International Friendlies, Brazil 0-1 Peru: 3 reasons why Tite's men lost

Finally, Tite's Brazil succumbed to defeat and it brought a 17-game sequence to a grinding halt.

In a repeat of the 2019 Copa America final, Peru, enjoying the upper hand this time, managed to break the deadlock towards the end of the second half, shattering Brazil's unbeaten run of games and exacting revenge for their back to back losses at the Copa America in the process.

Brazil were firmly in control of the game as they peppered the Peruvian defence with several attacking manoeuvres and forced Peru's Pedro Gallese into making a couple of crucial saves. Brazil had a total of 13 shots, with just 3 on target. Peru, on the other hand, managed just 9 shots, with 3 on target.

Both sides struggled to break the deadlock in the first half, and in the second, Tite threw in his talisman, Neymar, in a bid to break the shackles.

Brazil's hero in the match against Colombia couldn't breach Peru's defence either as Luis Abram rose above the Brazillian rearguard to head the ball home from a corner in the 85th minute.

In this article, we try to make sense of Brazil's loss to Peru in Los Angeles, California.

#3 Brazil's wasteful forward line

Brazil's Richarlison tries to breach the Peruvian defence

The whole idea of football is to put the ball in the net more times than the opposition. However, the Brazillian attackers were far from doing that against Peru. Wave after wave of Brazillian attacking play withered away with scuffed shots or shots that weren't in the vicinity of the target. And, Richarlison was one of those guilty for the missed chances.

Brazil's decision making in the final third seemed poor as most chances appeared easier to score than miss. Tite sent on his ace, Neymar in the 63rd minute but the Paris Saint-Germain forward wasn't able to breach the Peruvian defence either.

Brazil had a total of 13 shots but alarmingly, just 3 were on target. They also enjoyed 56 percent possession yet it all came to nothing as they kept squandering opportunities when they presented themselves.

#2 Pedro Gallese saves the day for Peru

The Brazilians may have been wasteful up front, but on those rare occasions when they managed to hit the target, one man stood tall, masterfully thwarting Tite's charges.

The entire Peruvian defence put in a commendable performance. However, Pedro Gallese was probably Brazil's kryptonite as he made a couple of crucial saves, denying the likes of Richarlison in crunch situations.

In the 44th minute, he was on hand to punch Richarlison's vicious shot away from danger and he was also present to thwart Brazil in the 50th and 53rd minute. Those were match-winning saves if one takes into account the fact that the Brazilians only had 3 shots on target.

Also, Luis Advincula's last-ditch tackle on David Neres in the 20th minute was a thing of beauty as it saved Peru from going behind early in the game.

#1 Brazil's defensive blunder, late in the game

On the other end of the pitch, Ederson Moraes continued in goal as Alisson Becker's replacement.

The Manchester City keeper had a good game, making a couple of saves and marshalling his defensive line efficiently for much of the match. However, in the 85th minute, he came out to collect a ball off a routine corner kick and fluffed his lines.

At corners, a goalkeeper has to be firm and inch-perfect in his/her calculation. The fact that he's a goalkeeper in the very physical Premier League magnifies that error even more. Coming out for the ball in that situation and missing the flight is a fatal mistake, more often than not. And, that was certainly the case against Peru.

Edited by Shashwat Kumar