinho, Brazil, 71st minute (penalty)
Schurrle, Germany, 80th minute
Neymar, Brazil, 90th minute + 2

Germany scored their first victory over Brazil since 1993 in a thrilling match where the hosts dominated possession and exposed the mediocrity of the Brazilian national football team under coach Mano Menezes. Germany's 3-2 win belies the way in which they controlled the entirety of the game even though Brazil improved significantly in the second half. Brazil were decimated in midfield and reduced to a handful of counter-attacking opportunities from which they were fortunate to convert two goals given their overall lack of possession. In the 61st minute, Bastian Schweinsteiger scored Germany’s first goal from the penalty spot after Lucio was judged to have fouled Kroos in the box. Minutes later, Mario Gotze scored his first international goal after a passing triangle featuring he, Klose and Kroos enabled him to become the recipient of a through ball from Kroos. In his debut match for his country, Gotze rounded Julio Cesar with skill and composure to give Germany a 2-0 lead after 67 minutes.

Mano Menezes started Ralf for the suspended Lucas Leiva, and Fernandinho for Ganso. Both were highly ineffective in midfield and hence, two goals down, Brazil resorted to their time honored tradition of attacking down the flanks. Dani Alves steamed into the box to encounter a foul by Phillip Lahm that earned Brazil a penalty kick. Robinho calmly slotted the ball into the back of the net to make it 2-1 in the 71st minute, but the Germans were not to be fazed by the display of life from their opponent. With ten minutes remaining, Schweinsteiger showed more hunger for the ball than Andre Santos by winning the ball in the box and passing it to the vacant Andre Schurrle, who sent a rocket of a shot into the roof of the net to make it 3-1. Neymar pulled one back for the Brazilians in stoppage time but the victory deservedly went to Joachim Lowe’s young German team.

Coming into the match, Mano Menezes shrugged off Brazil’s failure to win more games under his tenure by noting that the team had never been dominated in play, even amongst their losses. The match against Germany, however, marks the first time Brazil were thoroughly taken apart by their opposition in recent memory, the 2010 World Cup included. Mano talks a good talk but his squad selections have been inconsistent. Brazil fans should expect the Selecao to accumulate more losses as long as the coach plays roulette with the midfield by changing the line-up in almost every game.