A Valiant Defeat

Australia 0-2 Brazil

A not unexpected result from my point of view. The pressure was off Australia after Croatia's dismal 0-0 draw with Japan. The aim was to show the world what the team was capable of, and force a result if possible. As it turned out, Brazil took preparations for the elimination rounds up one notch and built on their performance from the opening match.

In this post, I am going to attempt a technical analysis of the game.

Lets start with the line-ups. The champions named an unchanged starting eleven despite pressure from media, particularly Brazilian media, to drop Ronaldo. Coach Perreira is planning for a gradual increase in intensity as the group stage progresses; as such, it is imperative that he picks his best eleven and only uses substitutes who he has specific plans for in the later stages. So there was nothing surprising about the fourteen players Brazil used in this match.

Australia opted for an ambitious 3-4-2-1 formation with Popovic coming into a back three. Grella and Culina were handed key anchor roles in midfield with the onerous task of containing Ronaldinho and Kaka. Chipperfield and Emerton were named on the wings with Sterjovski and Cahill playing supporting roles in behind Mark Viduka. The biggest surprise was the inclusion of Sterjovski. I would have opted for two strikers in a setup involving Aloisi (I will explain why later), but I thought that Bresciano may have been favoured for the deep supporting position. Kewell was obviously not fully fit and was being rested for the crucial Croatia encounter otherwise he would have taken up his position either on the left wing or in the centre. Popovic joining Moore and Neill was a predictable move so that the Socceroos could always have one defender marking one striker plus a spare man for added pressure on the ball carrier. I think all teams should do this against Brazil because the midfield anchormen will have their hands full with Kaka and Ronaldinho and the wingers with Carlos and Cafu. It is too much to expect Cahill and Sterjovski to drop back into the defensive line on every play (though Cahill got through some impressive defensive work) and one-on-ones with Brazilians are best avoided.

Unfortunately for Australia, Popovic re-aggravated a calf muscle injury and had to leave the field at the 30 minute mark. The ensuing reshuffle saw Chipperfield moving into the back three, Bresciano into midfield and Culina onto the left. This cost Australia dear. Chipperfield is a poor defender and Bresciano little help to Grella in the centre of the park. Australia's lack of depth in defence probably cost them the match in the end. With Vidmar sidelined due to heart surgery, Neill, Moore and Popovic are the only centre-backs defenders left in the squad. Chipperfield was out of his depth and one cant place too much blame on him, though he made Brazil's first goal far easier than it should have been. He backed off Adriano and allowed him to trap, steady and shoot with minimal pressure. (what did i say about one-on-ones??) Bresciano is an attacking player who spends much of his time upfield looking for the forwards to run off. He cannot be expected to play dirty in the midfield to win the ball and effect fast turnovers. Grella was probably a little overwhelmed in the centre by himself for much of the match, though Culina's contribution was not insignificant.

Lucas Neill at the heart of the defence was simply superb. He has come a long way from the days under Farina when he played right-back. His solidity was largely responsible for Ronaldo and Adriano being kept quiet for most of the match. Neill's tackling was most impressive, he hardly committed a foul with his slide tackles. His decisiveness was the key in my opinion- he either went hard at the ball and won it or he delayed until Australia could get there in numbers and overwhelm the Brazilians. The commentator remarked that everytime Brazil got forward, they were swamped by four or five Socceroos. Much of the credit should go to Neill's decision-making as to whether to stall or to make the challenge. Hiddink likes to tinker with his strategy mid-game- this plasticity is what sets him apart from most other managers. But Neill at centre-back is one position he will not fiddle with unless he forced to, either by injury or a red card.

Culina and Grella worked really hard for the entire 90 minutes. The fact that Ronaldinho and especially Kaka did not ever settle into the game is a testament to their performance. Culina, even once moved to the left flank, did more than his share of the pressing and defending. Grella was overworked, what he needs is a companion who can share some of his workload and be able to direct the attack after a turnover. Grella's biggest defeciency is his lack of vision in attack. Thats why Hiddink likes to play Culina, a naturally attacking player, alongside him. But the problem is that Culina is a player who feeds off creative midfielders himself. Australia needs a player like Xavi from Spain to act as a foil for Grella.

In attack, Australia created plenty of chances. The best chance fell to substitute Kewell who fired over an open goal after Dida stranded himself in an act of misjudgement. Viduka had a good shot at a free header from a Culina freekick (the only decent freekick by him) but failed to get more than the faintest of touches. Viduka also had a chance to fire at Dida's near post. Bresciano had a golden chance on a counter-attack when he found himself one-on-one with Dida but his indecisiveness cost him- Ze Roberto, who initially gave the ball away, charged back and felled Bresciano in a perfect double-whammy slide tackle i.e. get the ball legally and floor your opponent. These were the best chances but there were other occasions where Australia took long shots, instead of patiently waiting for a better opportunity.

My feeling is that Australia should have started with Aloisi and Viduka upfront. The reason for this is that the Brazilian defensive unit (centre-backs, wing-backs plus anchormen) is easily tempted into playing a high line and joining in on attacks. Juan is the only one out of these six who plays like a traditional defender and actually stays back. Ze Roberto, out of need rather than preference, also stays back quite often. But Carlos, Cafu, Emerson and worryingly, Lucio, love to stream forward. To take advantage of this, Australia needed someone who could work with Viduka to exploit the Brazilian's weakness. If Brazil resisted the temptation and Lucio stated back more often, then that is also a bonus, because it reduces the pressure on the defence and also makes the Brazilians play unnaturally. A few chances actually came Australia's way because of over-commitment by the champions, but they were duly squandered.

Ok, longer than I had planned already.....and I was going to write about Brazil as well!! Maybe later, suffice to say, I had predicted a 2-0 scoreline with a performance somewhat below their full capabilities. I think Brazil has made it clear that they are not going to be effected by external factors and are going to do things their way, slow and frustrating as it may seem.