Italy teach Brazil a lesson

25 March 2013 09:02

The fast paced friendly match between two former World Cup winners Italy and Brazil turned out to be a cracker and did not seem to be just a 'friendly'

Former Chelsea and World Cup winning coach Luiz Scolari tested a young Brazilian side against the Italians, also a fairly young side with the exception of goalkeeper Buffon and the creative Andrea Pirlo.

Pirlo, the deep seated playmaker, kept feeding long passes to the strikers and once again showed his class. Brazilian hotshot Neymar struggled to make an impact in the game despite the fact that Brazil went 2-0 up in the first half. Clearly the Selecao were outplayed by the Azzuri, although the European side had to dig deep to find the equalizers.

DeRossi pulled one back for Italy and then Super Mario stamped his authority with a rocket shot which Julio Cesar had no way of stopping. Balotelli kept tormenting the Brazilian back line, and provided ample proof of why he still remains a soft spot for Roberto Mancini.

Scloari’s boys, in a bid to regain possession whenever they made mistakes in their passing game, kept making rough tackles on the Italians. Their approach seemed much more physical than earlier Brazilian sides, and did not exhibit the characteristic Brazilian football finesse. With so many of Scolari’s players playing club football in Europe their football has all the distinctive markings of that continent’s style of playing the game.

The experienced Kaka too failed to change the game when he was brought off the bench and introduced in the second half.

Cesar Prandelli’s men seemed to have got their plan just right while the Brazilian coach, inspite of having a much more talented side than his Italian counterpart, needs a lot of work to do to get his game plan into the success mode. For starters, the older Brazilian internationals should be dropped and the younger players need to practice more as a unit.

There is great potential in this Brazilian side and that was evident for football fans to see. However the manner in which the Azzuri rallied to level the score will be a lesson worth the learning for the Selecao.

Source: DSG