Brazil 2-1 Uruguay

A below-par performance from Brazil just about managed to see them through to the final of the Confederations Cup for a third year in a row.

Brazil didn’t start the game in their usual fashion in this competition, they had a slow start and couldn’t find their feet in the first-half with Uruguay pressing all over the pitch.

At the 13th minute the referee awarded a penalty to Uruguay for a shirt-pulling on Lugano by David Luiz. The penalty was taken by Forlan, the roars of despair and roars of boos must have surely distracted Forlan, the low struck powerless penalty was saved by Julio Cesar who reacted a moment before the penalty was taken and became an instant hero in the stadium with massive cheers from the fans.

Brazil’s wonder-kid and outstanding star of the tournament, Neymar, struggled to make an impact in the first-half, with the physicality and the lack of time not to his liking and the imaginative passes that he didn’t manage to pull off.

Brazil’s most exciting move of the first-half was when Hulk managed to storm through a couple of defenders and made a one-two move with Neymar and struck the ball way over. Fred showed clever movement by running in front of Godin to poke the ball wide. Four minutes later, Fred found himself in the right place when a brilliant over-head pass from Paulinho found Neymar who tried flicking the ball into the net only for the goalkeeper to make a good save that ended up in front of Fred who put it in luckily off his shin.

Uruguay didn’t have many chances wither, only a shot from outside the box from Forlan that went inches wide and inches over and a shot inside the box poorly executed by Saurez which went wide.

Uruguay started a slow attacking move that didn’t cause problems Brazil until the Brazil defence imploded by failing to clear the simplest of balls, then a poor clearance which turned into a pass to Marcelo by Thiago Silva was intercepted by Cavani who eventually slotted it into the bottom corner to make it 1-1. After that Uruguay didn’t create a lot of chances except for a Saurez header from a Forlan free-kick that just went over the crossbar.

The substitution of Hulk off for Bernard changed the way Brazil played, every player played as if they knew they might come off and the’d have to show that

they deserve their place on the pitch. With Bernard on the pitch, Brazil kept the ball easier than before and managed to create attacks on the wings. The second goal came from a Paulinho header when Muslera, who had a good game, came wondering out of his goal to get a cross from a corner but was no way near it and didn’t even try getting it and leaving his goal empty for Paulinho to head it in.

Brazil Poor Defensively….Again!

Brazil, yet again, were extremely bad defensively, with constant problems of clearing simple balls into the box or either knowing how to cover a full-back when hurdled down by a winger. If Brazil want to win against either Italy or Spain, they will have to improve in defence.

Frustrating Derby

This south american derby wasn’t violent but at times got annoying with players like Neymar, Cavani, Saurez….exaggerating their dives which frustrated both sides and Lugano’s comments about Neymar before the match obviously didn’t pay off.

Heroes

For Brazil the hero of the night was not Neymar, who had a poor game for his standards, but for me Brazil’s hero was undoubtedly Paulinho with a great pass to help set up the first goal and scoring the winner from a header, although he didn’t play that well, Paulinho was Brazil’s hero of the night.

There is no doubt that Cavani was Uruguay’s hero of the night, an outstanding performance in defence and in attack. His tackle on Marcelo showed how well he was playing defensively then a few minutes later able to dribble him to break away. His stamina and endurance was incredible throughout the whole match, helping Uruguay defend crosses from his side and helping break on the counter-attack.

Man of the match : Cavani

Villains

A particularly disappointing night for a lot of player but in particular for Forlan and Hulk. Forlan started of badly by missing a penalty but after that didn’t seem properly in the game, constantly trying to score from ambitious positions almost as if he was trying to recuperate from his mistake of missing the penalty, Uruguay’s game-plan of counter-attacking didn’t work for Forlan who clearly isn’t as fast as he used to be, which is understandable seeing how old he is now. Hulk was quite simply non-existent, he hardly touched the ball, didn’t help defensively and didn’t seem bothered to even participate in the match.

Stats

Possession :

Brazil 64% – 36% Uruguay

Shots On Target :

Brazil 10 – 3 Uruguay

Brazil

12 Julio Cesar

02 Dani Alves

03 Thiago Silva

04 David Luiz

06 Marcelo

17 Gustavo

18 Paulinho

11 Oscar (Hernanes, 72′)

09 Fred

10 Neymar (Dante, 90′)

19 Hulk (Bernard, 64′)

Bookings : David Luiz, Marcelo, Gustavo

Uruguay

01 Muslera

16 Perreira

02 Lugano

03 Godin

22 Caceres

07 Rodriguez

17 Arevalo

20 Gonzalez (Gargano, 83′)

21 Cavani

10 Forlan

09 Saurez

Bookings : Gonzalez, Cavani

Brazil 2-1 Uruguay match report written by Sebastian True

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