FIFA World Cup 2010: Brazil vs. Holland - Tactical Analysis
A match that certainly lived up to its hype ended in elimination for Brazil, the five time world cup champions from the FIFA World Cup of 2010 in South Africa.
Both of these teams had played the best football in the tournament so far bar Germany. It was certainly a tale of two halves as Brazil dominated in the first one and were abysmal in the second one. Brazil lined up with Melo coming back from them in midfield and replacing Ramires and Alves starting again in place of injured Elano.
Holland started with Andre Ooijer at the back because of a last minute injury to the central defender Mathijsen; they also started their winger Robben on the right flank. It is safe to say that Brazil lost the game particularly because of their poor defensive discipline and organization from set plays.
The stand out player for Holland was perhaps Van Bommel, who played in midfield and got away with some dangerous fouls but regardless committed clever tackles on the half way time to stop numerous Brazilian build ups.
The biggest problem that faces any team when playing against Brazil is the movement of their wide players. Maicon gave them width on the right and Bastos plus Robinho gave them width on the left. Holland started Kuyt on the left hand side of their midfield to counter Maicon’s runs into the attacking third, Kuyt did reasonably well to defend against him during most times in the match.
The Dutch were unsuccessful in combating width on the right hand side, as Robben was not tracking back, Holland’s right back Van Der Weil was torn apart between Bastos’s runs and Robinho drifting in. The first goal came as a result of false line movement by Fabiano who took one of the central defenders away with his run and opened up space at the back for Robinho. Robinho made a good inside run and Melo played a nicely weighted pace. The move resulted in a good goal for Brazil.
After that all throughout the first half, Brazil were in total control. Their partnership upfront of Fabiano, Robinho and Kaka was outplaying the Dutch midfield and defense but they were unable to add to their lead.
In the second half, the Dutch came out looking much more motivated, they pressed higher up the field and forced Brazil to lose possession through long balls towards Fabiano. They also formed a triangle partnership of their own upfront and targeted the weakest links of the Brazilian side. Van Persie, Robben and Sneijder directed their attacks at Bastos, Juan and Melo down the Brazilian left. Holland’s first goal came from a free kick, as Melo headed the ball into the back of his own net. This was the first Brazilian own goal in the history of the world cup.
Robben had a quiet game but his effect was observable as he forced the Brazilian players to commit to tackles and draw unnecessary fouls near their own penalty area. Eventually Melo acted in a disgraceful manner after committing a foul on Robben. He stomped on Robben’s hamstring and as a result was shown the red card by the referee.
The Brazilian 4-2-3-1 was then changed into a 4-1-3-1, which meant that they were weaker while defending on the counter attack. The second Dutch goal came from a corner kick, after poor man-marking Kuyt managed to get a flick on and Sneijder headed the ball into the back of the net to give Netherlands a 2-1 lead.
Brazil who were already a man down, withdrew the spearhead of their attack Luis Fabiano, this was a mistake by the Brazilian manager Dunga. With his team chasing the game with a man down, they would have hit long balls to Fabiano who has more physical presence than Robinho and Nilmar, this would’ve been an acceptable tactic as Fabiano was more likely to win aerial challenges than Nilmar.
After Brazil went a goal down, it was always going to be hard for them to come back especially with ten men because of their counter attacking style of play in this World Cup. Dunga had been criticized before the match for having such a pragmatic approach to the game. Brazil were eventually unable to crawl their way back into the game as the match ended 2-1 at the final whistle.
Brazil have given us wonderful football to watch in this World Cup. Let us not take away anything from that but when it mattered most they self destructed like most big teams so far in the World Cup. Holland should be given credit because they were clearly the underdogs, despite that fact they employed good tactics and forced Brazil into mistakes and exploited their weaknesses.
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