Brazil Struggle for Answers Against Ecuador in Copa America Opener
For those watching at home, this was somewhat inevitable. As Brazil sleepwalked their way towards a goalless draw with Ecuador in their Copa America opener on Saturday evening, all that was wrong with Dunga and his side was laid bare.
Yes, this Ecuador team is in form and sits joint top of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying group. They are well disciplined and tactically organised, but surely Brazil, despite six changes to their squad in the build-up to this fixture, would be able to cope comfortably?
It would appear that the public are no longer so sure, that the five-time world champions can no longer be guaranteed public backing against a side yet to threaten the bookies' odds in terms of lifting a trophy.
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Before kick-off, Brazilian broadcaster SporTV ran a poll asking which side was favourite to win the match; 52 per cent opted for Ecuador.
Increasingly as the second half wore on, this was a Brazil side devoid of inspiration, lacking in guile and imagination in ways to break down a dogged and determined, but ultimately limited, opponent.
And this is where Dunga must shoulder a large portion of the blame. As the Selecao looked increasingly lost, there was little in terms of fundamental change from the touchline.
No extra support for Jonas in attack, no change to the shape of a side that was easily cancelled out—Dunga changed the pieces of his jigsaw without altering the overall picture.
Indeed, it could have been even worse for Brazil, with Ecuador having a perfectly good goal ruled out when goalkeeper Alisson spilled a low shot into his own goal. The linesman waved, believing the ball had crossed the touchline, with replays showing the goal should have stood.
As cameras continually turned their attention to Neymar in the crowd, busy taking selfies with Justin Bieber and Lewis Hamilton, the feeling that Brazil continue to remain toothless without their talisman was cruelly and emphatically underlined.
Brazil made a bright start to the game, pushing and harrying Ecuador. Willian and Philippe Coutinho pushed forward regularly in support of Jonas, the former in particular getting into dangerous areas to put in probing balls.
In addition, Coutinho cut in to allow left-back Filipe Luis to come in on the overlap. There was cohesion and attacking intent.
It was after the interval, when Ecuador tightened up on their marking and didn't afford Brazil's two most creative players the same amount of space that the tank started to look empty worryingly early on. And there was little intuition from Dunga, who stalked the touchline, waving arms and scowling in the mould of an overbearing father at a Sunday morning league game.
Yet the boss cannot escape without criticism. Dunga made three substitutions without changing his side's setup, formation or style of play. On came Gabriel for Jonas, Lucas Lima for Elias and Lucas for Willian—all like-for-like changes that did nothing to test Ecuador or force them to test themselves in their increasingly straightforward efforts to cancel out any potential Brazilian threat.
There were two positives to take away, as Brazil now prepare to face Haiti on Wednesday night.
The performance of midfielder Casemiro, in for Luiz Gustavo, was encouraging, as he brought his recent form for Real Madrid to the tournament. Strong in the tackle and quick and accurate when distributing the ball, his performance, like the rest of the team, fell a little in the second half.
Another who carried on previous good form was Philippe Coutinho, and, as happened at the Copa America in Chile last year, it now looks as though the burden to be the fulcrum of this side in the absence of Neymar will fall principally on the Liverpool playmaker's shoulders.
And therein lies the frustration for Brazil and their fans. Even without the Barcelona man, the side contains enough players to make the difference against the likes of Ecuador.
The likes of Daniel Alves pushing forward from right-back, the platform in midfield of Elias and Renato Augusto to provide for the front line. This current Brazil team may not be the best in the world, indeed those memories are fading faster with every insipid performance such as this one, and it is this almost dreary resignation that hurts the most.
When faced by a team happy to sit back, absorb pressure and gently probe on the counter-attack, Brazil looked lost. Furthermore, the man charged with overseeing their tactical planning also looked lost on the bench.
On this showing, little has changed since Brazil's exit from this continental tournament last year. Yes, the Olympic Games are considered the more important this summer, but anyone watching not necessarily a poor Brazil performance, but one that lacked anything in the way of wit, creativity and aesthetics, would not have been filled with confidence that the country's long wait for that elusive gold medal is set to end on home soil in a couple of months' time.
The ease of Brazil's group draw works strongly in Dunga's favour. Haiti should be brushed aside, meaning just a point against Peru in the final group game should be enough to take the side through to the knock-out stages.
In essence, Brazil have two games to see a drastic improvement before facing sterner tests. Dunga's experimentation against Panama was nowhere to be seen against Ecuador.
His tactical inflexibility on the night was difficult to comprehend. On paper, Ecuador are Brazil's toughest group-stage opponents.
Perhaps the 1994 World Cup winner was happy to settle for a point and is planning a more expansive game plan in midweek. If that turns out to be the case, it is a sign how far the mighty have fallen.
Not matching the likes of Spain and Germany is one thing; scheming for points in a Copa America group is quite another.
It will only be possible to gauge whether there has been true progress if Brazil face the stronger teams in the competition during the knock-out rounds. The opening signs on Saturday night, however, were less than encouraging.
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