Luis Suárez and Renato Augusto illuminate the semifinals of the Copa do Brasil – 08/15/2023 – Tostão

This Wednesday (16), for the Copa do Brasil, São Paulo, in the crowded Morumbi, will press and have more possession of the ball, while Corinthians, away from home and with a goal advantage, should score further back, close the spaces, as he has successfully done, to counterattack with the young and fast forwards.

Lucas Moura will play on the right going to the center, as he likes to do, or in the middle forming an attack partnership with Calleri, since Luciano is suspended. Colombian James Rodríguez is another option.

In the other semifinal, Flamengo, in Maracanã, even with internal problems, is the favorite to reach the final, as it plays at home and has two goals ahead. Grêmio is an engaging team in attack, with many exchanges of passes and triangulations.

In both matches, two veterans —Suárez, from Grêmio, and Renato Augusto, from Corinthians— lit up the spectacle. The ball for both seems like an extension of the body.

In the Brasileirão, I won’t say anymore that Botafogo is a mystery, because the individual, collective, emotional and strategic qualities of the team are visible, clear. There is no mystery.

At the weekend the European championships returned. English teams, in addition to having the best players, perform more efficiently and regularly the modern technical and strategic fundamentals, such as compactness, reducing the distance between the most backward and forward players, they know how to defend and attack with more players, play with more intensity and speed, in addition to pressing across the field, from the goalkeeper to recovering the ball, among other details.

Tactical design and the numbers that represent it are no longer important in evaluating a team, as players do not stop running, occupying various positions and exercising more than one function. At every moment, there is a different tactical design. Repetitive teams, where tactical schemes are quickly understood by analysts, are generally the least efficient.

In Spain, Real Madrid led by Ancelotti, who does not want to talk about the Brazilian national team before June 2024, changed the traditional way of playing. Vinicius Junior, who has always been a left winger throughout his career who sometimes came in through the middle, started to partner up with Rodrygo. The lack of a good replacement for Benzema was the reason for the changes.

Instead of having a trio in the midfield, two wingers and a striker, Real now has a quartet in the middle and an attacking duo. The young Bellingham, an English midfielder signed by Real, who already shone in the 2022 Cup, plays from one area to another. With his wide strides, he scores further back, creates many moves and still appears in front to finish.

Why, for decades, has Brazil not had this type of player? I deduce that in the base categories, until today, coaches use this type of athlete to act as an attacking midfielder, in the outdated view of dividing the midfield between defensive midfielders and attacking midfielders.

The queue walks, today it runs, in today’s hurried and hectic world. Messi went to the USA and Cristiano Ronaldo went to Arabia, where they will make fortunes and transition athletes into retirement and eternity. Mbappé is the current heir to the throne.

Neymar, who could be another competitor, is also going to Arabia. Despite being only 31 years old, his departure gives the impression, it symbolizes, that it is the beginning of the end of his career.

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