Brazil move into third place in the South American World Cup Qualifying table after a 3-0 victory against Peru in Salvador. The three goal margin moved them ahead of Paraguay and Chile who’ve also notched up seven points from four games. The Brazil side, containing a healthy mix of domestic based players and European based stars, lined up in a 4-1-4-1 formation with Neymar leading the line. An early error from Willian led to an […]
Former Liverpool midfielder Graeme Souness has described Brazil’s Zico and Junior as two of the best players he ever played against. Writing in his column for The Sunday Times, the Scotsman heaped praise on the iconic Brazilian midfielder. “From my own career, Zico stood out as a world-class player,” he said. “I played against him several times for Liverpool, Sampdoria, and Scotland but never got within 6ft of him, never laid a finger on him. […]
Brazil’s impressive record in friendly matches continued as they defeated a poor USA side by four goals to one in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The last friendly Brazil failed to win was way back in August 2013, when a Daniel Alves own goal gave Switzerland a win in Basel. The United States, or the USMNT as they’re more commonly known, were coming into this game off the back of a 2-1 win against Peru, but their hopes […]
This preview of the 2015 Brazilian season was written by Anthony Wood (@FRfutebolAnt) and Luke Butler (@FRfutebolLuke), who are Brazilian football experts for the football data and analysis company, Football Radar. After a few long and arduous months of state championship football, the 2015 edition of Brazil’s premier league competition, the Brasileirão, kicks off this weekend. The league has seen eleven different teams crowned champions over the past two decades and this season looks set to be as competitive and unpredictable […]
Goals have a miraculous tendency for clearing any criticism that had preceded them; they’re the perfect antidote to any negative (and forcefully put forward) observations. Goals have lifted Eder from one club to another as his never faltering strike rate attracted ever bigger clubs until, this season he was asked to prove his worth at the highest stage of Italian football. And a goal is how he answered his latest round of critics, those who […]
BRAZIL 1 R FIRMINO (72) CHILE 0 Roberto Firmino proved his worth once again, as partly experimental Brazil side defeated Chile to continue their excellent winning streak in non-competitive games. The run now stands at seventeen straight wins in friendly matches, but the first half of this game at the Emirates Stadium in London must have had Brazil coach Dunga thinking that this was the end of the streak. Jorge Sampaoli sent out a typically dynamic […]
France – 1 Varane 21′ Brazil – 3 Oscar 40′, Neymar 57′, Luiz Gustavo 69′ This victory at the Stade de France was Brazil’s 16th consecutive friendly win, and one which saw Dunga’s men line up in a formation containing no real centre forward. The shape was a very fluid 4-2-2-2 formation, in which much of the play was focused down the left hand side. The roaming play of Neymar, Oscar, and occasionally Filipe Luis down this […]
Corinthians have begun the new season in storming fashion and have a strong claim to be the best team in Brazil right now. They are unbeaten in all competitions with 12 wins and 3 draws, and have conceded just 6 goals along the way. More impressive than the numbers, however, is the manner of their performances: Ruthlessly efficient, combining stout defending with precise, targeted moments of beautiful and devastating counter-attacking football, they have rarely looked […]
Brazil’s first competitive games after the World Cup shambles came in the South American Under-20 Championships, which have just come to a conclusion in Uruguay. With a young, articulate coach in Alexandre Gallo, who had time to prepare for the competition, this was an excellent opportunity to put last year’s disappointments in the past and show that Brazilian football has licked its wounds, learned its lessons and moved on. That opportunity was emphatically not taken. […]
During the last fortnight, Shakhtar Donetsk have been touring Brazil, playing winter break friendlies with Serie A sides Flamengo, Atlético Mineiro, Internacional, Cruzeiro and recently relegated Bahia. With 14 Brazilians currently listed in their first team squad, this was a literal homecoming for a significant portion of the Shakhtar squad. For no player was this slight return more spiritually nourishing than for Bernard Duarte. His move to the Ukraine has been difficult from the very […]