Brazilian Group Stage Review

Considering all the flaws and potentially problematic points I'd been discussing since the build up for the tournament, IMO Brazilian performance should be rated 5 out of 10.

The near collapse of Argentina and the Group Stage elimination of Germany shouldn't mean that Brazil is an inch better than their true display demonstrated.

POSITIVE POINTS - Neymar seems fit and able to rush through the left as well as contributing to assist team mates when possible. Coutinho looks very good through the middle and seeing him well adapted to Neymar's movements is a positive sign considering that IMO qualification of Conmebol wasn't a good test or a good point of comparison.

The team seems to be improving slowly their emotional strenght, in the sense that they looked far more "frozen" after seeing Switzerland scoring in Match 1  than during their worst moment of their match against Serbia. IMO it's still a point where they could be better, but them seem to be building up in a way.

NEGATIVE POINTS - Gabriel Jesus is not contributing as an ST, Brazil has faced moments when they had the adersaries at their defensive field, up to 9-10 players of the adv team at their own box and in this moment there's nothing you can extract from having 3 wingers like Neymar, Willian and Jesus. Brazil lacks a tall striker with good team chemistry. Firmino could have been tested and given the position but we simply see Willian often crossing to Jesus and that's kind of stupid considering his height.

I believe, however, that Brazil has it's major weakness when they need to defend with many players at their box, the "middle of the middle", i.e. Casemiro and Paulinho seem to be just not enough when you have the entire enemy midfield pressuring you as they are down the score. Brazil was undergoing a very tough moment when they scored today against Serbia, the goal seemed to shift things their way just when they needed it the most. Tite seems unable to make the right substitution at the right time. Usually it's coming 10-20 minutes later than ideal time and that is a problem.

FINAL GROUP STAGE IMPRESSIONS

Brazil has it's biggest assets upfront and in the attacking midfield, and they seem slightly fragile when undergoing pressure lasting longer than 2-5 minutes. The team seems particularly nervous when this happens and that could be explained by many factors such as the lack of international experience of Tite, the big number of young names in the team or simply the consequence of an easy qualification in Conmebol not preparing them for hard games.

Historically Brazil gets bigger handicaps than deserved which often result in good In-Running opportunities as well as structured hedge operations. I will probably write something about the Brazilian lines and potential good strategies for the match against Mexico.

BRAZILIAN SERIE A - ASIAN HANDICAP FULL GUIDE 

This product will be released in the upcoming weeks, with a big season-resume preview for rounds 13 to 38 as well as complete Previews and Reviews of the rounds, Copa Libertadores/Sudamerica and Brazil Cup also to be priced in a timely manner.

As discussed in previous posts I'm still thinking about what to do with that and there is room for proposals/partnerships in the coming 6-18 months for sure. More on the matter to come soon. I will post another teaser of how much the Serie A tournament could be shaked by radical changes after WC break, this should come in the coming 24-48 hours.



Happy trading!