Review: Brazil vs Mexico

After winning their first games in Group A, both Brazil and Mexico stand each other in order to get closer to the 16th round. Brazil will try to regain their aggressive spirit back to the game after struggling against Croatia (3-1). In other hand, Mexico has become highly confident as they defeated Cameroon 1-0 although the score really should have been 3-0 (blame refs for that). Nevertheless, Mexico looked highly determined to challenge Seleccao in order to go far in the World Cup. Mexico’s manager Miguel Herrera stated earlier that they will wipe the smile out of Brazilians through this game. And Herrera’s prediction was right as Brazil was forced to draw against Mexico 0-0.

After Brazil ended this game with a draw, I started to wonder if Scolari’s decision to cut Kaka from the team was the right decision. Brazil had so many critical moments where they could have scored multiple goals but they couldn’t finish passes properly. I feel like veteran players such as Kaka could have pulled off better in these critical situations. Now, I am not saying that Kaka should start in the team but perhaps including him in the roster and having him play as a sub would have given better impact. Brazil highly lacks in experience (6/11 starters are first time World Cup players) as it was proven in the match against Mexico. While Brazil didn’t have a great time today, this is great news for Mexico as they were able to tie against the super power of the world.

First half:

It seemed like Mexico is ultimately set on crippling Brazil in the game as Mexico kept attacking the goal post of Brazil for first five minutes. Oribe Peralta has proven that he is the most dangerous player in his team as he shot at the goal several times inside the box. But, as Brazil slowly settled in during the first ten minutes, Mexico had to focus on defending against counter attacks.

Soon, Mexico exposed their problems in defense especially when Aguilar and Layun focused more on setting attacks rather than on their defense as they tried to convert from turnovers. Fred almost scored the first goal but referee called it off side. Failure to mark Brazil’s attackers gave numerous opportunities for Neymar and Fred to shoot more at the goal post but fortunately, Ochoa was able to stop them (just jaw dropping). Also, Mexican defense got sloppier as they became more aggressive towards Neymar, almost risking themselves from getting a yellow card. On 14^th minute, Neymar almost scored as he connected Dani Alves’s pass with a header but Ochoa saved Mexico again.

What Mexico was struggling first half is that they weren’t able to settle down well against Brazil. Brazil had been pressuring Mexican offense as Thiago Silva and David Luiz were able to steal passes from Mexican midfielders. Mexican midfielders also struggled especially when Neymar sprinted with the ball to the goal post but no luck in 19^th minute. Also, Oscar had a golden opportunity to score on 29^th minute but his shot was too weak. Overall, Brazil showed a better performance in executing counter attacks and possessing the ball as well.

Second half:

As Second half started, Brazil started to target the goal post more often as Layun and Moreno fail to mark down Neymar and Oscar for first 10 minutes. But Mexico has started build their confidence as Brazilians are getting frustrated throughout the game. With frustrations kept building up, Brazil’s quality of passes and defenses started to decrease as well. This just gave Mexican players tremendous opportunities to turn the tide of the game.

Brazil started to struggle pretty badly on the second half that they gave numerous chances to Dos Santos and Peralta to mess around with the defense. As Mexicans began more confident, Dos Santos and Peralta were able to receive plenty of passes to connect them to a goal but passes were too poor to have them connect them to goals. But gotta say that without Cesar’s defense, Mexico would have been up 2-0 against Brazil.

But as Mexico tried to focus on pressuring Brazil, Mexico became more susceptible to Brazil’s counterattacks. Oscar and Neymar’s leadership in offense have threatened Mexico as they regain the possession slowly. However, once again Ochoa’s defense was too much for Brazil. Without Ochoa, Mexico would already have conceded the goal (Kaka would have done this far better in these moments). Although Brazil had numerous chances to lead the game, Ochoa was able to prevent them scoring. Only if Brazil had more experienced players to break these moments, Mexico would have been heavily doomed. But luck was going towards Mexico as they concluded the game with 0-0.

Starting XI’s

Brazil: Julio Caesar; Dani Alves, T. Silva, David Luiz, Marcelo; Paulinho, L. Gustavo; Ramires, Oscar, Neymar; Fred.

Mexico: Guillermo Ochoa; Miguel Layun, Francisco Rodriguez, Rafael Marquez, Hector Moreno; Paul Aguilar, Hector Herrera, Andres Guardado, Jose Vazquez; Giovani Dos Santos, Oribe Peralta.

Man of the Match

This game belonged to Ochoa no matter what. So many times Brazil attacked the goal post but still Ochoa saved all of them. Oscar and Neymar threatened to disrupt the defense through set pieces and penetration to the goal box. But, Ochoa always stepped up in these critical moments, frustrating Brazil even more. Brazil could have won this game easily but however, Ochoa was the one who saved the day. Kudos for this guy for rescuing Mexico for today. How doomed Mexico were if this guy didn’t play.

Player Ratings

Brazil:

Julio Cesar: 7- If it wasn’t for him, Brazil would have conceded a goal to Dos Santos on second half.
Dani Alves: 6- Initiated a few good counterattacks but got owned by Layun.
Thiago Silva: 6.5- Blew the chance to score but asides Cesar, he had a good defense.
Marcelo: 4.5- Wasted too many chances to counter against Mexico. I have no idea why he is starting for Brazil.
Gustavo: 6.5- He lacked in midfield creativity but he contributed significant attacks against Mexico.
Paulinho: 4.5- Wait he played? I didn’t see him playing at all.
Bernard: 5- He ran around a lot but showed no results.
Neymar: 7- Only Brazilian player that was able to get around Mexican defense and created space for counter attack.
Oscar: 5.5- Inconsistent throughout the game. Struggled as he was trying to set up counter attack. What happened to you Oscar??
Fred: 4- No display whatsoever. He needs to step up for next game in order to pull off as one top.
Willian: 4- Didn’t really have a time to give an impact for Brazil.
Jo: 4.5- He offered nothing!
Ramires: 4.5- He didn’t do anything throughout the gamw.

Mexico:

Ochoa: 10- Superb, nothing to say about him. He will have Mexico go far with his ability to save Mexico from speedy counterattacks.
Aguilar: 5.5- He was good but he left holes on defense against Neymar.
Rodriguez: 6- He struggled when Neymar was messing around with him. Mexico’s defense was solely carried out by Ochoa.
Marquez: 6.5- Did ok when covering pasReses.
Moreno: 7.5- Largely solid overall. He was able to stand through Brazil’s counter attack.
Herrera: 7- Challenged Brazil’s midfield quite a lot. Had a great control over his ball possession.
Vazquez: 6.5- Protected the backline very well.
Guardado: 7- Lively threat throughout the game and improved much better from the past game.
Dos Santos: 6- He ran around a lot to threaten Brazil’s defense but poor passes killed him at the end.
Peralta: 6.5- Had good moments where he could have scored but blew it!
Chicharito: 6- Good movements around Brazil’s defense but had zero chances of scoring because of poor passes.
Fabian: 5- Can’t say too much about him because he didn’t get to play enough.
Jimenez: 5- Super late sub… Didn’t really have chances to be a threat against Brazil.

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