No one expected that Brazil, which had a luxurious squad and was considered the favorite to win the Copa America before the start of the game, was forced to draw 0:0 by Costa Rica. Throughout the game, Brazil did not show the quality of a strong team. Against a stubborn Costa Rican defence, the Samba Army looked helpless. Even Neymar, who was watching the game from the stands, kept holding his head with his hands during the game to express his frustration, and even after the game, he shook his head again and again to express his dissatisfaction.
Brazil's poor performance also relieved Uruguay in the same half and Argentina in the other half. After all, if these two teams want to compete for the title, then the Brazilian team will be the biggest obstacle. However, I didn't expect this favorite who was favored by many people before the game to play so badly. This undoubtedly makes it easier for them to win the title, but there is no way, the current problems of the Brazilian team are too many. And in terms of the content of the stadium they showed in this game, they can't come up with a solution in a short time, which is the most uncomfortable for them.
Objectively speaking, there are two main problems for the Brazilian team at the moment. First of all, it comes from the midfield, and the team lacks a solid midfield core. In terms of improving the level of attack and creativity, it has opened a gap with the main opponents Argentina and Uruguay. Whether it's the likes of Guimaraes, Paqueta or Gomez, the lack of creativity in these players is a fact. For South Americans, which have always focused on physical confrontation and large-scale movements without fouls, it is difficult for midfielders to help the team without a flash of creativity. Once caught in the middle of the opposition's midfield, there is not much that even a top team like Brazil can do.
This is the case in this game, Brazil, which is worth a total of 680 million euros, faces Costa Rica, the weakest team in the group, with a total value of only 13.82 million euros. The opponent's high-pressure pressing and pursuit of physical confrontation style of play put the Samba Army in a quagmire. Although the team had a whopping 73 per cent possession, most of it was ineffective. The midfielders were unable to deliver penetrating movements, leaving the Brazilian forwards in a one-man position. The end result is that the strikers keep failing to break through and then switch possession.
On top of that, the second problem is also fatal, and that is that Brazil does not have a real center forward player to use. They seem to have seen a lot of talented strikers emerge in recent years, such as Vinicius Jr. and Rodrygo who shone at Real Madrid, or Raphinha who joined Barcelona. At the same time, there is the 18-year-old talent Endrick, who has just moved to Real Madrid, and it seems that the Brazilian team has no shortage of strikers. But with the exception of Endrick, who has some centre-forward attributes, the rest of these players are wingers.
And before Endrick grew up, there was no center-forward style of play in Brazil's regular main lineup. This left Vinicius and Rodrygo, who have always been accustomed to playing at club level, a little confused. In this game, the two were caught up in too much solitary possession of the ball, and there was no point in the penalty area, which led to the further reduction of the space for the two of them. For the wingers, the shrinking space is very lethal, and it makes it useless for them to attack the defence. At the same time, Argentina and Uruguay both have main strikers to play around, and Argentina even have two top center forwards who can start, which are more advantageous points than Brazil.
In the past, when Neymar was around, he could also use his attacking talent and creativity to help the team solve the problem of lack of creativity in the midfield and the lack of space for the center forward. He can draw firepower for the rest of the team's forwards, and to some extent Neymar can take on the functionality of two players. This is the reason why they have been invincible in competitions such as the World Preliminary Championships in the past. But now Neymar is injured, which has completely exposed the two weaknesses of the Brazilian team to other teams. There are always fans who say that Neymar is the worst leader of the Brazilian team, but without him, the current Brazilian team is even worse.