FIFA Word Cup 2014: Blame should be attached to Big Phil for Brazil's big capitulation

NOTE: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the views of Sportskeeda.

To what extent should Luis Felipe Scolari be blamed for Brazil’s failures at the World Cup?

Return of Big Phil and initial success

Brazil, the very name strikes fear to any nation given the burden of playing them in any major tournament. Couple that with the support of the home fans may make you think its going to be a walk in the park for the Brazilians.

The re-appointment of Luis Felipe Scolari received a mixed reaction from the Brazil faithful. While many believed he was the right man to take the team to glory, a selected few felt his selection would kill the ‘Samba’ style of play. The Confederations Cup was Scolari’s first test of International competitive football on his return, which went down as a success as Brazil beat the then ‘World Champions’ Spain in the final, by a margin of 3 goals to nil. Many hoped to see similar success in the 2014 World Cup, which, however hasn’t been the case.

Luis Felipe Scolari has already experienced World Cup glory back in 2002 with Brazil, when they went on to beat Germany by 2 goals to nil in a one sided final. This guy is the living embodiment of experience, having managed over 15 clubs in his domestic career, and also Portugal during the 2004-2008 period, which could be deemed a success considering he lead them to a final and a semi final in two major competitions.

During his vast career, he has earned plaudits for defensive play, usually using two traditional central defensive midfielders to disrupt the play and quick and agile attackers to spearhead a balanced side. He has also been criticized for using unfair tactics to ensure victory when in a winning position. At the end of the day, however, he has trophies to show for and could go down as one of the best coaches of this generation.

‘Big Phil’ returned to managing the Brazil national team in 2012, after a brief stint at Palmeiras. With Brazil as the host nation, they didn’t have to worry about qualification and Scolari just had to make sure his players gelled in well with regular friendlies during the domestic off-season. 2002 seemed far away as 10 years of incompetence had frustrated the football-crazy people of Brazil. Was Scolari the answer?

The 2013 Confederations Cup saw a hint of what Brazil could do under the new coach with the emergence of young talent in the form of Neymar, Bernard, Oscar and Willian mixing in well with the experienced lot of Fred, Hulk, Thiago Silva and Julio Cesar. With players performing exceptionally well in their domestic setups, Brazilian fans hoped that the 2014 World Cup would finally establish Brazil as a footballing powerhouse again, breaking the European jinx.

The World Cup: A host of expectations and fledgeling performances

The group stages saw Brazil go past luck-less Croatia via some dubious refereeing decisions. In the second game, they were up against Ted Mosby’s Mexican Doppelganger Guillermo Ochoa, who was at his sublime best to restrict Brazil to a point. Cameroon was, however, undone by Neymar’s brilliance as Brazil managed to exit the group as toppers.

Their opponent in the next round was Chile, who had won plaudits for emerging from a group consisting of the Netherlands, Spain and Australia.

Chile was known for their unpredictable style of play. And with Sanchez’s equalizer, the wind was in their sails as they defended with might and attacked with purpose, something which was missing from the Brazilians. In the penalties, the pressure, however, got the better of the Chileans as they bowed out. The match saw a second booking for the impressive Luiz Gustavo, which meant he would miss their quarterfinal duel with Colombia.

In the quarters, Colombia was undone by the referee, as the man with the whistle didn’t budge to pick his cards out when the Brazilian players were all over the best performer of the World Cup so far, James Rodriguez. Tactically, Brazil were very poor and Scolari did nothing to change that throughout the game.

Brazil’s semi-final exit would come back to haunt them for years to come as they let seven in against Germany.

The absence of the traditional number nine

The number nine jersey of the Brazilian football team has been worn by some of the best hitmen of the game. Ronaldo, Luis Fabiano and Pato of late have been instrumental in converting chances into goals. The current holder of the jersey is Fred.

In all of the previous games, Scolari decided to go with his hitman, the Fluminense striker, Fred. His only contribution till the semi-finals was one goal and a dive for a Neymar penalty. He was only a shadow of the Fred who was so influential in Brazil’s Confederations Cup win. Was sticking with him the only choice Scolari had?

The answer is a simple no, with Jo on the bench, a quicker and a trickier forward was what Brazil needed as Fred only slowed down Brazil’s attacks. Spain revolutionized the concept of a false 9. Why didn’t Big Phil opt for the use of a false 9? With players like Ramires and Willian at his disposal, this could only have helped them break down the German midfield which was so influential on the night.

Willian came on for Fred later in the second half, which made a lot of difference as Brazil managed to attack the German goal early in the second half (even if it was for a brief spell).

Weak left flank.

Another area of concern was the left flank. With the inexperienced Bernard and a tired Marcelo, Brazil was left exposed through the left. This was an area which was exploited quite well by Muller. Scolari didn’t opt to go for Filipe Luis, who had a successful season with Athletico Madrid, and was influential in his team’s La Liga triumph. Luis is a versatile left back, with defensive and attacking agility, and who many feel could have done a better job than his Madrid counterpart, Marcelo.

David – Brazil’s ‘Luising’ cause?

The absence of their captain Thiago Silva also didn’t help their cause. This saw the inclusion of Dante, who has been instrumental in Bayern Munich’s various successes of late. When Brazil played with the Luiz-Silva partnership at the back, Luiz was given the freedom of going front and contributing in attack as Silva would sit back and cover for him if faced with a counter attack. Dante, though aged 30 lacked the experience and was often left isolated at the back, which led to many of Germany’s goals.

Handling the captain’s armband to David Luiz wasn’t the right step either as he crumbled under the pressure.

Lacklustre midfield

The semi-final saw Fernandinho partnering Luiz Gustavo in midfield. Being preferred to the much maligned Paulinho meant Fernandinho played the role of the attack minded midfielder, which wasn’t quite the role he was accredited with at Manchester City, where he was played as a deep lying playmaker. Playing him out of position in a very important game was a big blunder which Scolari made, costing them dearly as he could be single-handedly be accounted for three of the goals.

Is this the end of ‘Samba’?

Last but not the least, the style of football used by Brazil during the World Cup 2014 had worked till the semi-finals, but they were up against a tactically sound German team, with Joachim Loew already having worked out all the weaknesses of the opposition beforehand.

Loew had figured a system which outperformed Brazil’s shoddy tactics. By completely exploiting the aforementioned tweaks, Germany reigned supreme in front of a shocked Belo-Horizonte crowd.

Brazil may be out of the World Cup, but don’t expect them to be out of contention for a record 6th World Cup. Maybe Brazil’s only way forward is to relieve Scolari of his duties and get someone who brings back the ever-so-famous Samba style of play. What happens next? Only time will tell..