Wednesday (17) is the decisive day, in the Intercontinental Cup, between Flamengo and PSG, and in the Brazilian Cup, with the first match between Corinthians and Vasco.
I am more hopeful than in the last Club World Cup that a Brazilian team will beat a great European team in the last match. The positive expectation must be because Botafogo beat PSG in the recent Club Cup and Flamengo beat Chelsea in the group stage, who would later become world champions.
If Flamengo is champion, that does not mean that it is superior to the France team. Sometimes big European teams lose in national championships to medium or small teams, inferior to Flamengo. As the old saying goes, football is played.
The two teams are different in their midfield formation. PSG has a trio, with Vitinha centralized and further back, with a midfielder on each side who scores, builds and advances. At Flamengo, midfielders Jorginho and Pulgar play almost on a line. Arrascaeta is increasingly an attacking midfielder who plays close to goal rather than a holding midfielder.
Flamengo must score the PSG ball with Vitinha. He, with his intense mobility and good passing, is the link between defense and attack, a type of midfielder increasingly valued in Europe. Brazil is still very dependent on formation with two midfielders and a centralized attacking midfielder, who does not participate in marking. All tactical structures can be effective as long as they are executed well and have great players.
We will miss Moroccan right-back Hakimi, the best in the world in this position. Left-back Nuno Mendes is also excellent when moving forward and will need to be marked. Filipe Luís has several options, from midfielder to striker, and will certainly make good choices.
In the Copa do Brasil, Corinthians and Vasco lost to Cruzeiro and Fluminense in the second match of the semi-finals and advanced to the final on penalties. They must play two balanced matches. Both teams have great offensive players, Memphis, Garro and Yuri Alberto for Corinthians, Coutinho, Rayan and Gómez for Vasco.
Both teams, as is often the case today in Brazil and around the world, are strong from set pieces. There are assistants, specialists in these parts. To work well, you need to have a good centerer and efficient heads. I think teams should always have a player in front of the opponent to disrupt their run before they gain momentum towards the lead.
Corinthians, even without paying their huge debts, could be the champions of the Copa do Brasil and thus guarantee a place in the Libertadores. Just as governments must urgently punish offenders who do not pay their taxes, the CBF must accelerate and put into practice the promised rules against clubs who do not pay what they owe.
In Brazil and around the world, there are more and more violent, inhumane, corrupt, unethical, and racially and religiously intolerant people. Terrible to see a terrorist shoot and kill so many Jews socializing on a beach in Australia. If it were not for a Muslim citizen who, with courage and solidarity, attacked the shooter and took his weapon, the death toll would be much higher. There is still hope among human beings.
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