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Brazil left it late to get the work done against Costa Rica, as Oscar Ramirez’s team adopted a thoroughly defensive tactic. It became extremely apparent that they were content with keeping the Brazilians away from the score sheet and eventually managed to keep them at bay for the entire duration of 90 minutes.
A late flurry of attacking moves from Brazil resulted in two goals within six minutes as an action-packed injury-time ensured an entertaining contest for the fans too. Earlier, the Costa Ricans were diligent and tenacious in their approach, often blocking and breaking down Brazil’s attacking moves with some good positioning and pressing in and around the penalty box.
Here, we discuss five players who endured a different kind of games, from all the players who took the field today.
5. Worst: Willian
On paper, the Brazilians have an extremely potent attacking lineup with Willian undertaking the responsibility on the right wing. The Chelsea player is an industrious forward with a knack for using the width of the pitch to deliver some testing crosses into the box.
Moreover, he is an integral part of Tite’s counter-attacking system as Willian’s quick feet and dribbling skills give him an added advantage in such counter-attacking scenarios.
Today, he was shambolic, disappointingly. Often, Willian failed to receive passes and the first line of defence itself blocked his crosses into the box. His inability to stretch the play meant that Brazil’s attack became excessively narrow, and Willian was somewhat lethargic while receiving the passes too.
His touch was too heavy, and though he pressed the opponent on the right flank too, there was a significantly lesser creative contribution from his side.
On one instance, Willian, who was stationed perfectly fine and unmarked in the opposition half, messed up while collecting Neymar’s beautiful curled ball towards him.
This was in the first half and had Willian received the ball well, the outcome of the game could have been really different as Willian actually could have had free run towards Navas. Unsurprisingly, Willian was substituted for a much more accurate Douglas Costa at halftime.
4. Average: Neymar
The Costa Rican players undoubtedly singled out Neymar, as they put a lot of energy into fouling the skilful winger whenever the PSG man gained the possession of the ball. Neymar was hardly given any space with the ball and still, he managed to carve out some delightful passes to his teammates.
His tendency to pick out the correct players at such an instinctive proclivity helped his team create some of the other opportunities despite the opposition dutifully closing down the spaces and overcrowding the penalty box.
His corners were well weighted and had the correct trajectory in them too, but Brazil failed to present any sort of physical or aerial presence inside the box. However, there were occasions when he could have finished the goals well, but did not do so. Neymar had a chance to score a goal from outside the box when he only had an onrushing Keylor Navas to beat.
That attempt even failed to hit the target and injected a lot of anxiety and frustration amongst the players and the fans alike. His behaviour on the pitch wasn’t the best either, getting himself into the book for showing dissent against the referee’s decision late in the second half.
He even somewhat simulated and earned a penalty, only for it to be overturned courtesy the VAR intervention. Neymar managed to churn out a goal in the last minute of the game, but his overall performance blew hot and cold over the course of the ninety minutes.
3. Best: Keylor Navas
While Costa Rica decided to defend deeply, they had the guts to back this decision due to the majestic presence of Keylor Navas between the sticks. Navas, despite showing tremendous character and good performances, has always been lambasted by the Real Madrid faithful.
In national colours though, he is a different beast altogether. Having risen into prominence through some stupendous displays in the 2014 World Cup, his outing today was nothing short of excellent.
The scorecard would not give much justice as for the whole lot of 90 minutes, Navas managed to hold up strong while absorbing and subsequently denying countless attacks from the Brazilian side. He was confident enough to move out of his line to collect the crosses and was a commanding figure at the back.
His tendency to successfully claim the saves resulted in him evoking a sense of panic amongst the Brazilian players. Keylor has constantly shown that he is capable of keeping his calm and transmitting confidence to his backline too.
This match was a prime example of his undeniable talent and abilities.
2. Worst: Paulinho
The fact that Paulinho is being preferred over a more skilful, creative Fred in the right-hand side of the midfield is astounding, to be honest. The FCB player had a minimal contribution in the game today, as he hardly ever influenced any sort of attacking moves and was a liability with his finishing.
He is supposed to add up, as an extra, strong physical figure inside the box but Paulinho did not do justice to his box-to-box role either. Whenever Costa Rica broke on the counter-attack, Paulinho was found off-position and had to cover up a lot of ground in order to thwart the danger from the midfield.
Casemiro was doing a lot of defensive work as Paulinho strolled across the field, looking at getting involved in the passing combinations but eventually failing to do so too. Paulinho did not drive the team ahead on certain occasions too, and the likes of Neymar and Douglas Costa (in the second half) had to do that from the flanks instead.
His substitution rather tilted the game to Brazil’s favour as Roberto Firmino provided much more tenacity and energy in the attacking midfield position, eventually winning the header which resulted in Coutinho’s goal. Though Paulinho somehow redeemed himself by getting more involved in the later stages of his stay on the pitch, his overall performance left a lot to be desired.
1. Best: Philippe Coutinho
For two games running now, Coutinho has proven out to be the difference-maker, the goal-scorer in the Brazilian team. His tendency to keep things simple with the possession of the ball, before occasionally releasing that peach final delivery into the box made him an unpredictable proponent to deal with.
After the introduction of Douglas Costa at halftime, the attacking flair was much more balanced on both the flanks and hence Coutinho could decipher much more space through the centre to trouble the Costa Rican defence.
One of his balls to Gabriel Jesus should have resulted into the goal in the first half, but the lad failed to time his run well. Coutinho was drifting in and across the forward line and kept moving between the midfield and attacking lines in order to create some unrest and break Costa Rica’s strong defensive formation.
Phillipe tried that occasional long-range shot too, but this time the ball flew over the crossbar twice. His technique and temperament for finishing the goal in the 91st minute just go on to explain why the man is the talisman of this Brazilian team.
Coutinho showed composure and displayed his sumptuous skills at the same time, eventually providing that final touch for the goal that the Selecao so desperately needed.
