Brazil’s 3-0 win over Spain in the final of the Confederations Cup on Sunday has made next year’s World Cup a far more intriguing prospect. Spain’s immaculate first half display in the opening game against Uruguay seemed like a reaffirmation of their superiority, but as the tournament wore on it became clear that a more pro-active approach could yield rewards against the World Champions.
Nigeria’s poor finishing cost them dear as Spain punished their high defensive line and came out as 3-0 winners. Italy were encouraged to try a similar high pressing game in the semi-final, and should have really taken the lead against Spain after missing a plethora of guilt-edged opportunities, but the template of how to play the Spanish was set; don’t let their defenders settle on the ball in their own half and push your own players forward in numbers at every opportunity.
Spain have proved that they are a team that looks extremely confident when taking the lead in matches, and they also rely on the complicity of the opposition who are usually too afraid to attack them and so just allow them to pass the ball at will while sitting very deep in their own half.
Football is not like trying to find the Higgs-Boson particle though, it is a very simple game; if you put your opponents under pressure they will begin to doubt their abilities and their confidence will be effected. Brazil Boss, Luiz Felipe Scolari, realised that his Selecao side must score first in the final and the Brazilians started with incredible dynamism on Sunday, taking the lead inside one minute, and ratcheting the already intense atmosphere into delirium.
It must be said that Spain had played 120 minutes against Italy, while Brazil also had an extra day’s rest. Vicente Del Bosque chose to pick virtually the same team in the final as well, and the Spanish did seem visibly less energetic than the highly motivated and driven Brazilian side. However, the theory of how to beat the Spanish still applies; you must be brave and take risks in the commitment of men into forward area’s while also making the right pass selection which requires confidence and ability.
The argument against defensively minded football is, that by sitting back and being organised, you never have the chance to build the confidence and momentum required to play good football. This kind of structured rigidity is exactly what the FA condemned England to when they appointed Roy Hodgson. Instead of being brave and naïve and finally being eliminated in the quarter-finals of a tournament, we are now destined to lose in a more sensible way at World Cup Brazil 2014.
The Nations to watch at next years tournament will be the ones who play forward thinking, risk-laden football; Belgium and Argentina have the individual skill and maverick sensibility to trouble the big guns of Spain, Italy, Brazil, Holland and Germany. The second bracket of teams are the likes of France, Croatia, Portugal, Colombia and possibly England. From Japan’s excellent performance in their Confederations Cup 4-3 defeat by Italy, I’d say they could be one of the most surprisingly entertaining teams in Brazil because they are able to play a high energy game in the stifling heat.
