Seeing former French player Djorkaeff sitting alongside FIFA president in a Club World Cup game, I remembered what years before the 1998 World Cup, won by France, I started watching the games of the main teams to get to know the teams and athletes better. Before a match, everyone talked about Djorkaeff, the highlight of the French team. When the ball rolled, I was puzzled by the talent of a high, elegant young man who would become one of the greatest in football history, Zidane. Djorkaeff was just a good player.
A classic football phrase, quite repeated, points out that “if” does not win a game. Obviously, it does not win, but it helps to understand the details of a match, what happened, what could have happened and what could happen in the following matches.
I heard these days that if Flamengo had scored more behind, without trying to exchange passes through the center, and used the long defense releases to the attack – as they made Fluminense and Al Hilal in wins, respectively, about Inter Milan and Manchester City – would have been much more likely to beat Bayern Munich.
Fluminense and Al Hilal scored with eight to nine players near the area, but when they recovered the ball, they were able to exchange passes, advance and create chances of goal. Held two great matches. Fluminense’s strategy with three defenders worked very well.
Some said that if, with three minutes of play, the ball had not hit the foot of Inter’s defender, she would not have risen, would not have fallen between the two defenders to make the goal, and the game could have been different. Others said that if, at the beginning of the Flamengo game, the ball coming from the corner had not hit the defender’s head, Bayern Munich’s goal would not have happened and the story of the match could have been another.
Some commentators and many Botafogo fans said that if the team had advanced more against Palmeiras, it could have won. Coach Renato Paiva, who was widely praised, even by PSG coach, for organizing a great defensive system against the French team, was harshly criticized and fired after the defeat to Palmeiras for using the same strategy.
If Palmeiras had not scored the goal of victory in overtime against Botafogo, it could have been eliminated on penalties. Abel Ferreira, deified for his courage in substitutions, would have been widely criticized for taking Stephen during the match, as he was the only one of the strikers who created chances of goal. Paulinho’s entrance was providential, but he and Stephen could have continued together in the game.
In the quarterfinals, in the match between Fluminense and Al Hilal, what will be the strategy of both teams? Are you going to mark further to counterattack, as you did against Inter and Manchester City, or will you advance the marking to have the dominance of the ball and the game?
Inter and Manchester City disappointed. City has several new players and undergoes restructuring. Guardiola repeated the frequent error of several Brazilian technicians by increasing the number of strikers, empties midfield and leaving many spaces in defense.
The victories and defeats live in the technical, tactical, physical, emotional, environmental, unforeseen events and “if”, but it could have been.
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