Parreira in an interview this week confirmed his intention of keeping his new tactic throughout the end of this year and into the World Cup.  Since he started using this new tactic he's  had to explain to the Brazilian media and fans that only time would prove its efficiency. Though risky as it may be such an offensive team, mostly everyone was happy with the novelty.

Brazil has always been a nation of offensive football (soccer) and so the new tactic only made sense. However, as good as we are known to be in the offensive side, we have just as big of a reputation of deficiency of the defense.  so things start to get complicated when you think this team will have to confront tough European defenses and face their strong and robotic attacks.

      Nevertheless the media went crazy and quickly nominated the tactic as the magical square (though I prefer to call it  'fantastic Four').

      For those of you that need further input on this tactic here it is. Parreira decided, firstly against Paraguay in the WCQ, to keep two men deep  in the defense, two wingers that quickly jump in attack, two midfielders that are able to go back and forth, and four forwards that would constantly provoke the other team's defense. Thus the name ' Fantastic Four'. Though in paper the four are divided in two midfielders and two forwards every one of them are extremely capable scorers making it hard for the opposition to know who will try to get in.

      Again in paper it's a  common 4-4-2 but this is how it works. When we have the ball it becomes 2-4-4, and when we are attacking, it turns into an incredible 2-2-6. Sometimes however, as you could have seen in the Confederations cup, when we are winning, it transforms into a never seen 2-8, with the defensive midfielders scoring goals.

     The fact of the matter is, the current main team for Brazil has the quality of players to do this in attack, but do we have the quality to  keep this tactic in the defense? Against Germany in the Confederations cup the team showed some deficiency on this sid., When Brazil scored a goal the Germans quickly responded, twice. In the end however the more offensive side won the battle, but will that work in the World Cup?

     Though we can't answer that at least Until it begins, opinions fly around the World of soccer, and after the crushing of Argentina’s favoritism in the Confederations cup Final, the comments are mostly positive.

     I personally think it's what we should have been doing for a long time. As Parreira says, and it’s obvious, a team is only complete when it can master both sides of the pitch. However if so many things will go wrong in our side we might as well go with everything we got on the other. The amount of qualified players we have to fulfill this tactic is what amazes me to this day. In the confederation cup we had Ronaldinho, Kaka, Robinho and Adriano.  That can be easily swapped around between Julio Baptista, Ricardo Oliveira, Juninho Pernambucano, and of Course Ronaldo.  I personally believe in the end Adriano and Ronaldo will be the attacking force of Brazil in the World Cup. Parreira has stated that he wants two men inside the opponent’s area at all times and though Robinho is a great player he's not the man for that job. Adriano is.

     So, for the first time in a long time, I'm extremely happy with our team. We still have moments of great discomfort, a hot and cold campaign where they play good games and bad games but in general they have showed they can bring what they got when they are needed.

     Besides the great players that have their places guaranteed we have some great new replacements in moments of need. Renato is the best of them if I may say so. Whenever Brazil  needs improvement in the defense Renato comes in with his great stealing and counter attack forming skills. Parreira has gained 100 points in my book for finding and using that guy. Then we have Cicinho, great young player that shows a lot of future with the Main squad. Gilberto might not be as useful as Cicinho but still a great player. (perhaps this year we might find another to replace him). And then we have all the forward replacements above mentioned.

     It's a team any other coach would pray to god not to encounter and we grace the God for allowing us to have it. Though some weaknesses are obvious I only see, for the first time in my short life, improvements coming. If this world cup is not ours, a great fluke of soccer will be reported and it will automatically be remembered for long times to come as one of the greatest Zebras (something that was and should have not been… or the opposite) in the history of soccer.

Comments

[Alex Frank]

Dude i think you're going a bit overboard.. They're good but not unbeatable, Germany won't be the same on the World Cup and Argentina, if they go as strong as they did against brazil in the WCQ game, things will be different... Watch out.