It took one game for Brazil to be exposed as a World Cup pretender

If you are new to soccer, perhaps this is your first World Cup, you may not understand the aura and allure the exists around Brazil, especially if you watched them play in East Rutherford on Saturday evening. The South American heavyweights are the record five-times world champions, as well as proudly the only side to have qualified for all 23 editions of the World Cup. For those who grew up in the ’60s, ’70s, ’90s, or the 2000s, Brazil were both the best and most exciting team in the world. However that has not been the case in more recent times.

In fact, since their most-recent triumph in Yokohama in 2002, the Seleção has crashed out in the quarter-finals at four of five World Cups. The sole occasion they got beyond the last eight was on home soil in 2014, and the subsequent semi-final certainly did not go to plan, ignominiously demolished 7-1 by Germany at the Mineirão.

Despite recent failures, as always, Brazil will either win the World Cup or they will fail. They finished all the way down in fifth in CONMEBOL qualifying, beaten six times, but the appointment of Carlo Ancelotti 12 months ago raised expectations to sky-high levels once more. However, based on their group stage opener in East Rutherford on Saturday, Ancelotti still has plenty to figure out.

Brazil statistics show they were exposed in 1-1 draw vs Morocco

Note: All statistics courtesy of SofaScore.

As the statistics show, Morocco were probably the better side at MetLife Stadium. The Atlas Lions created more big chances, had more shots and registered 12 more final third entries. Ismael Saibari’s opener was shambolic defensively from a Brazilian point of view. There was no pressure at all on two successive passes through the middle of the pitch, with the PSV midfielder running in between Marquinhos and Gabriel before impudently dinking Alisson. The most damning statistic is the number of sprints, with Morocco racking up 20 more. This is often a misleading statistic when a team has substantially less possession, but that was not the case in this game.

Vinícius Júnior did lash home a trademark equaliser soon after, which really encapsulated this Brazil team, over-reliant on individual brilliance to make up for shortcomings. At half time, Ancelotti made a double substitution. Roger Ibañez and Casemiro, who had both been booked, were replaced by Danilo and Fabinho. The two first-choice right-back options Éder Militão and Wesley are both injured, and Ibañez, a central defender by trade, looked really uncomfortable in that role. Thus, turning to a 34 year old Danilo does not appear an ideal solution.

Brazil’s midfield is a growing concern

Midfield though is an even greater concern. Casemiro looked well off the pace, while this trio alongside Bruno Guimarães and Lucas Paquetá lacked any balance or chemistry. A 32-year-old Fabinho, who has spent the last three seasons in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ittihad, is hardly a player to solve all of these issues, given that Brazil’s midfield are asked to cover so much ground, with Vini Jr and Raphinha given a license to stay high and not track back.

At centre-forward, Igor Thiago was pretty anonymous. He failed to connect with a header early on and touched the ball only 16 times, before being hooked on the hour mark. The exclusion of João Pedro, who scored 20 goals for Chelsea last season, looks even more baffling now.

Thus, put succinctly, Ancelotti does not know what his best team is, and there don’t appear to be obvious solutions. The good news is that, with a point on the board, they now have games against Haiti in Philadelphia and Scotland in Miami in which to do this. At Copa América Centenario a decade ago, the Seleção demolished Haiti 7-1 in Orlando and, while Friday’s rematch is unlikely to be quite as one-sided, even this side lacking cohesion should be too strong for the Grenadiers.

Nevertheless, once we enter the knockouts, Brazil are certainly not showing enough to suggest that they are a team for the other heavyweights to seriously fear.

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