Once again, Brazil is considered a favorite in this new edition of the FIFA World Cup. Now, every football lover knows that saying that Brazil is a strong candidate to win the cup is like saying that the sky is blue: it’s obvious. An easy bet. But if we look at the last three World Cups (Germany 2006, South Africa 2010, Brazil 2014), we will see that this is not that clear.

According to Brazilian standards, not making it to the final match is a failure. Some radicals would even say that not winning the cup is also a fiasco. This might sound too much to anyone that is not Brazilian, but it is true: in 2006, after loosing to France in the quarter-finals, a statue that was built to honor Brazilian former star Ronaldinho Gaúcho was destroyed in Chapecó.

Considering this, we might say that, at least in Brazil, the performance of the national team in the last three World Cups was disappointing. Defeated by the formidable France of legendary Zinedine Zidane in 2006, Brasil did not make it through the quarter-finales in South Africa, losing 2–1 to the Netherlands. Now, talk to a Brazilian about 2014, and a weird thing will happen. They do not remember the semi-finals. A clever phycological mechanism to avoid talking about one of the biggest humiliations of the verdeamarela: defeat 7–1 against Germany, who would later become champion after beating Lionel Messi’s Argentina in a closed match.

Semifinal Match — Brazil 2014

Of course, that does not erase Brazil’s history. It is, still today, the team that has won more World Cups than anybody else. As true as this is, we do not believe that this is the key element in saying, one more time, that Brazil is the biggest candidate to meet the glory. Sure, history plays its part. Facing Brazil is always difficult, a glance at the yellow shirt will provoke fear amongst many players.

But the thing is that this time Brazil really is the most powerful team in the Cup. Of course, there’s the obvious. The presence of Neymar, one of the best players of the World. Even though he is recovering from an injure, Neymar has had a great year. After achieving a great level in Barcelona, sharing the field with Messi, Iniesta, and Suárez, Neymar became the star of Paris Saint-Germain, eliminated of the Europe Champions League by the all mighty Real Madrid, who became champion last Saturday.

Now, many teams have great players. There is Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo just to begin with. But Brazil not only has Neymar, they also have a great team functioning. The mind behind this is the coach, Tite. Led by Dunga until July 2016, Brazil could not abandon the sad role they made as locals in 2014. Fired after the elimination of the Pentacampeão in the Copa America, Dunga was replaced by Adenor Leonardo Bacchi, better known as Tite. Tite, former professional player in the ’70 and ’80, led Corinthians to glory in 2012 as they managed to win the Libertadores Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.

Tite — Coach

Under Tite’s direction, like a phoenix, Brazil was reborn from the fire. Amongst other changes, Tite decided to call Marcelo (Real Madrid), who probably is nowadays the best player in his position. Brazil began to increase its ball possessions, becoming more dangerous with it. Not only did they keep the ball (which might be done with harmless lateral passes), but they attacked while doing it. Brazil arrives to the last quarter of the field with lots of players and spaces, which allows them to undermine the rival’s defense. This way, they mark the tempo of the match. Since September 2016, Brazil won almost every game in the South-American’s World Cup’s qualifiers. Ten victories and two ties, including an outstanding triumph over Argentina by 3–0. Brazil ended up first, 10 points above its chaser, Uruguay (in a ten teams league!). Thus, the verdeamarela became the first team to classify to the World Cup (besides, of course, the local Russia).

Lots of ball possession, collective attacks, strong defense, incredible strikers, and a brilliant mind in the bench: all the ingredients for a perfect recipe. However, this is football, and we know that incredible things might happen. Johan Cruyff used to say that no team should distinguish itself in the first row of a World Cup, otherwise, it would attract the attention of the rivals, who would avoid aggressive formations, preferring defensive stances and waiting for the opportunity to counter-attack. Will Brazil strength become its weakness?

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