World Football News: Brazil vs. Argentina – Half Time Report
The Brazilians were ready to face their nemesis as Argentina too had polished their guns to fire up at foreign land. The Argentineans had prepared heavily under new manager Sergio Batista so an interesting encounter was expected with the
Brazilians on the Arabian soil as both the nations were to collide in a friendly game.
The Brazilian coach Mano Menezes decided to play a traditional 4-4-2 but it was the Brazilian legend Ronaldinho was to make a return as a left winger but he was listed down as a left midfielder in the starting line up. As Victor was guarding
the Brazilian goal, it was Daniel Alves on the right flank and Andre Santos on the left flank as they both took their positions as full backs for the Brazilian side. The youngster David Luiz and the Milan player Thiago Silva were the two centre backs and they
were assisted by an unusual holding midfielder, Lucas. Elias and the Chelsea star Ramires were also deployed in the midfield as Ronaldinho was seen on the left flank. Robinho was seen on the right and the Brazilian “kid” Neymar played up front acting as a
“sole” striker.
On the other hand the new Argentinean coach Sergio Batista played a 4-4-2 as well and this was for the first time that he was not playing his favourite 4-3-3. With Sergio Romero standing between the two poles as a goalkeeper, it was Nicolas
Burdisso who stood guard in the central defending role alongside Nicolas Pareja. Walter Samuel and Martin Demichelis are obviously the first team defenders for Argentina but both the players could not really make it due to injuries that they suffered while
performing for their club.
The Inter Milan full back Javier Zenetti took his position on the right and Gabriel Heinze played in his preferred left back position. Javier Mascherano and Ever Banega played in the centre of the field while the Real Madrid winger Angel
Di Maria and the young Javier Pastore featured on the wings. It was Lionel Messi and the Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain who played up front as the two strikers.
Both the teams performed extraordinary well as they were all playing a lot of star players. The game was expected to be wonderful and the first half was simply worth watching. Both the sides got many chances on goal and that made the game
even more exciting as the friendly match did live up to its expectations.
Ronaldinho got a wonderful chance during the 8th minute but he tried to back heel the ball towards Neymar a wonderful opportunity was wasted. Later during the 22nd minute the Brazilian full
back Daniel Alves got a chance as well and the amazingly taken right footed shot only managed find the cross bar. For the first 25 minutes it was the best opportunity taken by both the teams and the missing link Kaka and the striker Alexandre Pato were deeply
missed as their inclusion in the team could change the cause of the game.
On the other hand, the Argentineans tried to keep most of the possession and Lionel Messi was extraordinary as always. The Argentinean maestro even managed to get past five players in the midfield and later from the same move the left
footed striker hit the wood work with a shot that was later recorded to be moving at 100km/h. There was definitely no chance for Victor because the shot was to find the top corner of the net; however, the Brazilian were lucky as they did not become the victim
of one of the best players in the world, Lionel Messi.
After the first half there was one thing that separated the two teams – the Argentineans kept most of the ball but the Brazilians made more opportunities to score goals. While the Argentineans were ready to face the challenge presented
by Brazilians it were the canary shirts who were keeping most of the ball, the Brazilians always tried to take their chances on goal and found most of the balls flying towards Sergio Romero who did not let any ball in during the first half.
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