Sunday, June 17, 2018

Disappointing Brazil

Alongside Germany, Brazil has been touted as one of the favourites for the title. And in the first part of the match against Switzerland they looked like possible champions. Right until Coutinho scored his fantastic goal, Brazil were by far the better team. But it seemed as if the goal was the end for them. They took down the pace, pulled back, and let Switzerland slowly enter the match, instead of attacking to get a second goal.
When the game seemed at its slowest, Switzerland equalized after a corner kick. Surely Steven Zuber seemed to push Miranda before scoring, and surely the Brazilians might have had a penalty denied. But this was not why they did not win. Switzerland were cynical, organized and physical. As the match progressed they did some tasteless free kicks and continuously stopped the game. Brazil were slightly unlucky not to score in the end, but one did leave with the impression that Brazil was unable to put on a higher gear when things seemed to go against them. Their reaction was petulant frustration, which the Swiss were good at pushing.
A future World Champion is tested when things go against them. In this regard, Brazil did not succeed today, but hopefully it may be that this meager 1-1 against Switzerland may represent a wake-up call for the great Brazilians.

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