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Brazil was booed off the pitch by 53,000 fans when the national side hosted Chile in a friendly match in April. The match ended in a 2-2 draw.
“One day you’re booed, the next you’re praised, football’s like that,” said Neymar after the match.
Two months later, yesterday, the same fans chanted “The Champions are back” when Fred fired Brazil into the lead against Spain in the opening two minutes of the Confederations Cup final.
It was an explosive first half: it felt like watching a battle between the stone giants from The Hobbit.
After the final, Spain coach Vincente Del Bosque said: “we had moments when we were literally suffocating because of the high temperatures.”
He surely must have meant that Spain felt suffocated due to the incessant pressing from Brazil.
For a long time it felt like Spain took away the ball in Euro 2008 and never returned it since then. Their domination during competitive matches needs no introduction. However, that seemed to have changed when Brazil and Italy effectively clogged Spain’s passing channels in the Confederations Cup. But Brazil did what Italy couldn’t do in the semifinal: score goals. Spain, for the first time in many years, must have experienced what it was like to drive in the opposite direction of a one-way traffic.
Fred, Hulk and Neymar made deep incisions into the Spain defence
Whilst Luiz Gustavo and Paulinho worked tirelessly like two pilots commanding a Jaeger. Fred, Hulk and Neymar made deep incisions into the Spain defence. On the other end of the pitch, David Luiz looked like he pounded a 24 pack of Red Bull before the start of the game. He was practically everywhere: in attack, defence, or goal-line clearances.
And Neymar – who was playing against half of his new club teammates – was devastating during the counter attacks. Neymar even managed to get Pique sent off for a rash challenge, when he was through on goal.
The camera slowly panned towards the stands and Shakira was seen crying.
Also, the entire Brazil side must have made the Spanish defence weep with their tremendous work rate and skill. To beat a team like Barcelona Spain, one must think like Spain. It wasn’t an individual effort, Brazil combined their strengths and dictated the tempo.
Playing like a team doesn’t come naturally to everyone. But Brazil is different from others. They do everything as a team. For example, when teams arrive at a stadium, we often see players step out of the team coach with their ears plugged into their iPods. Whereas the Brazil players sing and dance to the beats of drums as they make their way to the dressing rooms. They enjoy each other’s company.
At times it seemed like Brazil had 12 players on the pitch. The crowd was behind Brazil throughout the tournament. As Brazil put three goals past Iker Casillas, the decibel levels soared every time they scored. Before kickoff, the orchestra was always cut off to allow the Brazilian national anthem to reverberate round the stadium as thousands of fans joined their team to sing the anthem. This charged up the team and they rewarded the fans with goals galore.
As Brazil is also the host of the 2014 World Cup, it goes without saying that there will be a huge pressure on them to perform and, at the same time, they will benefit immensely from the home support. When Brazil will face teams such as rivals Argentina, Germany, and England, can they replicate their performances from the Confederations Cup?
For a country where even the images from a training session are beamed live, Brazil is not new to be subjected under such scrutiny. This side has the talent and belief to write their own history.
