Neymar celebrates his goal (Mowa Press)
There was only ever going to be one winner in this one and it wasn’t team GB. This Brazil team has a collection of stars who have been playing together for months now. They have also taken their strongest team possible unlike Team GB who are a collection of mediocre Premier League players that have been thrown together and played for the first time.
In stark contrast to Team GB, Brazil’s first choice team is close to their full strength team. If there was no age restriction I think the only players who would have been called up but weren’t are: Ramires, Dani Alves, Lucas Leiva, Dedé and Júlio César. Maybe Fred. Kaká, Robinho and Ronaldinho probably wouldn’t have been called up.
The grand plan is to prepare a team capable of winning the World Cup in 2014 and Mano Menezes has been working at preparing and bringing through Brazil’s next generation of teams and building them into a team for a long time. He didn’t have much time to prepare for the Copa America, his team’s first test which they failed. There will be no excuses now though.
Mano is one of the few senior coaches to be coaching his country’s Olympic team and this is serious business for Brazil. This is Brazil’s second and most important test in the Mano era. Fail to win this and there will be a crisis back especially since Brazil, who have won five World Cups, have never won the Olympics. Expectations are huge. Only a win will do.
On tonight’s evidence Brazil are the clear favourites for the competition. They lived up to it without really playing as well as they could. The did enough in the first half then took their foot off the gas. Sandro opened the scoring with a header and then Neymar scored a penalty at the end of the first half. I can’t really be bothered to write a match report because Team GB were depressing – it was no contest really. I am also really jet-lagged after my flight back from Brazil today.
Lucas Moura (subject of a huge bid from Manchester United) made an impressive second half appearance for around 25 minutes and Ganso came on and sprayed around one or two excellent passes (I just wish he would work harder). Pato came on for some important game time after he has been out with injury. Brazil look good. Spain, you would think, are the only serious rivals and they have sent a weaker team to the competition. As for Team GB I think it’s fair to say Team GB have a better chance in the cycling and rowing.
Did you see the game – thoughts?
Brazil (4-2-3-1): Rafael Cabral, Rafael da Silva, Thiago Silva, Juan, Marcelo (Alex Sandro – 80), Sandro (Danilo – 85), Romulo, Neymar, Oscar (Ganso- 68) Hulk (Lucas Moura – 68), Leandro Damiao (Alexandre Pato – 74)
I was at the game, and Brazil looked frighteningly good considering they rarely had to hit top gear. Their Olympic side is very nearly the full senior side, and are clearly a well-prepared & fairly settled team, at least more so than Britain anywhere. But will the pressure on the team be their downfall?
I suspect you’ve underrated Spain, whose players will arrive at the Olympics hungry to prove they deserve to represent the country and to break into the senior team. I also wonder about the emotional toughness and stability of some of the Brazilian players, particularly against more frustrating opposition.
Hulk looks terrifying and focused. Neymar was a bit of a joke at times, going down (& staying there) at the slightest contact, but will make the difference in many games. His pace unsettled the British defence in the opening minutes. He was given a lot of freedom to play wide, deep, or centrally behind Leandro Damião. I was impressed by Sandro too, who outmuscled our lightweight central midfield.
If Britain had someone to break up play and stop counter attacks in a similar way, or an Oscar/Ganso to provide some incision and set the rhythm (I had expected Ramsey to do this, but I was disappointed by his restrictively short performance), then the likes of Bellamy an Sturride ought to thrive. Though they still couldn’t take the few chances they had early on in the game, so they will really need the rub of the game, or a big lift from the home crowds.
You guys may not like my comment on Neymar. You can see in this vs GB team game. Neymar is not a team player. He is too selfish, frivolous and ego. Brazilian media make him think himself is god. But I don’t think so. So my advise to Mano is take him out when he is not performing just like Ney Franco took Philippe Coutihno out in U20 world cup. What was the results!? The results was we won the U20 world cup. I know you guys like to see Neymar dribbles and his pace. From this game & pervious vs Argentina & Mexico game, you can see how opponent team defender learned and shut him down. He just get frustrated and have no idea how to combine with his teammate. The condition ever worst when Mano bring in Ganso and Lucas Moura. Neymar started involve more in the game and dribble more play his game and think that he can carry the team in his own. Trust me, Neymar is not a team player. Have him in the team is like having a bomb waiting to explore to fail.
Thanks for the comment Zach. After my long holiday I’m just going through some old messages now. You may be right about Neymar not being a team player. But no coach in his right mind would drop him though, surely. A lot of Brazilian’s aren’t team players. A good coach would find a way to make him a team player and get the best out of him, the right balance to the team. I didn’t watch Brazil at the Olympics so I can’t really comment. Good observation about Coutinho though.