The anxiety of their Intercontinental Cup debut has passed and Flamengo must now reconfigure their efforts to face Pyramids today, at 2 p.m. (Brasilia time), in the semi-final of the FIFA tournament. The search for the title involves a journey in which the red-black team will have to present different faces in the three possible matches. After defeating a mirror image of Cruz Azul and before thinking of the imposing Paris Saint-Germain in the final, the duel with the Egyptians will require creativity.
The young club formed seven years ago in Cairo won its first African Champions League in June and sees a nascent project beginning to bear fruit. In the Egyptian reality, the team is one of the protagonists, competing with the traditional Al Ahly for titles and being called to the country’s national team. In other words, he generally likes to have the ball and impose himself.
But they see no problem in being a reactive, transitional team against a higher level opponent, like Flamengo. The Pyramids team has players who are fast and deadly when used on the counterattack. The main one is Congolese striker Fiston Mayele, who scored three goals in the 3-1 victory over Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia in the previous phase of the competition in September.
By beating Cruz Azul last Wednesday, Flamengo faced a team with the same proposition of playing the ball with patience and building plays from goalkeeper and defender. It took a few moments to give the ball to the opponent and work harder under high pressure, a strategy that allowed Arrascaeta to open the scoring – a necessary alternative due to the number of matches (76) played this season. In the second half, the good adjustments and changes of Filipe Luís allowed the team to win and find the winning goal, always with the Uruguayan.
Today, the trend has changed a lot. It is Flamengo who will have possession of the ball and will be responsible for breaking through the opposing defense. At the same time, you must be attentive to counterattacks from an opponent who is less physically exhausted and much less valuable.
According to Transfermarkt, Fla’s team is worth 186.5 million euros (around R$1.18 billion), eight times more than Pyramids’ team: 23.4 million euros (R$148 million). The most expensive player of the Egyptians is the Brazilian striker Ewerton Silva, bought at the end of July from Baník Ostrava (Czech Republic) for 2.8 million euros (around 18 million reais).
— It depends on the player, how he is going to arrive, the confidence, the daring and the creativity of the player. I am convinced that if we speed up the game, our team will suffer. This is not a game that suits us. There are several matches that have been like that this year and that give us the path laid out for what will happen on the field — said Filipe Luís at a press conference yesterday. — They are very strong, they can run for a long time, they never get tired. This is why it is very difficult to win matches.
Three days ago the coach spoke of “sacrifices” in the short-shot tournament, but the recovery time has not been ideal for some players like Léo Ortiz, who returned to play after a month and a half, and must rest, giving way to Danilo.
There could be more specific changes to the starting lineup. The attack has open conflicts, since Cebolinha, Plata and Luiz Araújo started the second half well. Even Pedro has returned to partially train with the group and is working to receive minutes in this tournament. If he doesn’t feature against Pyramids, he could be used in a possible final against PSG.
Facing the French European champions in the cup on Wednesday is the main objective of all the players at the Intercontinental. If ranked, the red and black team may choose to play a more defensive game based on counter-attacks to compete with one of the best teams in the world. It would be the third face of a tournament that requires Flamengo to be a chameleon on the pitch.
Lessons from the Club World Cup
At the Club World Cup in the United States, the red and black team had different experiences against the European elite: they managed to win and beat Chelsea in the group stage, but did not have the same success when they were eliminated by Bayern Munich, closer to the PSG playing model. In a confrontation like this, one possibility would be to draw inspiration from Botafogo’s victory against the French themselves, in a display of defensive solidity and lethality in attack.
— The big question is whether Filipe Luís will bring the team together to play against PSG the same way he did against Bayern Munich, with an open mind or, this time, will he take some precautions. Honestly, I don’t think it will be any different now, because the team has been playing like this all year, trying to win in every match — emphasizes Rodrigo Coutinho, commentator of Grupo Globo.
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