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Are Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Brazil on Track Ahead of 2014 World Cup?
Published: April 1, 2013
Ties with England, Italy and Russia were never going to be easy. England's last competitive defeat in regulation time came at the 2010 World Cup, Italy were runners up at last year's European Championship and Russia, under Fabio Capello, have become a stubborn unit that are currently breezing through World Cup qualifying.
Moreover, all three teams are a much more settled group than the one which Scolari has inherited and is now attempting to shape into a winning unit.
After testing a 4-3-3 style formation against England, with the intention of making Ronaldinho central to his plans, Scolari has since switched to a formation verging on 4-4-2 for the latter two friendlies.
The logic is sound. Offer wide midfielders to cover Brazil's occasionally suspect full-backs and then play Neymar off Fred in attack. The system is heavily reliant on Neymar dropping deeper and influencing games. His young star, though, is currently experiencing his worst run of form since early-2011.
Against Italy, when the Azzurri were looking to attack Scolari's side, the formation allowed Brazil to offer a threat on the counter attack. Two incisive attacking moves saw the Selecao sweep into a 2-0 lead, but they were unable to resist the formidable Italian forward line after the break.
Russia, though, were far less forward-thinking than the Italians and Brazil struggled desperately without creating much in the way of clear opportunity.
In the early stages, Russia also dominated the midfield areas as Brazil's formation left them a man short in central midfield.
The Selecao eventually came to grips with the challenge, but were never able to assert the type of dominan...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football
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