In the opening instalment of the second round of fixtures, Brazil took on Mexico and couldn’t have had more different experiences in their opening games. Brazil struggled to get going at all against a Croatian side who had their number but profited from poor officiating whereas Mexico were the exact opposite. A very good all-round performance which only ended 1-0, would have been decided with a more convincing score-line had the linesmen not ruled out two Gio Dos Santos goals for offside? How would these two sides get on when they met each other in Fortaleza? Read on to find out!
It was a very physical start to the match as Mexico forced the issue to let Brazil know exactly the kind of contest they were in for. Brazil didn’t make any significant inroads into the Mexican half after falling victim to a large amount of fouls in just the opening ten minutes of the game. It took the involvement of Oscar for Brazil to get anywhere offensively in the game as he and Marcelo exchange passes down the left before the former player in Fred who struck the ball just wide. Fred was adjudged offside after some very brave play of the offside trap but it was at least a sign of progress being made by the Brazilians.
Marcelo and Fred were involved again in Brazil’s next meaningful offensive play as Mexico struggled to contain Brazil’s left-sided attackers. After exchanging passes on the corner of the box, Marcelo was played through running towards the touchline before cutting back a cross towards Paulinho who was an unlucky deflection away from causing Ochoa problems in the Mexico goal.
The pace of the game soon died down to a very pedestrian level, picking up again in brief spurts as Herrera had a crack at Julio Cesar’s goal from about 35 yards out, forcing a fingertip save from the Brazilian which the referee missed thus awarding a free-kick. Neymar responded immediately, leading his Brazil side in a counter-attack down the left-hand side. Neymar drove a cross in but managed to miss everyone with his delivery until the ball rolled out to Dani Alves on the opposite flank; he immediately crossed back in towards Neymar at the far post who glanced a beautiful header towards goal only for Ochoa to react quickly to palm his effort away.
Brazil ended the half having spurned another huge chance and Neymar was again involved for the Brazilians as he whipped in a cross from a distant free-kick towards a cluster of unmarked Brazilian defenders. Silva and Luiz found themselves free at the far post but neither could control the ball and Ochoa smothered the effort mere minutes before the referee called for half-time.
Despite the number of chances Brazil had and failed to capitalise on, the pace of the half on the whole was very pedestrian – all of the fans at half-time surely wanted that to be changed but as the second-half restarted that change in pace didn’t quite materialise. Neither team had much offensive success in the opening 15 minutes of the second half but Mexico definitely had more possession and made better use of it as they frequently camped inside the Brazilian half before frequently taking on long-range shots, regularly sending them over the bar or wide.
Neymar again had the best chance for Brazil from a free-kick as he curled his effort just wide of Ochoa’s post. The challenges in the second-half were much less physical than in the first but the referee was much more willing to hand out bookings – and for debatably softer challenges than he was brushing off in the first half.
Whilst Mexico were having the better possession for long spells, Brazil definitely made better chances. Neymar and Ochoa resumed their match-long battle with just over 20 minutes to go as the Brazilian broke free to fire at the Mexican before collecting the rebound and attempting another shot which the winger couldn’t quite get away. One of the differences between the two sides when in possession was that Brazil were creating their chances through their pace whereas Mexico weren’t so much creating chances as they were trying to force them, due to a lack of pace and movement up front. The introduction of the pacey Javier Hernandez helped somewhat as he was constantly playing off the shoulder of the Brazilian centre-backs and, had he had more support, could have caused some serious problems for Brazil.
As time went on in the second half, that didn’t happen and another huge chance passed Brazil by in the meantime. A stupid foul on Luis Gustavo out on the left wing gave Brazil another free-kick to test the Mexican rear-guard with. Thiago Silva got on the end of the free-kick and powered a header towards the centre of the goal only for Ochoa to parry away into the crowd but none of the onrushing Brazilian players could put it away and the game ended 0-0.
We haven’t really seen any of the South American sides get going yet in this tournament. Brazil have been pretty average in both games, Argentina and Ecuador also in their games. Uruguay and Honduras were shocking in their fixtures. Chile and Mexico looked very good in flashes – only Colombia have looked solid. Will they get their act together? Check in with us again soon here at Fortitude to find out!