Brazil faced Australia twice—and the second match was a tactical glow-up. See how Brazil’s switch to a 4-3-3 opened up the midfield, improved their attack, and helped spark a comeback. The stats and match clips reveal why the difference was huge!
#Football #Brazil #Soccer #Tactics
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0:00 - Brazil’s Rare Doubleheader Against Australia
0:33 - How Brazil Found Space Between the Lines
3:08 - Why Brazil’s 4-3-3 Worked Better
8:54 - Progressive Passes Reveal Brazil’s Improvement
11:51 - Building the Attack Behind the Midfield
14:49 - The Build-Up to Bruno’s Go-Ahead Goal
17:07 - Brazil’s Formation and Final Takeaways
We're now available on Spotify! Listen now https://open.spotify.com/show/
#Football #Brazil #Soccer #Tactics
Subscribe to the channel for more football breakdowns.
Comment what you liked most from the video!
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@futebolmaximo
0:00 - Brazil’s Rare Doubleheader Against Australia
0:33 - How Brazil Found Space Between the Lines
3:08 - Why Brazil’s 4-3-3 Worked Better
8:54 - Progressive Passes Reveal Brazil’s Improvement
11:51 - Building the Attack Behind the Midfield
14:49 - The Build-Up to Bruno’s Go-Ahead Goal
17:07 - Brazil’s Formation and Final Takeaways
We're now available on Spotify! Listen now https://open.spotify.com/show/
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SportsTranscript
00:00We had a very rare event in football during this Brazil and Australia match-up.
00:03I don't recall it ever happening before,
00:05where the national team played twice against the same country in such a short window of games.
00:09And what's more, they played much better in one game compared to the other.
00:13And why does that matter?
00:14It's simple, because then we can evaluate Brazil's performance compared to itself
00:18without the opponent's skill level interfering.
00:21Except that in the middle of all this, there was a stat no one has shown yet
00:24that to me perfectly sums up Brazil's evolution.
00:27Using graphics, I'm going to show you why Brazil was so superior in this second match against Australia.
00:34Here I'm going to show you two plays that lead to nothing,
00:37but I want you to try to analyze them to see why they're so important.
00:41This one is from the second game, Brazil was in blue, right, against Australia.
00:45The pass reaches Bruno Guimarães here.
00:47He turns, spots Vini making a run on one side, Rayan making a run on the other.
00:52He tries a long pass, but the move breaks down.
00:55If we look at this other play, once again, Bruno Guimarães receives it,
00:59looks for someone making a run in behind.
01:00Now it's Estevão, closer to the end of the game, but the long ball isn't that clean,
01:04Estevão doesn't control it well, and Australia manages to regain possession.
01:09If we look at the start of the play, it'll be a bit easier to understand.
01:13First, Jai starts the build-up, and then we'll see Brazil's midfield trio.
01:16Bruno Guimarães with number 8 here, Danilo on the other side,
01:20and Bontempo a bit further forward.
01:22Throughout the game, we usually saw Bruno as the deepest midfielder,
01:25and Danilo and Bontempo further up the pitch.
01:28And why does this matter?
01:29Because usually, it's not just a matter of being further forward,
01:32it's a matter of occupying different depths on the pitch.
01:37And I'll show you, at the start of this play,
01:39both Guimarães and Danilo are behind the first pressing line, behind the striker.
01:45Meanwhile, Bontempo is moving into the space behind the second pressing line,
01:49behind the defensive midfielders.
01:51And this is important for us to understand Brazil's evolution.
01:54Ball to Danilo, he's drawing the defensive midfielder in.
01:57Look at this line of four Australian markers right here.
02:00And Bruno Guimarães goes into the space behind this second line of defense,
02:03behind the defensive midfielders,
02:06where he'll be marked less and will be further up the pitch.
02:09Danilo finds the pass first to Bontempo.
02:11Bontempo then to Bruno Guimarães.
02:13And now Brazil, besides gaining ground,
02:15has reached a more advanced area of the pitch,
02:17where it only needs to break one more line.
02:19It has already broken the striker's first line of pressure,
02:22the midfielder's second line,
02:23and now there's the last line of defense.
02:25Bruno has time to drive forward.
02:27He tries the pass to Vinian and it ends up not working out so well.
02:29Same thing on the other play.
02:30Look, Danilo drops deep.
02:32They kind of swap positions, right?
02:33Look here at Bruno Guimarães further forward.
02:35Danilo very deep here.
02:37And it seems to me that at this point,
02:39it was Andre, still a little lost.
02:41Just look at how this Australian marker is split between reference points.
02:44He sees Andre and Hendrik dropping deep
02:46and he sees Bruno Guimarães on the other side.
02:48It's like he's tracking Hendrik,
02:50but he has an eye on Bruno.
02:51But it's hard to track both.
02:52Danilo's passing to Bruno.
02:53Look at how the Australian sentback threatens to step up.
02:56But he sees he's too far away
02:57and now Bruno has the exact situation he likes best, right?
03:00Which is facing forward to find teammates making runs
03:02and then being able to exploit the space behind the defense.
03:05He plays the pass here to Estevo
03:07and the play ends up coming to nothing.
03:08On the tactics board here,
03:10it'll be easier to explain the difference between one game and another.
03:13First, the formation, right?
03:14This right here was the basic change from one match to the other.
03:17In the first game,
03:18Brazil went with a 4-2-4 in the second game
03:19with a 4-3-3.
03:21And here on the board,
03:22everything will be clearer
03:23how Brazil was organized, okay?
03:25The full backs pushed up, usually in position,
03:27but deeper inside
03:28without going all the way to the byline.
03:30We saw Bruno Guimarães dropping back a lot
03:32during buildup alongside the center backs.
03:34Danilo was a bit further forward,
03:36but that swapped quite often.
03:39And the front four that looked to link up inside,
03:41but what basically happened was
03:43Danilo was behind the initial press.
03:46Keep these terms in mind.
03:48Behind the first press,
03:49behind the defensive midfielder's line,
03:51behind the mid-block line,
03:52and then obviously the depth, right?
03:54In behind the back line.
03:55So there are kind of three spaces
03:57that Brazil had to exploit.
03:58This one right here,
03:59then gaining this space
04:01to finally gain that space.
04:03These are stages you have to work through
04:05during the game.
04:06We can even push Australia's line
04:07a little bit higher up here
04:09just to show that space could also exist back here.
04:11Brazil was building up
04:13and when the ball usually reached this player
04:15or even one of the defensive midfielders
04:17or one of the center backs
04:18who had room to carry it forward,
04:20instead of Brazil looking for the next stage,
04:22once they broke that first line of pressure,
04:25which was actually formed by just one player,
04:27instead of looking for the next stage,
04:28which was this space between the lines.
04:30We saw the front four who were all ready.
04:33I'll even mark them all here.
04:34They were all set to attack
04:35in behind the defense.
04:37So everyone was lined up here really deep.
04:39What's left for Bruno Guimarães or Marquinhos?
04:42That long ball looking to play it
04:43behind the defense,
04:44which rarely worked out,
04:45especially because Australia
04:46had a very well-coordinated line
04:48and very tall,
04:49very strong in the air as well.
04:51In other words,
04:52Brazil was vacating
04:54an extremely valuable area of the pitch.
04:57And we can even joke about it, right?
04:59Saying that Brazil,
05:00instead of aiming for a 3-1-5-1
05:02or a 3-4-3,
05:04we could say that Brazil had a 3-1-0
05:06because there was no one occupying the midfield.
05:08Six because the fullbacks
05:09were also overlapping on the outside
05:11and they didn't really provide
05:12that opportunity to play inside the block.
05:14But that scenario changed in the second match.
05:17For the second match,
05:19Brazil had already switched the formation
05:20from a 4-2-4 to a 4-3-3.
05:23And why does that influence the game so much?
05:25First, because Brazil can better
05:27fill that space between the lines.
05:29They can have a much more well-distributed team.
05:31And second,
05:32they start to occupy all areas of the pitch.
05:34So when the ball is with the center backs,
05:37you already have Bruno Guimarães
05:39behind the attacker.
05:40Ready to receive
05:41and a build-up play.
05:42When the ball gets to Bruno,
05:43you have Danilo
05:44and Bom Tempo
05:45occupying the space between the lines.
05:47Something that didn't happen before.
05:49And when the ball finally gets between the lines,
05:51you'll have Vini,
05:52Ryan
05:53and Rafinha
05:54ready to attack the space behind the defense.
05:57It's like in the first game,
05:58Brazil had tried to skip steps.
05:59Going straight from the first phase of build-up
06:02into a finishing zone.
06:03And then the second game,
06:04it was a bit more organized
06:05and a bit more grounded.
06:07Going stage by stage
06:08until finally reaching the finishing zones.
06:11And anyone who is already subscribed to the channel
06:13knows that this is important
06:14not just out of vanity, right?
06:15Or wanting Brazil to progress
06:16through every phase of the game.
06:18But mainly because perhaps
06:19the greatest mark of quality in a match,
06:21what best indicates that a team played well
06:23or showed up to play
06:25is being able to advance up the pitch with quality.
06:27Because even though we have some players
06:29who aren't in their best form,
06:30like Vini, for example,
06:32we know that if Brazil advances up the pitch often
06:36and gets into the final third frequently,
06:38this attack will generally get the job done.
06:41And it's also far better to create a lot of chances
06:44and miss them
06:44than to not create any chances at all.
06:47But there are some cool stats.
06:49Take a look at this, right?
06:50This is the screen from our app,
06:51you know, from our website,
06:52where besides seeing the player stats,
06:54you can watch videos from the channel here
06:56completely uninterrupted
06:57without any ads at all.
06:58Just head over to the tab on the side
07:00under the videos section.
07:01All the videos from the channel are right here,
07:04including many about the national team,
07:06which I definitely recommend you watch.
07:07But now I'm going to take a different route.
07:09I clicked on the home icon,
07:11click on players,
07:11and let's filter just by the midfielders
07:13in the Brasileirao.
07:14And let's sort by KP.
07:16KP stands for nothing more than key passes,
07:19passes that led to a shot.
07:20And we're going to see players
07:21who really stood out, right?
07:23For example, Matthias Pereira,
07:24who has 70 key passes in 25 games,
07:26yet wasn't even considered
07:27for the national team by many.
07:30But we'll see that the number 10s,
07:32the playmakers of Brazilian teams
07:33are often foreigners.
07:35Look, Alan Patrick is already past a certain age.
07:37For us to consider for the national team,
07:39but then you look at Rodrigo Garo,
07:40Josue, Luciano Acosta, Pavon,
07:42even though they might not be traditional number 10s,
07:45they have a high number of key passes.
07:47Lina was called up.
07:48Then there's Arrasca Eita, foreigner,
07:49Mosquera, foreigner,
07:50Carrasca, foreigner,
07:51Andres Gomez, foreigner,
07:53Cuello, foreigner,
07:54Sabarino,
07:54Rojas,
07:55Nuno Moreira.
07:56And then, when we scroll down a bit,
07:58look at Rollheiser once again,
07:59another foreigner.
08:00We're going to see other players
08:01who were called up
08:02and have significant numbers in that regard.
08:05And then we have Gabriel Bontempo here,
08:07who has 28 key passes in 24 games.
08:10In other words,
08:11on average,
08:12he provides more than one key pass
08:14but gram aim.
08:14That is very important for us
08:16to create high quality chances.
08:18Besides,
08:19he has a very high pass completion rate
08:21at 86.3%
08:22along with an average of 2.33 defensive actions
08:26per gram aim.
08:27This guy,
08:28besides creating,
08:29defends very well.
08:30And the same goes for Danilo.
08:31Look, Danilo averages 25 key passes per gram aim.
08:34A shot accuracy rate of 42%.
08:37And that's in 21 games.
08:39More than one key pass per gram aim.
08:42Good passing rate.
08:43And he even contributes more defensively
08:45than good old Bontempo.
08:46Two very important guys
08:47if you want to have a diverse team
08:49that covers multiple criteria
08:50in our fantasy league.
08:51And if you want to know more,
08:52check out the link here in the description
08:54to download the app
08:55or access it through your browser.
08:56The tactics board is great
08:58for getting a bird's eye view of the game, right?
08:59A look at all the players
09:00and how it all works.
09:01But I also like to compliment that
09:02by bringing in real match footage
09:04because I don't think anything
09:06really replaces real match footage.
09:08And look at what happens here.
09:09Marquinhos starts by driving forward.
09:11And then we're going to see
09:12exactly the setup I mentioned.
09:13A back four,
09:14Bruno Guimaranos and Danilo.
09:15And further up,
09:16Brazil's attacking quartet.
09:18Estevão,
09:18Hendrik,
09:19Rafinha
09:19and Vini Jr.
09:21Just look at how interesting this is.
09:23As Marquinhos keeps driving forward,
09:25we see all of them
09:26attacking the space in behind.
09:27And no one is showing up
09:28between the lines
09:29which is wide open right now.
09:31What would make more sense
09:32would maybe be
09:32for two of them to drop deep.
09:34And for two to drop back
09:35to receive the ball in that space.
09:36That would show better coordination
09:38from the national team.
09:39Marquinhos drives forward.
09:40And he's even surprised.
09:41Look,
09:42so much so that he checks his run.
09:43Everyone is on the last line.
09:45You have guys beating
09:46the first line of pressure.
09:47Here,
09:47Bruno Guimaranos
09:48is basically in line
09:49with the forward.
09:50But there's nobody beyond that run.
09:51Past the second line of pressure.
09:53Danilo could,
09:54for example,
09:54have pushed forward.
09:55Marquinhos sees it.
09:56He doesn't see any options.
09:58And only afterwards
09:58does Vini drop back.
10:00But by then,
10:00Brazil has already given up
10:01on the play.
10:02He plays it sideways.
10:03And it ends up leading to nothing.
10:04And that's where we get
10:05to the graphic I mentioned.
10:06And nobody is exploring
10:07this perspective
10:07on the internet yet.
10:08And I always like to enrich things
10:10with match stats.
10:11I put together a study
10:12to understand
10:12how poorly Brazil
10:13was exploiting the space
10:14between the lines.
10:16Comparing match to match.
10:18And the advantage is
10:19that since it was the same team,
10:21both away games.
10:22But with different formations
10:23from Brazil,
10:24we don't have that factor
10:25I mentioned at the start
10:26of the video.
10:27That one match
10:27was against a strong team
10:28and the next was against
10:29a weak one.
10:30And that's why Brazil improved.
10:32Take a look at these numbers.
10:33This little pitch
10:34on the left,
10:35divided into several quadrants
10:37shows all of Brazil's
10:38progressive passes.
10:40Those passes that help
10:41the team move up the pitch.
10:42And that zone
10:43with the highest numbers
10:44is, to me,
10:46the most important area
10:47of the pitch.
10:49It's right behind
10:50the midfield line
10:51where you need to get
10:52the ball more often
10:53if, after that action,
10:55you want to create
10:56good scoring opportunities.
10:57But in the first game,
10:58since this quartet
10:59from Brazil
11:00was pinned too deep,
11:01Brazil only reached that area
11:02with progressive passes
11:03three times.
11:05In the second game,
11:06with the 4-3-3
11:07and that space
11:08much better occupied
11:09by Danilo and Bom Tempo,
11:11that number took off.
11:12It went from three passes
11:14into that area
11:15to 13 passes.
11:16And when we look at that
11:17as a whole,
11:18comparing it with all
11:19of Brazil's passes
11:20in that match,
11:21this type of pass,
11:23which is so important,
11:24happened only 4.6 times
11:26in the first match.
11:27Practically nothing.
11:28In the second match,
11:29it was 24.5.
11:31Let's round it up.
11:3225% of the passes
11:34that moved Brazil
11:34up the pitch
11:35went into that area.
11:36It's no wonder
11:37Brazil managed to advance
11:38with more quality.
11:39And if you advance
11:40with more quality,
11:41you create clearer
11:43scoring opportunities.
11:44There were five times
11:45more passes
11:46into that zone of the pitch.
11:47And that explains
11:48why Brazil was so superior
11:50in this second game
11:50against Australia.
11:51Let's get to the plays.
11:53The untrained eye,
11:54if you're not subscribed
11:54to the channel yet,
11:55only sees this pass
11:56from Bom Tempo here
11:57to Wanderson
11:58stepping inside,
11:59finishing and scoring
12:00a great goal.
12:00And people only analyze that.
12:02But let's go back
12:03to the beginning of the play
12:04and look how interesting it is.
12:06The ball comes out here
12:07on the flank
12:07and that midfield trio
12:08is well organized.
12:09Bruno Guimaraens
12:10as the holding midfielder
12:11with Bom Tempo
12:12and Danilo
12:12starting in front
12:13of the two pivots,
12:14which to me
12:14isn't the ideal behavior.
12:16But here I see
12:17they dropped a bit deeper
12:18to try and ease things up
12:19for Bruno.
12:20Still, the goal
12:20is to exploit that space
12:22behind the defensive midfielder.
12:23The ball reaches Wanderson.
12:25The ball will circulate
12:26a little bit more.
12:27And this right here
12:28is the most valuable space.
12:29Both holding midfielders
12:31are facing the play.
12:32The defensive line
12:33is tied up with the forwards
12:34and you have to get the ball
12:35into this area
12:36so you can actually
12:37move forward with quality.
12:38The ball comes out wide.
12:39And look at Bruno Guimaraens
12:41and Danilo's behavior now.
12:42Both of them attacking
12:43that zone at the same time.
12:45It seems to me like
12:46something intuitive
12:47from the players,
12:48but also an order
12:49from the coaching staff
12:50who certainly noticed
12:51the issues
12:52from the first match.
12:53Both of them push forward
12:54at the same time
12:55to take up that space,
12:56pass from Wanderson over there,
12:57and now Brazil moves forward
12:59with quality.
13:00And if they advance
13:00with quality
13:01and reach that area
13:02of the pitch more often,
13:03they'll also finish
13:04with more quality.
13:05Danilo carries it.
13:07He spots the chance
13:07to pass to Ryan.
13:09Look at Ryan.
13:10Look how it actually
13:11makes sense now
13:11for the attackers
13:12to run in behind the defense.
13:14Ball to Ryan
13:14who can't make the most of it.
13:15The pass to Bomb Tempo.
13:17Bomb Tempo to Wanderson.
13:18And now it works.
13:19Great goal.
13:20A fine finish from Wanderson,
13:21but it didn't stop there.
13:22Look at it once more.
13:23Jair is the one
13:23who drives forward.
13:24And here I want to point out
13:25how the center backs
13:26are also key players
13:27in progressing the ball
13:28up the pitch.
13:29Moving from the first phase
13:30of build-up
13:31into the second phase
13:32of build-up.
13:33And then into an area
13:34where they can finish.
13:36Jair pushes forward.
13:37And then we see two players
13:38occupying that exact space
13:40I mentioned,
13:40Bomb Tempo and Danilo.
13:42Here, he's even threatening
13:43to make a run
13:44in behind the defense.
13:45If Danilo attacks,
13:46Rafinha seems to hold back
13:47a little bit more.
13:48And even Bruno Guimaraes
13:50is moving in behind
13:50the defensive midfielders.
13:52Namely, number 24
13:53and number 22.
13:55In other words,
13:55the national team
13:56needs to be more coordinated.
13:58Everyone can't attack
13:59the space behind
13:59at the same time,
14:00just like everyone
14:01can't offer support
14:02at the same time.
14:03While some attack
14:04and push the line back,
14:05the others have to drop deep
14:06to occupy that space.
14:07Jair will carry it forward.
14:09Look at Danilo
14:09making a run in behind
14:10and helping to push
14:11Australia's line back.
14:12Look at how this number 4
14:13is being pushed back.
14:15Rafinha,
14:16Bruno Guimaraes
14:16and Bomb Tempo
14:17have more space.
14:18Pass to Bruno.
14:19Bruno controls it.
14:21He finds Bomb Tempo
14:22in that area too.
14:23Ball to Bon Tempo.
14:24Bon Tempo to Ryan
14:25who broke free.
14:27And look at how important
14:28that space is
14:29to the point where
14:29all the players
14:30try to exploit it.
14:31And now,
14:31if Ryan drop back,
14:32Rafinha can attack that area.
14:34Ryan controls it.
14:35Sees that Rafinha
14:36is pushing the line back
14:37and tries to take advantage
14:38by going for a mid-range shot
14:39but without success.
14:41But if Brazil
14:41executes this more often
14:42and gets into this area
14:44of the pitch more frequently,
14:45my friend,
14:46the chances of that
14:47turning into a goal
14:47are much higher
14:48than just trying to play
14:49the ball all over the top.
14:50And then for me,
14:51the real magic happens
14:52on his Bruno Guimaraes goal
14:53with the assist from Indrik
14:55and the start of the play
14:55is fantastic.
14:56Ball to Jair.
14:58Jair will have this chance
14:59to drive forward.
15:00But I want to draw
15:00your attention here
15:01to Andres Santos.
15:02At this point,
15:03Andres had come on
15:04as the defensive midfielder
15:05and Brazil had Bruno Guimaraes
15:06and Danilo playing
15:07as midfielders
15:08behind the holding midfielders
15:09and Andres realizes
15:10there is no passing lane
15:11from Jair to him.
15:12So he already starts
15:13looking at Bruno Guimaraes
15:14using non-verbal language.
15:16In other words,
15:16without needing to say a word,
15:18he looks and signals,
15:19Look,
15:19the ball is going to you
15:20and you get it to me.
15:22Because I'll be right
15:23behind the guy pressing you,
15:24he kind of stays
15:25in the marker's cover shadow
15:26to gain distance
15:27from Australia's
15:28other defensive midfielder.
15:30Jair is going to carry
15:31the ball forward
15:32and Brazil is going to
15:33look for a third man combination.
15:35What does that mean?
15:36A passing triangle
15:37with Jair free.
15:38Exploiting Bruno Guimaraes
15:40under pressure
15:40with his back turned
15:41in order to get the ball
15:42to Andres facing forward
15:43since Jair didn't have
15:44a direct passing lane.
15:45Bruno Guimaraes
15:46provides that third man combination
15:48and notice that
15:49this pass right here
15:50still doesn't count
15:51as that pass
15:51into the key area
15:52of the pitch.
15:53Because Bruno Guimaraes
15:54is still in front
15:55of the two defensive midfielders,
15:57he dropped deep
15:57to offer that support.
15:58And now Brazil
15:59is finally going to get the ball
16:01behind that midfield line.
16:02Andres to Andres
16:03who dropped deep
16:04to support in that area.
16:06Andres to Danilo.
16:07And for some reason,
16:09this pass here to Andres
16:10and this pass to Danilo
16:11they're not included
16:12in that count of 7 plus 6,
16:14in other words,
16:1413 passes into the crucial area.
16:17I think it's because
16:17they're really close
16:18to the halfway line here.
16:19In other words,
16:20that would be two more key passes,
16:21it would jump to 15,
16:22ball to Danilo,
16:23and now this is indeed
16:24the scenario
16:24where it makes sense
16:25to attack the space
16:26behind the defense.
16:27The two,
16:27the defenders pushed up
16:29to press.
16:29And now,
16:30yes,
16:31Vini,
16:31Estevo,
16:32they can burst
16:32into the space
16:33behind the defense.
16:34Some players drop deep,
16:36some make runs,
16:36and that's the moment
16:37Danilo finds Vini.
16:39And now,
16:39Andres and Bruno Guimarães,
16:41who start the play back there
16:42with their backs to goal,
16:43to get the ball
16:44to someone facing forward.
16:46They're gonna step
16:46into the box first,
16:47Andres,
16:48to then lay it off
16:49for Bruno Guimarães
16:49to score the go-ahead goal.
16:51This right here
16:51is the goal
16:51that made it 3-2,
16:52and that would kick off
16:53Brazil's turnaround
16:54in a match
16:55where they played
16:56much better
16:56than in the first game.
16:58That's why football
16:58is so magical to me.
17:00We have to look at
17:00what happens on the pitch.
17:02But looking at the match stats
17:03also helped us
17:04understand things
17:04in more depth.
17:05Football is just so awesome.
17:07And for me,
17:08this 4-3-3
17:09is finally here to stay
17:10after talking about it so much.
17:12And if it has to be a 4-2-4,
17:14the dynamics need to be
17:16much better
17:16than they were
17:17in the first match.
17:18Now,
17:18if you're interested
17:19in watching more videos
17:20about the Brazilian national team,
17:22just click on any of these four
17:23appearing on the screen right now
17:25and keep binge-watching
17:26Football Maximo.