Without Neymar, Brazil won Copa America
![Neymar with his son watches from the stands before the Copa America final. Photograph: Getty Images Neymar with his son watches from the stands before the Copa America final. Photograph: Getty Images](https://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_fs/1.3950500.1562604996!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_620_330/image.jpg)
Brazil winning a Copa América at
home cannot be said to be a surprise. They have hosted the tournament
five times and, after beating Peru 3-1 in the final on Sunday, they have
won it five times. But to suggest this was some sort of procession, a
pacing out of the inevitable, would be misleading, and would ignore why,
12 years after Brazil’s last success in a major competition, this felt
so significant.
It is not just
that this showed Brazil could handle being favourites, that they did not
choke on the expectation as they did so spectacularly in the World Cup
five years ago. It’s that they won with a largely modern, progressive
style of play and, most importantly of all, that they did so without the
injured Neymar. This was a victory for Tite and all for which he
stands.
Brazil’s defeat
against Peru in Foxborough three years ago, which eliminated them from
the Copa América Centenario at the group stage, was the beginning of
Brazil’s belated shift into modernity. Out went Dunga and in came Tite,
who had none of his predecessor’s insularity. He studied others, went to
Europe to learn, and adopted a form of pressing.
And yet the sense
at the World Cup was always that he was hampered by Neymar, a galactic
ego who could not be relied on to press and slowed the game down. There
were moments in Russia, notably against Mexico in the last 16, when
Brazil showed what they could be but the Neymar imbalance did for them
against Belgium as Thomas Meunier’s unchecked sallies on the right
placed an intolerable pressure on Philippe Coutinho, who was probably being asked to perform a role more defensive than he was comfortable in anyway.
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Without Neymar in
this tournament, Brazil became fully Tite-ist. It took a bout of mumps
for Richarlison and a misfiring performance from David Neres for him to happen on his front three but once it came together it knitted together superbly, with Everton and Gabriel Jesus cutting in from the flanks and Roberto Firmino
dropping deep from a central position. Against Peru, Gabriel Jesus set
up the opener for Everton, whose run also led to the late penalty while
the second, scored by Gabriel Jesus, came from Firmino winning the ball
deep and a forward surge from Arthur.
The Barcelona midfielder had a
vital role shuttling between Casemiro at the back of midfield and
Coutinho as a playmaker and was probably the sort of player Brazil
really missed at the World Cup – although before criticising Paulinho,
the man Arthur replaced, too strongly it should probably be noted his
role was made easier by the way Coutinho was allowed to play more
centrally because he was not always covering for a vacant left flank.
Tite’s mastery was
confirmed after Gabriel Jesus’s 70th-minute red card. Briefly it seemed
that Peru, who had been starting to threaten anyway, might be able to
mount telling pressure but he acted decisively, taking off Firmino for
Richarlison who held the ball up superbly and, with Dani Alves pushing into midfield after Éder Militão came on for Coutinho, the shift in momentum was checked.
At the World Cup,
Tite often seemed the calmest man in the Brazil camp and here he was
again, decisive and rational. The result was a Brazil who seemed smarter
and more ruthless, less hysterical and less jingoistic. Perhaps not
unrelated, the victory was not the propaganda triumph for the president,
Jair Bolsonaro, that might have been expected.
High ticket prices
meant the crowd was widely assumed to be made up of the idle classes
who make up the bulk of his support and there has been a growing
association between the yellow national team shirt and his far-right
movement. But whenBolsonaro stepped on to the pitch for the trophy
presentation, he was greeted with widespread booing.
Even more telling,
when the squad paraded along the line of dignitaries to collect their
medals, Marquinhos ignored him entirely, Coutinho visibly squirmed in
his presence and Tite skilfully fended off his attempt at a hug.
Brazil were not
perfect, by any means. They struggled to break down Venezuela and
Paraguay. They were perhaps overly conservative against Argentina in the
semi-final when refereeing decisions went their way. But Brazil
conceded only one goal in six games and looked as coherent as a unit as
they have for years – probably since even before the 2007 Copa América
when they were wildly inconsistent.
Tite’s position,
though, is far from certain. He is frustrated that various members of
his coaching staff, among them the former Arsenal players Sylvinho and
Edu, have been allowed to leave. Last week the Brazilian federation, the
CBF, issued a statement insisting that were he to go it would be of his
own volition. Had he become the first manager to fail to win the Copa
for Brazil on home soil, though, there would undoubtedly have been
pressure.
As it is, Brazil
go on to World Cup qualifying and yet another Copa next year, in better
shape than they have been in for a long time. The biggest question now
is what happens when Neymar returns.
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