FIFA World Cup 2014: Directionless Brazil owe much to good fortune after escaping Chilean trap

Brazil’s players line-up during the penalty shootout with (from left) Thiago Silva, Luiz Gustavo and Neymar in prayer 

“If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.  - John 14:14”

The whole of Brazil seemed to have asked for the win yesterday!

It was a day that could have seen a huge backlash, not just against their team, but also the government, FIFA and the ongoing World Cup on the whole. In the end Brazil’s national football team, the Selecao, made it through to the quarter-finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but only just.

The last time Brazil hosted a World Cup, they left the tournament embarrassed after having been upset by Uruguay at the Maracana and thus being devoid of championship glory. That was 64 years ago; there was almost a new painful memory for Brazilian fans to remember down the years at Belo Horizonte yesterday.

The venue apart, yesterday’s game mirrored the ‘Maracanazzo’ to a great degree; a potent South American foe standing in the home team’s way; an early goal for the home team to send their fans into a frenzy; an opponent that equalized and grew stronger as the match went on. Almost everything, except that Chile didn’t quite manage to turn it around completely and deliver the final knockout punch; and that was in no part down to Brazil picking up their level of play. Chile were just plain unlucky.

Brazil’s progress into the last eight came thanks to a more than generous helping of good fortune and the heroics of their goalkeeper, 34-year-old Julio Cesar, more than anything else. That and perhaps a powerful belief in prayer that delivered them away from a personal tragedy and a lifetime of scrutiny and grief that would have accompanied it.

In terms of drama, excitement, nervousness, anxiety and tension, this game helped kick-start the knockout phase on a rollicking note. This is what one expects as the tournament progresses – better teams, tighter matches – but sadly the Brazilian team came very under-prepared.

Coming into this clash, Brazil had sparked in fits and spurts through their group games to emerge from Group A as winners ahead of Mexico. They were a little lucky to emerge with all three points against Croatia, were frustrated in their game against the Mexicans where they were held to a goalless draw, before beating an insipid, and already eliminated, Cameroon side in the final game. While they didn’t lose a match, none of the games, barring the second half against Cameroon, were a breeze. Defensively, they looked tacky and vulnerable and going forward, they did score seven goals, but they struggled for rhythm and leaned heavily on young Neymar’s shoulders.

Chile had come through Group B as runners-up, pushing aside world champions Spain in the process. Their opening two victories against Australia and Spain were the result of a cohesive unit working diligently towards a well-prepared strategy and game plan. Their master class against Spain was particularly impressive. They failed to score and were beaten in their final game against the Netherlands, but they controlled a large portion of that game, and would have been kicking themselves for not getting a goal before the late Dutch charge.

Chile have had their campaign ended by Brazil every single time they have reached the knockout stage. Yesterday was a chance to put aside all that hurt from years past, and Chile were in many ways perfectly equipped to take Brazil out this time.

Luiz Felipe Scolari is a great motivator, very good at managing personnel and getting the best out of a talented bunch of players; what he’s not is tactically astute. And once his opposite number yesterday, Jorge Sampaoli, managed to break through Scolari’s Plan A, Brazil were in trouble.

Chile stick the fork in Brazil’s plans

Brazil lined up in their usual 4-2-3-1 formation with Neymar, Oscar and Hulk supporting troubled striker Fred. Chile opted to go with what appeared to be a 3-4-1-2 with Francisco Silva, Gary Medel and Gonzalo Jara forming a three-man defensive net at the back.

Brazil’s starting line-up

A great deal of how well the current Brazilian team plays on a given day is determined by how well their full-backs play. Dani Alves and Marcelo were anything but impressive, and Chile’s 3-man backline was specifically in place to take advantage of this. Alves, in particular, probably had one of the worst games of his career.

Chile’s starting line-up

Brazil started off brightly, but Chile had anticipated just that and were prepared to take a few punches early on although they would have preferred not conceding a goal. Alves and Marcelo bombing forward with Hulk and Oscar going out wide to help the forwards, Brazil looked threatening. But Chile’s 3-man backline meant Mauricio Isla and Eugenio Mena played as wingbacks, and what they did is leave very little margin for error for Brazil’s full-backs in the eventuality of them conceding possession. And it worked; despite being on the front foot, Alves and Marcelo were dispossessed rather easily on a few possessions to set up quick counters where Chile wound up against just the two central defenders and either Luiz Gustavo or Fernandinho helping.

That early pattern of play seemed to make both of Brazil’s full-backs adopt a more cautious approach. With the full-backs now not being as aggressive, Chile ventured to establish control of the midfield with Isla and Mena now able to move a little forward themselves and press higher up the pitch. This also ended up severing Brazil’s frontline from the rest of the team, leaving Hulk, Neymar and Fred on their own up front. And Chile had the 3-man defensive cover capable of dealing with them.

Chile kept a lid on Neymar by almost always having three defenders on him

Scolari plumped for Fernandinho instead of Paulinho to partner his defensive plug in Gustavo. But playing Fernandinho means a lack of creativity in an already workmanlike midfield and more pressure on the likes of Neymar and Hulk to create attacks. Paulinho may have been off-colour in the group games, but he provides a thrust from midfield which Fernandinho doesn’t and this played into Chile’s hands.

Getting nothing from their full-backs, Brazil tried to go through the middle, using their trickery and bag of skills. But they went up against a red Chilean wall, which repelled everything through the sheer numbers that they could get back to gridlock the home team. In the second half, there was one period of play, where Chile did this so effectively that Brazil couldn’t get past the halfway line.

Neymar’s brilliantly taken goals were one reason why Brazil managed to come through Group A as winners. And Sampaoli was all too aware of this and entrusted Silva with keeping a close eye on Brazil’s boy-wonder. He wasn’t afforded space, and almost every single time he got the ball, there were about three Chilean defenders around him. The wingback system meant only one of Chile’s back three had to guard Neymar with either of the full-backs or central midfielders in Aranguiz or Diaz stepping in to help out Silva with Neymar.

With nothing going their way, the team discombobulated, their stars kept quiet, and their defence under attack, a sense of panic gripped the Selecao; the lack of tactical adjustments from Scolari only adding to it.

Alexis and Diaz shine for Chile

For Chile, Marcelo Diaz in midfield had a brilliant game. His use of the ball was simply superb to watch, always picking out a player in space and being patient with the ball, drawing the Brazilian defence out, before playing the ball forward into Eduardo Vargas and Alexis Sanchez. Along with Charles Aranguiz, he put in a dominant midfield display to leave the Brazilians short-changed for offense.

Alexis Sanchez was simply brilliant for Chile

Alexis had a phenomenal game, leading the Chilean line beautifully. He did everything the Brazilian forwards didn’t – held up the ball superbly bringing his other teammates into play, drew the defenders away to make space for his teammates to run into, and when needed went at the defenders and left them in a heap with his dribbling and ball control.

Chile executed their strategy superbly and what was even more remarkable was their composure in possession. They were constructing attacks wonderfully while Brazil were resigned to punting hopeful balls in the direction of Neymar and Hulk with a “Hail Mary” attached to it.

The high number of fouls and scrappy nature of the contest also played perfectly to Chile’s advantage with Brazil prevented from getting into any sort of rhythm.

Everything that Chile did well, Brazil didn’t. Where do you start? How about the centre-forward position?

Brazil – No teammwork, no direction

Fred looks woefully out of touch and also extremely lethargic. He is clearly not the same player who was in rich form about the same time last year during the Confederations Cup. His replacement, Jo, didn’t exactly inspire any sort of confidence either. So the hosts have a major problem there.

In the second half, for about a 15-20 minute period after Jo’s introduction, all Brazil did was lump balls forward from defence to Jo’s head. Admittedly, the strategy was aimed at taking advantage of the visible lack of height in Chile’s back three. But Jo isn’t Miroslav Klose, to be able to get the ball down himself; and even if it was about getting knockdowns for the others to latch onto, they seemed to be forgetting that Brazil’s front three were up against Chile’s effectively 5-man backline with the wingbacks joining in. With such a mismatch, there was no way that strategy was going to pay off.

Brazil forward Jo was left visibly frustrated and tired by his team’s long ball approach

Also, another worrying element was how Jo, after the initial attempts, was pleading with his teammates not to put long balls in as it wasn’t getting them anywhere and more importantly, robbing Jo of energy which could have been better put to use. Even Scolari was imploring his team to stop this from the sidelines, but to no avail.

Brazil displayed no teamwork yesterday and often resembled a bunch of headless chickens just trying to force their way through with no real thought process to their play. Their passing and decision-making was poor, they lacked vision and once Plan A went out the window, they didn’t have a set strategy, and seemed to be clutching at straws.

Neymar may be the best player in the team, but too many times he tried to take on one too many defenders one-on-one and ended up getting dispossessed. Him and his teammates’ flicks, tricks, shimmies, back-heels, the lot weren’t coming off and they got frustrated. In trying to bamboozle their defenders, they forgot the basic elements, which was to keep it simple unlock a sound defence by moving the ball around. They lacked composure on the ball. They need to realize that as they go deeper into the tournament, they are not going to be able to beat teams with just their bag of tricks; that has been the reason strong European teams have been able to pick them apart so efficiently since time immemorial.

Brazil also lacked a dominant midfielder who could put his foot on the ball and set the tempo. That’s where Hernanes can be useful and he wasn’t employed yesterday. Another decision that could come back to haunt Scolari is the absence of Lucas Moura. The PSG man is a supremely gifted winger and has the ability to unlock defences when he plays out wide on the wing with his pace and crossing ability. He was present in the Confederations Cup, but is missing from the squad here. And apart from Willian, Brazil don’t have anyone who can play in that position. Spain didn’t call up Jesus Navas and look how it cost them!

Brazil can expect more such tests ahead

Brazil were given a huge scare yesterday and the road only gets tougher for them from here. They cannot just rely on their talent-laden team to pull through for them without a more dynamic game plan and tactical adjustments in response to their opponents’ moves. Scolari had this to say after the game:

“They’re a very organised team with a good tactical system and fine players. Every credit to Chile but this penalty shootout win says a lot about us and about our desire to progress. The players can have a break now and, as they recover, we’ll have a look at how we won, go through all the tricky situations we were in and a whole lot of other details. The idea is to build on this. When you win like this you come out stronger. We’re going to tell them that so they can appreciate what they’ve done.”

The experienced triumvirate of (from left) Scolari, Flavio Teixeira and Carlos Alberto Parreira have a job on their hands 

When they rummage through their efforts of this game, they will find that they were hugely fortunate to come through and they that didn’t respond very favourably when backed into a corner. But yes, sometimes a tough win is what a team needs, and in a month-long tournament it is about peaking at the right time.

Their campaign for a sixth World Cup is currently riddled with many loopholes that need plugging. They have a very experienced coaching unit which should help them with that and an inspiring captain who did his best to rein his troops in while being perilously close to falling over the edge. Brazil, for sure, can only get better from here.

Chile have entertained us all during their stay and exit having taken Brazil all the way to the doors of their deepest and darkest fears and coming within a goalpost of knocking them out. Sampaoli and his men can take great pride in that once they recover from the emotional blow of the loss. 

FIFA World Cup 2014: He is, but one man...But he is Luis Suarez

Luis Suarez in celebration after he scored the winner for Uruguay against England

For yet another FIFA World Cup, England’s campaign came crashing down rather prematurely, much earlier than it probably ever has in history, after Costa Rica’s impressive win over Italy yesterday. While that result might have officially consigned the English to an early flight back home, in all fairness it was over two nights ago, when their campaign was shot down by the man they call El Pistolero.

Luis Suarez, forced to watch his team’s painful opening round defeat to the Costa Ricans from the bench, was back in the mix of things, starting for Uruguay in this massive game against England. From his reactions following Uruguay’s unravelling against Costa Rica, you could make out that he wanted in. He wanted to be a part of the action, wanted to be able to help out his side in the middle, instead of being a passive onlooker from the sidelines.

For the game against England, Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez was always going to pick Suarez. If he ever had the slightest doubts about whether to include his star man in the team to face the English earlier, those doubts were certainly dispelled after the opening game shock. Uruguay had to respond and they needed their talismanic striker for without him they had looked very pedestrian in their loss to the Costa Ricans.

England manager Roy Hodgson stated after the game that he felt that his team controlled Suarez reasonably well. He could not have been more delusional.Suarez was just one man, but his heralded a return of confidence for a squad of 23 and an entire South American nation. Many English ‘pundits’ and analysts said one man’s return would cause no significant upswing in Uruguay’s fortunes. But they were forgetting, that the “one man” in question was Suarez.

Sure, Suarez did not put in a performance that ripped the spine out of England’s footballers. He did not run roughshod over Hodgson’s team. He did not single-handedly will his Uruguayan team to victory. He did not make England’s defenders tremble at the knees with his pace and movement and trickery. But what he did do is have THE most telling contribution in a match that was decided on fine margins. And that is what you ultimately expect from a star player, reportedly still a week away from being back to 100% after his knee surgery.

Bang… bang…

Two clear goal scoring opportunities… two goals…

Three points for Uruguay and England’s chances of progress up in smoke.

It was Suarez’s talent that left its stamp on the game. He was, by a long shot, the single, most talented player on the pitch out of all the players who stepped onto the field that night in Sao Paulo. Suarez is right up there with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi amongst the best attackers in the world. And for Uruguay, just as for Liverpool, he has become a key cog, one without which their effectiveness takes quite a beating. He was the top scorer in the CONMEBOL qualifying section, his 11 goals a large part of why Uruguay made it to Brazil 2014 in the first place.

And the emotion of the moment flooded through for Suarez as he realized that he had made it back and made it good for his team, the ultimate service rendered and all the faith in him repaid.

The effect that his presence had on his teammates was there for everyone to see too. Along with the much needed personnel change that Tabarez commissioned, Uruguay played with renewed energy, and above all, belief, that if they kept their end of the bargain in their respective roles, their star striker would provide the finishing touches that would lead them to a much needed bounce-back victory.

Uruguay did not do a drastic Jekyll to Hyde transformation with Suarez’s return, but they did play more solidly and strove to eliminate some of the mistakes they made in their opener. Overall, there was a collective spirit that seemed to be coursing through the team inspired by their lead striker’s return to the fold and a desperation brought about by their earlier unexpected loss. Alvaro Pereira, though foolish to ignore his doctor’s advice and get back to playing after a concussion, exemplified that with a burning desire to be there for his team.

England knew what they were going to deal with; many in their team have been sparring with Suarez for more than three seasons now in the English Premier League to not know. Suarez was definitely going to have an impact on this game in some way, and there was nothing they could do about it. Well, apart from affording him even more help with defensive lapses that once again helped them shoot themselves in the foot.

When you prepare to go head to head with one of the best players in the world, albeit even if not at full tilt, you simply cannot afford the kind of glaring defensive errors we saw from England to creep into your game.

A lack of pace and anticipation in England’s backline was exposed in both goals they conceded. From their failure to put Edinson Cavani under more pressure even when they had the three on two numbers advantage for the first, to Gary Cahill simply failing to anticipate the trajectory and path the ball would take after it flicked off Steven Gerrard’s head for the second, the Three Lions displayed a lack of basic defensive nous when faced up against one of the premier attackers in world football. And it cost them dear.

What was also glaring was the absence of that one true superstar on their side who could have such a telling impact on the game. And no, Wayne Rooney no longer fits in that category. These are questions for England to probe as they will now look forward to qualification for Euro 2016.

Suarez and his Uruguayan teammates are overjoyed after beating England as they hoist the striker on their shoulders in celebration

As for unfinished business in Group D, Uruguay still look a side well off the pace from the team that marched to finish fourth at the last edition in South Africa. There is more bite to them going forward with Suarez in the team, but they will need another strong-willed and solid performance in their do or die final round clash against the more seasoned Italians in Natal.

But in Luis Suarez, they have a player who they can fully bank on for providing them with a decisive advantage when the situation calls for it. They have in their ranks a top, top player who is amongst the best in the game at the moment. And in situations like this, in the biggest games, on the biggest of stages, Suarez’s presence provides Uruguay with the much needed reassurance and that most important of four letter words – HOPE – of progressing deeper at these 2014 World Cup finals.

Uruguay move to the shootout in Natal with their sharpshooter’s barrels still smoking from his twin strikes that sunk England.

Excess baggage from South Africa hurting, rather than helping, Spain and Uruguay's chances

A few newspaper headlines after Spain’s heavy loss to the Dutch in their opening game

The word out on the streets (not just those in Brazil) is that World Cup 2014 is turning out to be the best ever in the history of the event. We’re just six days in and there have already been so many memorable moments that it has outshone some of its predecessors. There has been the notable emphasis on attack by almost all teams, with caution being thrown to the wind and teams not settling for comfortable draws early on, England not lumping long balls forward for a change...

That in turn has led to a glut of goals, the key fuel that keeps interest levels going at such a massive event, especially when fans have to stay up long into the night in most parts of the world. But, over and above those, there have been the upsets, the results that send audiences into a frenzy and those that initiate arguments and counter-arguments that run for days after the actual result. And unfortunately for Spain and Uruguay, they have been the victims of those upsets at Brazil 2014.

How did this happen? Both of the results were inconceivable before the tournament began. However, a closer look suggests that perhaps we shouldn’t be so surprised at what transpired in Salvador and Fortaleza last week. Perhaps Spain’s drubbing at the hands of the Dutch and Uruguay’s insipid display against a spirited Costa Rica side was in the works even before they stepped onto the pitch?

Spain and Uruguay were two of the final four at the last edition in South Africa in 2010; Spain the victors while Uruguay finished a very impressive fourth. But both these teams seem to have overlooked a key aspect in their preparations for this World Cup, something that the other two from the final four in South Africa (Netherlands and Germany) seem to have taken note of and duly addressed.

Both of these teams have carried with them excess baggage from the previous World Cup and it is hurting them.

Spain

World and European champions Spain were spoilt for choice in terms of talent, not just in picking a 23-man squad, but also a provisional 30-man squad for that matter. The squad has some visible new faces, but the team that took to the field against the Netherlands resembled much the same to the one from four years ago.

There were four notable changes from the team that started the final at the previous edition – Diego Costa was employed as the lone striker up front in place of David Villa, Jordi Alba took up the left-back role, previously donned by the ultra-solid Joan Capdevila, David Silva came into the starting line-up in place of Pedro Rodriguez and Sergio Ramos moved to centre-back, from his erstwhile right-back position, taking over from Carles Puyol.

The old adage is to not fix something that isn’t broke, but while the Spanish squad and system wasn’t exactly broken, there were some tweaks that were necessary. One important thing to always look at is the stage at which a particular player’s career lifecycle lies.

Xavi and Xabi Alonso together in midfield was problem number one for Spain. While Xavi’s short-passing keeps things ticking over and Alonso’s ranging aerials open the game up when it becomes congested in midfield, the duo together are slow and as such, liable to be neutralized by a midfield high on energy and industry. Xavi is into the twilight years of a very successful career and Alonso too cannot hold a midfield on his own.

Diego Costa, after his fantastic season and allegiance switch to Spain, was going to be the first-choice striker. Plus, he offered something different from their previous two forward line leaders in good heading ability along with a knack for hassling opposing defenders.

However, Costa hasn’t exactly had the best of time in the last one-and-a-half months or so prior to the tournament, with the injury he suffered and the resultant rustiness. He looked very off the pace against the Dutch despite winning the penalty for Spain’s goal. But playing him was the right thing to do; what wasn’t was picking able alternatives.

Villa showed this season that he still has plenty of game left in him, but he is the kind of striker known more for his runs behind the defence and predatory instincts. Torres, a favourite of Coach Vicente Del Bosque, expectedly made the plane to Brazil, but in terms of his career graph, he is a player who has fallen way off the charts; his glaring miss during the game, further evidence of this.

Fernando Llorente, picked for South Africa, was overlooked this time, largely due to his marginalized role at Juventus. But he should have ideally made the trip for he offers something different to Torres and Villa.

Arjen Robben (centre) of the Netherlands attacking with the ball, watched by Spain defenders Sergio Ramos (left) and Gerard Pique

In defence, the combination of Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique at the back was run ragged by the Dutch offense. Pique is a defender who gets more credit than necessary; while he may be good in the air and at set pieces, he struggles mightily against pacy forwards for he can’t keep up with them in foot-speed. He has the turning radius of a truck which allows attackers to twist him one way and then the other, eventually putting him off balance and leaving him out of position. And him going up against one of the world’s premier attackers in Arjen Robben was always going to yield only one result – disaster.

Watching Robben go at him was like watching a hot knife cut through butter, like a nightmarish re-run for Spanish fans of when Bayern Munich dismantled Barcelona, when Robben had put Pique to the sword as in Salvador. Having seen how this particular matchup played out in the past, it was surprising that Del Bosque didn’t opt for more cover, perhaps with the use of Javi Martinez.

Ramos to his credit was often found making some last ditch interceptions, without which, the score-line could have been worse for the champs. But Ramos too in the past couple of seasons has been undone when the opponents have attacked him with high pace and a bullish centre forward. Jürgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund, twice in two seasons, took Ramos’ Real Madrid defence to the cleaners. But the difference lay in that Ramos had Pepe, a mobile central defensive partner, to help him out at Real, which isn’t the case at national level.

The decline has continued with captain and keeper Iker Casillas as well, one noticed by Jose Mourinho, enough to convince him to drop Casillas. For all the ire that he earned at the hands of the Spanish press for that, he must feel vindicated now.

Spain keeper Iker Casillas after his calamitous error led to Robin van Persie’s second goal

To go with that, Spain’s phenomenal run in world football also coincided with a successful period for Barcelona domestically and in Europe, a team whose players have come to form the core of the Spanish side. But since their second Euro success, the Catalan giants have found their dominance challenged and a system to combat their effective “tiki-taka” has been unearthed by more than one manager.

And that system has been beaten with the use of a directness in attack coupled with pace and shackling of the midfield engine room, where Xavi, Iniesta and Sergio Busquets operate; the very same elements that Louis Van Gaal employed with his Dutch side. Spain’s midfield quartet are no longer the all-conquering force that they used to be and with the defeats they’ve suffered in the last few years, so has their confidence.

Uruguay

Shifting the spotlight to South America and a very similar situation prevails with Uruguay. The squad almost resembles a carbon copy of the one that travelled to South Africa four years ago with a few exceptions. Oscar Tabarez and the Uruguayans have again erred along the same lines, much like Spain have. Diego Forlan is no longer the force he once was; going into the 2010 edition, Forlan was at the peak of his powers, amongst the top forwards in the game, plundering and setting up goals for Atletico Madrid. And he led the line beautifully for the South Americans, proving to be a key cog in their fourth place finish.

He is now 35 years old, and while age doesn’t necessarily always diminish a player’s capabilities, as exemplified by the peerless Andrea Pirlo, in Forlan’s case it has. He now plays for Cerezo Osaka and is nowhere near the levels he was at previously.

Luis Suarez watched on from the bench as Uruguay lost their opener 1-3 to Costa Rica in Fortaleza

Edinson Cavani found himself isolated and frustrated with a lack of service from his midfield and the second striker in Forlan. The midfield that started the game, as Tabarez played a 4-4-2, comprised of Arevalo Rios, Walter Gargano, Cristian Rodriguez and Christian Stuani, and they were utterly listless, offering hardly any incisiveness in attack.

And with forwards who struggled to create openings by themselves, the absence of Luis Suarez was all the more debilitating. In their previous campaign, despite the three-pronged attack up front it was the solidity of their midfield and defence that propelled a good portion of their success, as Cavani and Suarez at the time had still not peaked.

Their midfield was held together by the veteran Diego Perez while Alvaro Pereira provided some much needed thrust with his runs from midfield. And in defence, the two Diegos – Godin and Lugano – were watertight. Lugano, another one who is now 35, is no longer the rock in defence he once was and while Godin is right up there among the top three central defenders in the world, his captain and partner in that area makes far too many mistakes these days.

These problems just didn’t explode in their faces in the first match against Costa Rica. They plagued the team right through its qualification campaign, one of the reasons why they struggled before eventually finishing fifth and making it through the playoffs. Uruguay relied heavily on Suarez’s proficiency in front of goal and the striker’s 11 goals (he was top-scorer in the CONMEBOL qualifiers) got his team into fifth place.

Another key stat was that while Uruguay scored 25 goals, they conceded an equal number, making for a goal difference of zero; the lowest among all qualifiers from South America.

Oscar Tabarez has some tough decisions to make

No one knows why Tabarez didn’t employ either of Alvaro Pereira or Gaston Ramirez in the opener against Costa Rica. Was he resting his key players ahead of the clashes against England and Italy? If that was the case, was Tabarez underestimating the Costa Ricans? The most damning stat from that game was that a defender had the most number of passes (67); that happened to be their left-back Martin Caceres, who to his credit, was the most hardworking player on the day for the South American giants and did his best to spark his team’s attack. Maxi Pereira had the second-highest (65) indicating Uruguay’s reliance on their full-backs when in possession.

There are still two games to go – Chile and England loom

While things didn’t exactly go right for these two teams, there is still time for them to set it right. Spain take on Chile in their second game later tonight, in what is a must-win encounter, with Chile having won their opener. It is a rematch from the last World Cup where the two teams met in the group stage with Spain coming out 2-1 winners. The defending champions have the personnel necessary to give their team a different look.

Del Bosque might consider switching to his forward-less line-up that worked so well at the Euros, employing Cesc Fabregas as the advanced man. Also Juanfran for Azpilicueta at right-back may be a move worth considering for the Atletico Madrid man is sounder defensively and is a smart operator in being able to bomb forward in support of his teammates. Also, the younger Koke to partner Xabi Alonso in midfield while withdrawing Xavi, is a move that could be on the cards as Del Bosque has not shied away from making changes in the past.

Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque has not been afraid to change things up in the past

For Uruguay, Suarez in all likelihood will take to the field against England tomorrow night and that should give his compatriots a huge shot in the arm along with some much needed motivation. Elsewhere, Tabarez has to consider making a change in his midfield too. Either of Stuani or Rodriguez will make way for Suarez, but the coach might as well replace the remaining one also with someone like Ramirez or Alvaro Pereira.

It has been one loss only for both these teams; just three points surrendered. Both have two matches remaining to right their ship in time before the opportunity to get to the knockout rounds slips away from their grasp. They have made similar mistakes to past champions in France (2002) and Italy (2010) in failing to refresh their squads and believing that continuity will ensure success.

However, they must not continue with that beaten path but rather make smart adjustments because otherwise they will suffer the same fate as France and Italy and be heading home by the time the Round of 16 comes along. They will both face opponents playing a brand of football suited to exploiting their weaknesses, but with the right adjustments, they can overcome the challenge.

All of the footballing world’s eyes will be on them to see if they can do just that and pick themselves up from the early punches that they have taken at Brazil 2014. Two nations in particular will watch on with expectant eyes.

Red Alert at Brazil 2014: Chile set to gatecrash Spain and Netherlands' party

“La Roja” Chile

When you think of South America and football, the first two names that come to mind to most football lovers are, just like the first two letters of the English alphabet, A for Argentina and B for Brazil. It rarely goes to C…

But C for Chile is something that close followers of the beautiful game and its quadrennial celebration have become accustomed to, for this small nation situated around the Andes Mountains, along Suda America’s western coast, has been one of the most prominent players in the continent’s footballing history. It is only fitting that Chile are mentioned in the same breath as Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, for it was these four nations that were the founding members of CONMEBOL. That apart, Chile’s football association is the second oldest in South America after Argentina; its origins dating all the way back to 1895.

Their 2014 appearance marks their eighth overall and an appearance at back-to-back finals for the very first time, having made it to South Africa in 2010. In their third finals appearance in 1962, in front of their home fans, the team made it all the way to the semi-finals, but lost out to eventual champions Brazil. However, they finished third, beating the erstwhile Yugoslavia 1-0 in the third place playoff. It is to date their best finish at the World Cup.

Nicknamed La Roja (The Red One), the Chilean football team since the 1960s has constantly been among the 25 strongest football teams in the world according to the World Football Elo Ratings.

2014 qualification

Chile qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup via direct qualification by finishing third in the CONMEBOL qualifying section behind Argentina and Colombia, just four points behind the Argentines and two behind the Colombians. They registered as many victories (9) as the top two, with only their infinitely more losses proving to be detrimental in the final standings.

Chile’s qualifying campaign was effectively a story of two halves. They got off to an electric start, winning four of their first six games, including impressive away wins at Bolivia and Venezuela, traditionally tough places for visiting teams. However, they did suffer two resounding losses away to favourites Argentina (4-1 on opening day) and Uruguay (4-0 on Matchday 3) in that initial six-match stretch.

Jorge Sampaoli

After that fast start off the blocks came the stutter where they went winless in the next three games, including home losses to Colombia (1-3) and Argentina (1-2). That dip in form cost their Argentine manager, Claudio Borghi, his job, and a fellow countryman of his, Jorge Sampaoli, was summoned to take over the reins. His first match in charge didn’t go any differently as the Chileans suffered another reverse as they were beaten 0-1 away in Peru.

But that match would prove to be the turning point in Chile’s qualifying campaign as Sampaoli initiated the turnaround that they had sought after as they put together a superb six-match unbeaten run, winning five and drawing one, in the final stretch of their campaign and claim third place in the South American qualification standings.

Form carries over into friendlies

Not only did Chile finish their qualifying campaign with a flourish, they have been mighty impressive in the friendlies that they have featured in as well, and against the best of opponents. Since the beginning of 2013, Chile have played 10 friendlies, of which they have lost only two. The first of those two losses came against Brazil on November 19 last year in Toronto, Canada, where they lost a close game (1-2) to a late winner from Robinho, and the second was on March 5 this year to Germany (0-1) in Stuttgart.

That match against the Germans will be well remembered, for though Chile ended up on the losing side, they really should have won that game for they put the German defence to the sword with their attack. Yet somehow, not only did Chile fail to win, thanks to a combination of woeful finishing and desperate German defending, they didn’t even score a single goal, something that looked a certainty as the match wore on. But what it did do is place in full view the offensive capability of this Chile side, potent enough to rip through the very best footballing sides in the world.

And through their fantastic run, they held Brazil to a 2-2 draw in Belo Horizonte, in front of the Selecao’s home fans, in their April 24 meeting last year and also held world champions Spain 2-2 in Geneva last September.La Roja also produced a scintillating display of attacking football in front of nearly 63,000 supporters at the Wembley Stadium last November as they overwhelmed England 2-0 on their home turf.

Attack is the keyword

At the heart of Chile’s remarkable run of form over the last couple of years has been a system that preaches launching quick, swift attacks with an emphasis on pace…pace and more pace coupled with an intense pressing scheme when in not in possession of the ball. Sampaoli’s game plan has reaped much dividend with opposing defences almost always left in a quandary while trying to deal with his team’s attacking potency.

Sampaoli has built on the successes of one of La Roja’s previous coaches, ‘El Loco’ Marcelo Bielsa, who guided Chile to the 2010 World Cup finals. A student of Bielsa, the current coach has continued with the formula that Chilean teams of the past employed successfully and he has been able to count on a group of talented players who are capable of delivering precisely that brand of football.

The Cast

Chile’s squad is headlined by the names of Arturo Vidal of Juventus and Alexis Sanchez of FC Barcelona.

Arturo Vidal

Vidal has emerged as one of the world’s premier box-to-box midfielders in the last couple of years. After shining at Bayer Leverkusen, he made the switch to Italian giants Juventus in 2011, and ever since, his stock has soared. He has been an integral part of the Bianconeri’s three successive Serie A titles since his arrival and his displays for Chile have been of similar ilk, providing La Roja’s midfield with some defensive steel with his hard-tackling and pressing and also offensive thrust through the middle, joining up in attack and contributing goals and assists.

Vidal found the net five times in his 11 qualifying appearances for Chile, making him the top scoring midfielder in South American qualifying. Not for nothing is this man named Il Guerriero (“The Warrior”), for he is as combative as they come. Vidal is coming off yet another successful season for Juve where he pitched in with 11 goals in their title winning league campaign.

Alexis Sanchez

While Vidal brings the toughness and hustle, Alexis up front leads Chile’s high octane attack. His electric pace and dribbling skills serve as the perfect weapons in Sampaoli’s system as the Barcelona forward has come to be known for scoring some fantastic goals. Alexis is a joy to watch as he takes on opposing defenders and often leaving them in his trail as he moves towards goal.

Under new Barca manager, Gerardo Martino, Alexis enjoyed more playing time than before and benefited from a playing style that complemented his qualities more and he had his best ever season with the Catalan outfit, scoring 19 goals (21 overall) and providing 10 assists (15 overall) in the just concluded La Liga season.

Eduardo Vargas

But Vidal and Alexis aside, there is one little guy whose lethal finishing in front of goal could hold the key to Chile’s chances of progressing deep into this World Cup - presenting Eduardo Vargas.

The 24-year-old 5’9” forward, who currently plays for Spanish club Valencia on loan, was joint-top scorer for Chile, along with Vidal, with five goals to his name. He may not have set the stage alight with his performances at club level, but for his national team, Vargas has been in supreme form, scoring 12 goals in his last 15 appearances since the beginning of 2013. His rich vein of form increases the danger posed by Chile to the other teams at this year’s World Cup as they don’t just have to deal with the twin dangers of Vidal and Alexis.

In defence, assured veterans Gary Medel and Juan Cala, provide a measure of comfort for the Chileans while keeper and captain Claudio Bravo, also lends some much needed solidity to the backline. Throw in Marcelo Diaz, who operates in the centre of Chile’s midfield and keeps things ticking over nicely, and you have a team that is bursting with talent in every quarter of the pitch, and one that makes for a very dangerous opponent to any team.

Chile are placed in Group B along with the two finalists from last time around – holders Spain and runners-up the Netherlands – and Australia. It is a tough group to emerge from especially when you have such dominant teams in the fray. But, there are many things going in their favour, namely the home conditions and their familiarity in playing at max levels for 90 minutes in those conditions. Also, as looked at above, the team is in a rich vein of form and as an added bonus will take on the weakest team in the group, in the Aussies, in their first game, thus avoiding the two powerhouses.

Chile’s attack, especially on the counter, can be a handful for any team to manage. And if the opposition’s defence is not at its sharpest, they could be in for a rough ride. And that’s one area where the Dutch have traditionally not been the best – the defence. Chile may not be able to ride roughshod over the defending champions Spain, but they pose a very clear and present danger to a team like the Netherlands.

Interestingly, each time that Chile has progressed beyond the group stages, their campaign has come to an end at the hands of Brazil (round of 16 in 1998, 2010 and semi-finals 1962). And there could well be another match against the Selecao in the offing in the Round of 16 here if Chile makes it through.

Once La Furia Roja and the Oranje finish their boxing match in Group B, they will cast their eyes on the proceedings in the second match of the group where La Roja will take to the pitch to kick-start their campaign. No one will be taking the team from South America lightly as pushovers, knowing fully well that this Chile team has it in them to put one over their more accomplished colleagues.

"I believe Chile will win the World Cup, if I didn't believe that I would be sitting at home in front of the television," added forward Alexis Sanchez, while ‘El Guerriero’ Vidal has exclaimed that this is Chile’s greatest footballing generation ever. It’s a generation that is ready to throw a spanner in the works of the designs of some of their fellow competitors.

Chilean supporter with the national flag

A Chile breeze is blowing across Brazil, one that carries with it a latent fear and danger; enough to make the hair on the back of the necks of their opponents stand up in recognition of this team’s capability. Teams at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, you have been warned!

"We are knowledge oriented and have a burning desire to see our clients succeed" - Interview with Philip Jackson, CEO of Sportstec Limited

If there's one element of sport that has grown exponentially along with the global growth in demand for sports, it is sports analytics. Teams across various sports and countries look for the ultimate competitive edge and hence turn to analytics for it.

Sportstec is the world leader in providing exactly this sort of advantage to sporting teams. And at the helm of it all is New Zealand’s Philip Jackson.

Philip is the Managing Director and majority shareholder of Sportstec Limited, a global company delivering technologies (developed in-house) for the performance analysis market. The company has offices established in NZ, Australia, Malaysia, USA, Canada, France, Germany, India, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil and UK, at the same time establishing a distribution network in 22 countries around the world.

With over 9,000 clients worldwide, Philip has created the leading performance analysis company in the world.

Managing some key customer accounts for the Indian arm of Sportstec is Venugopal Rajagopalan, Manager-Sales & Training - Sportstec India.

Venu is responsible for business development and training at Sportstec India Pvt. Ltd. He is also responsible for helping high performance teams and coaches develop and enhance their sports performance. Being a sports enthusiast, he decided to chase his dreams and move into the sports domain where he could utilize not only his knowledge about sports and his analytical and writing skills, but also his business acumen.

We caught up with Philip and Venu for a brief interview:

Philip Jackson, Managing Director, Sportstec

How did the idea of Sportstec come about? Can you tell us a little bit about how the company was founded?

It came about in 1999 as a result of some work with the Otago University for their rugby program. So it started with that - our aim was to try and provide sports performance analysis for various sports - cricket, ice hockey, you name it - and we wanted to be the best in the world at it.

At the time, there wasn't a similar product in the market; there was one, but it was I think in Australia and restricted to the country. So we wanted to cater to a more global clientele.
So we started off in New Zealand where people are just absolute sports nuts. There is a major obsession with sport in the country and it worked well for us.

What was the first product that you developed?

The first product we developed was for field hockey umpires in Australia. There were other products available, but they used to function on a more linear basis. Ours was the first non-linear offering and it helped improve the umpires' decision-making and communication with the players to a great degree.

Sports is a field that has gradually evolved over the years with newer additions every decade. The advent of television has changed many things and there are increasingly more and more stats that the fans can see and process. But an often unseen part of the sport is the statistics that improve performance for the teams. How was this market when you entered (valuation and size) and how do you see it progressing?

I think from the time we started off, to what it is now, the industry has grown by a 10 factorial multiplier. The technology has become cheaper, meaning not the software that we provide, but the hardware necessary to use and run analytical software has come down. So that's something that has helped the industry grow.

Sports analytics is big; to give you a small example, initial research in America showed that the sports market there was 10 times larger than the automotive industry! Now that is some serious size. So that's the thing - there is huge demand for sports analytics right now in both established as well as emerging markets.

Stats can roughly be divided in two - you have your retail stats and your coaching stats. The retail stats are the ones that you guys see on television and the various websites. The coaching stats delve a little bit deeper into the elements that a coach wants to see, and that's the demand we cater to.

So yes, the scope is huge for that industry.

What is the broad scope of operations of Sportstec?

Sportstec aims at providing top-level assistance basically and our vision is to be able to provide a learning tool. We want to help the coach be a better coach, help put a pilot through the paces with our pilot training, and similarly for the fire service and other industries. The company vision is about nurturing constant improvement in our clients.

Which sporting domains do you currently cater the most to?

We have a huge list of clientele in domains like rugby (all major rugby playing nations), field hockey, basketball (28 teams out of the top 30 NBA teams), football (almost all European and English premier league teams) and also other sports like volleyball, netball, cricket (West Indies, New Zealand, New South Wales), tennis (Tennis Australia, Roger Federer, Andre Agassi).

Can you name some of the top teams that have enlisted your services?

We have on board the American National Basketball team, All Blacks Rugby, West Indies Cricket Board, Manchester United, Hockey India. We have tied up with some of the major football federations in the world like Brazil, Portugal, Spain. So you know, we could have a potential World Cup winner on our hands. We have about 28 of the 30 NBA teams in the United States on our client list as well.

You have mentioned a few organizations as corporate partners. Who are your main corporate partners and how have they helped support the venture?

We have stats provider Opta with us. They're one of the best in their field and they are a really crucial partner as our chief stats provider and also they provide us an integration system which helps combine the data that we capture with their analytical insights.

There are two elements to game statistics - there is the game element, and then you have the coaching analysis. On average there are close to 200k/300k data points that are collected in a game and these inputs to the coaches help greatly in performance analysis. Teams can then take the ones they want and discard the ones they don't want.

And likewise, as far as education partners are concerned, who are the major partners and what sort of knowledge transfer have you benefited from thanks to these alliances?

We have tied up with numerous universities in Australia and the United Kingdom. These universities help in performing a cause-effect performance analysis. So not only do they help from an educational standpoint, but they're also offering courses on this particular subject. So they are actually providing the industry with specialists who come out of these universities fully prepared to understand the analytics and the technology being used. And the sports field now wants people who come in ready so that there isn't a great deal of time spent on educating them on the nuances again.

Venugopal Rajagopalan, Manager – Sales & Training, Sportstec India

What are the various products that you offer, if you can offer a brief run-through of each of them?

SportsCode, our basic product, is being used by volleyball leagues Europe, in Four Nations, Six Nations rugby, NBA teams in the US and also by other major teams in field hockey, tennis, football and cricket across the world.

Then there is Sportstec Exchange: This basically provides the knowledge repository to a team immediately after a game as against perhaps four days later if you were to make a DVD and send it across. This is our workhorse product, one that doesn't get too many eyeballs, but is very effective. It has a web-based stream share option.

Then you have Studio Code which is a capture, code, analyse tool.

There's SportsTec Player - which provides quickly engaging reports in minutes.

Coda/iCoda - Powerful data collection tool, non-video though.

Trak Performance - Manual tracking system where you can entirely focus on one player. You can use it to check and correlate a player's heart rate and peak performance level for example.

Do you organize events to spread the word, not only for promulgating your own product, but also from a standpoint of championing your industry?

Yes, there is something called the Global Sportstec Innovation Conference (GSIC) which this year is happening at the Tower of London. It is funded by us and organized by us. It is about the industry informing the industry on latest developments and having an appraisal of how things are progressing. We will be having personalities like Les Reed, who is a coach with Sunderland football club, Gary Gold, a former Springbok assistant coach, and then we have another sports researcher from Turkey who has developed a particularly effective scouting department to look at the opposition team using which his team has gone on to win the Turkish championship.

We noted from your website that Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski of Duke) is one of the coaches that have taken up your products. He is one of the most renowned coaches in the basketball circuit in the United States thanks to his work at Duke and with the US National team, and he's been known to be masterful at implementing process-based programs for improving his teams with the help of analytics. How has the experience been working with him, and can Sportstec be considered a huge part of how he has been able to sustain his success?

Oh absolutely! Coach K is a very special member of the Sportstec family and was one of the earliest adopters of our products in the basketball world. The product has helped his support staff a great deal with their coaching. One of the key things he's done with the US national team is build accountability. The US team was earlier all about a collection of superstars who just went out and won you a game based on their individual talents and were rarely questioned when they didn't perform. Now, Coach K can identify and highlight a particular aspect of a player's play and highlight to him exactly where he needs to improve. He has used analytics to bring these superstars around and instill responsibility.

And as for his school, Duke partners only with the best. And for them to select us as the best performance analysis provider out there is just a huge endorsement.

What is your USP that you reckon differentiates you from other similar service providers?

Sportstec globally has the most passionate set of people working towards delivering the best performance analytics tools available. Our products are the best in the world; without a good product, there is nothing. We are knowledge oriented and we have a burning desire to see our clients succeed. And I think our clients recognize that and hence favour our partnership.

Coming to the India connection, what are the clubs and teams that you work with? And what sort of set-up do you currently have in place in the country?

We have a direct operation running here. It is 100% owned by Sportstec and we've been here for about one-and-a-half years now. We are not using resellers. Here, we are still in our infancy stage, the market is just getting established right now. About five years down the line, we will look at adding distributors to better get our product around.

As far as clients go, we have Hockey India (HI) on board; they use SportsCode, iCoda. We have the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and also some of the clubs from the I-league, including the champions this year, Bengaluru Football Club (BFC),  as well as Dempo and Salgaocar sports clubs. Apart from this, we had about four teams from the six participating in the Hockey India league using our products. Ranchi Rhinos, the winners of the inaugural edition of the tournament, were proud users of our SportsCode product.
In this history of technological advancements, one innovation or value addition has constantly spawned off another. Looking ahead, what innovation or spin-off do you think analytics in sports can spawn in the coming years? (Or other advancements in the way we see and understand sport)

I think the filtering down of data points, so as to arrive at the most crucial one in no time is something that the industry will move towards. Right now, there is a lot of information that you get from our tools and it takes time for the coaches and other end users to skim through it. So perhaps, in future, the tools will be equipped to tell you, say if there are a 100 insights that you garner, what the top 20 or the 20 most important insights are. Then of course there's 3D reconstructive video and all that too.