Defenders are the soul of Brazil's Tite | Football News

In Brazilian football, defenders are often dismissed as pau perna or wooden legs, referring to players who can not dribble. In the land of jogo bonito, where the game is expressed through silky footwork, sublime skills and astonishing goals, what would be the incentive to take over from the showmen and keep strong?

Well, they are the alma or soul of a team – that is how the Brazilian coach Tite often answers such questions. There lies the essence of football's 57-year-old philosophy. On the stage of Neymar's theatricality, Tite deliberately and devastatingly broke stereotypes by constructing his formula for success with a group of defenders who feel engaged in a collective cause, blending their offensive ambitions with the resilience of the game. rear.

This is in stark contrast to their infamous 1-7 defeat in Germany four years ago. It is a rebaptised and reformed Brazil, ready to exorcise the ghost of Mineirazo.

Titus never played for the Selecao, and his managerial resume does not mention any work in Europe. But the man is known to possess a curious mind. When he was in charge of the Internacional in 2008-2009, Argentinian midfielder Andres of Alessandro, who played briefly at Portsmouth, played under his wing. Argentina told him about the compactness of the European teams, which gave him the idea of ​​doing a European tour, studying Pep Guardiola's Barcelona squads at Real Madrid's Ancelotti, in passing through the Arsenal of Wenger. He introduced a new system in his side Corinthians, which in 2011-12 won the Brazilian and South American titles and beat Chelsea in the final of the World Cup clubs. It's still a topic of discussion in Brazilian football.

When Tite took the lead of Selecao in June 2016, Brazil lived in the shadow of this humiliation in Bello Horizonte and was fighting in the World Cup qualifiers. His first job was to transform Neymar and Co. into a coherent unit like the Corinthians. The concern over the survival of the national team quickly disappeared when they became the first team to confirm a flight to Russia.

At Corinthians, Tite was a 3-5-2 specialist whose team was known for one-goal victories. But his education on this European tour taught him to be more flexible, and he instilled more pragmatism, power and promise into the Selecao.

In Scolari Brazil in 2014, the team had been operating side backs (Dani Alves and Marcelo) while two midfielders waiting in front of the defenders central offices were responsible for filling the gap on the flanks if necessary.

Under Titus, however, the new Brazil is reveling in three key positions – a holder, a playmaker and a box-box raider. This allows the team to change formations frequently during the match, no longer surpassing Neymar. Against Mexico during the last confrontation on Monday, this system was very present. What attracted more attention, however, is the way the defense took up the challenge against a marauding Mexico from the start.

Fagner, who was replacing a Marcelo still to recover, was less adventurous while Felipe Luis, trained in the art of scoring under Diego Simeone at Atlético de Madrid, was outstanding as a titular. The defensive backbone of Miranda, also a former student of the Simeone School, and Thiago Silva remained firm as usual, depriving Mexico of a real maneuvering space.

And once these problems were negotiated, Brazil let Neymar and others turn the style.