Chapter 44 He Sleeps Soundly

Zhou Yi didn't have Schulze's problem; he slept soundly and deeply.

In the virtual space, he led the Chinese team to challenge Brazil again and again, to see how the current Chinese team could fare against Brazil.

In the repeated matches, he discovered that, as Lippi had analyzed, this Brazilian team had many problems. However, their first-place finish in the group stage had masked these issues. The Brazilian media and fans tacitly avoided discussing them, as if talking about it would disrupt morale and allow the Chinese team to find ways to counter them.

But they didn't expect that even if they didn't say it, Zhou Yi knew.

Scolari is a very stubborn coach. He has had a brilliant career, culminating in leading Brazil to win the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan. His "3R + Two Defensive Midfielders" tactic was truly formidable at the time.

Coaches who have been successful in the past tend to believe in themselves, have great confidence, and be stubborn.

These issues have all appeared in Scolari.

His several coaching failures are largely due to his personality.

For example, he coached Chelsea, but was fired after half a season.

Before he took over the Brazilian national team again, his coaching stint at Palmeiras was a complete failure. He only coached Palmeiras for fifty-six days before leading the once-proud team to the brink of relegation, resulting in his dismissal by the Palmeiras club president.

At the time, the Brazilian media was surprised that Scolari was able to coach the Brazilian team again.

However, Brazil's eventual victory in the Confederations Cup masked many problems and made everyone accept Scolari.

Judging from the first three games of the World Cup, Scolari's adjustments were insufficient, his thinking was rigid, and his blind confidence was severe.

In Zhou Yi's view, it was a "bumpy ride" for this team to even make it to the knockout stage.

The last group match, Brazil's 4-1 victory over Cameroon, seemed to restore the Brazilian players' confidence, making them feel invincible and that taking down China would be a piece of cake.

But in terms of strength, this Brazilian team was not absolutely stronger than the Chinese team.

This was confirmed by Zhou Yi in repeated virtual matches.

Just look at the roster of this Brazilian team. Compared to the star-studded Brazilian teams of the past, this team is decidedly ordinary.

Especially the forward line. Historically, Brazilian football has been known for its exceptional attacking power and never lacking superstars in the attacking line. Because the country's football values attacking, children from the moment they start playing football like to be forwards and score goals, making it easy to produce attacking talents. From the Pele era, there were Pele, Garrincha, and Rivelino, as well as "White Pele" Zico, Falcao, and Socrates. Closer to modern fans are Romario, Bebeto, Rivaldo, Djalminha, Jardel, Elber, Edmundo, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Robinho…

In the past, Brazil only worried about having too many attacking players to accommodate, never about not being able to find suitable forwards.

But now this problem really exists in the Brazilian team. In fact, this trend started four years ago at the South Africa World Cup. At that time, the Brazilian team's number nine was Fabiano, who was called the weakest number nine forward in Brazilian history.

But now it seems that everyone was a little premature, because the current Brazilian national team's number nine is even weaker than four years ago…

The current Brazilian team's number nine is Fred.

If you don't know much about Brazilian football, you might be confused when you first hear the name – who is this person? Why is he wearing the number once worn by Ronaldo?

In fact, Fred is not a newcomer to the Brazilian national team; this is his second World Cup. He has played a total of thirty-two times for the Brazilian national team, scoring sixteen goals. In this Brazilian national team, he has the second-most goals after Neymar.

But this does not mean that Fred has outstanding strength.

His last World Cup was the 2006 World Cup in Germany. As Ronaldo's substitute, he made few appearances and did not leave much of an impression.

At that time, Fred was still playing in the French league.

Now, Fred is older and has returned to Brazil, playing for Fluminense. He was selected for the Brazilian national team because he is currently the only available player that Brazil can find in the center forward position.

Originally, Diego Costa, who played well for Atletico Madrid as a Brazilian, would have been more suitable for this position. But he refused to play for the Brazilian national team and chose to play for the Spanish national team. This matter made the two football associations very unhappy at the time.

Another theory is that Scolari's stubbornness and arrogance were one of the main reasons why Diego Costa did not play for the Brazilian national team. For example, Zico holds this view, believing that Scolari did not want to recruit Diego Costa at all. It was only after Diego Costa stated that he wanted to fight for Spain that he promoted and recruited Diego Costa before a friendly match, and then gave him twenty minutes of symbolic appearance.

Because it was an appearance in a friendly match, Diego Costa could still join other national teams. Finally, Diego Costa officially announced his joining the Spanish national team before the World Cup. Looking at Diego Costa's excellent performance at Atletico Madrid, Scolari must have regretted it…

Having lost Diego Costa, Scolari could only choose Fred as the center forward.

Fred is considered a major flaw in the current Brazilian national team, but apart from him, the strength of the Brazilian team in other positions is not very strong either.

Hulk became famous very early, but he has always lacked experience in the mainstream European leagues. He can only bully weaker teams in the Russian and Japanese leagues, and has not yet reached the height that people originally expected of him.

Jo once transferred to Manchester City for a club record fee, but his performance at Manchester City was mediocre. He made forty-two appearances for Manchester City and scored only six goals. Now he has returned to Brazil and plays for Atletico Mineiro.

Bernard is young, only twenty-one years old, and is participating in the World Cup for the first time, having made ten appearances for the national team and scored one goal. He currently plays for Shakhtar Donetsk, is not well-known, and is only a substitute in the Brazilian national team.

In the forward line, only Neymar is a world-class star with sufficient reputation. But Neymar became famous very early, and only went to Europe last year. He has not grown into the player everyone hoped he would be at Barcelona, and is still Messi's little brother. The core and superstar of the Brazilian national team cannot stand alone at the club. The strength of this Brazilian national team is evident.

Just take another Brazilian national team also coached by Scolari and compare it briefly. Rivaldo of the 3Rs was the core player of Barcelona, and had already won the European Ballon d'Or and the World Footballer of the Year award. Ronaldo goes without saying. The "Alien" was an absolute main force and core player in both Barcelona and Inter Milan, and won individual honors. The only one who was a little younger was Ronaldinho, but he was also the core player in the French powerhouse Paris Saint-Germain, and he transferred to Barcelona to serve as the core in the same year that Brazil won the World Cup.

So now people say that the current Brazilian team is far worse than before, and some people think that Neymar in today's Brazilian team would just be an ordinary player who could only hide under the light of a group of superstars. His fame is mostly because there is a talent shortage in Brazilian football. Besides him, there is no other genius that can be shown.

This may not be deliberately discrediting Neymar. Here's an example: Kaka, who later became the core of AC Milan, helped AC Milan win the 2007 Champions League title, and won the World Footballer of the Year and European Ballon d'Or awards. Whether in terms of ability or talent, he was probably not inferior to Neymar, but in the Brazilian national team that won the World Cup at the time, he was just a national team fringe player who could only appear in garbage time to brush his presence…

In midfield, although there are many players who play in European leagues and their names are not unfamiliar, there is not a single one who can truly be called a superstar. Among them, many are participating in the World Cup for the first time, such as Fernandinho who plays for Manchester City, Paulinho who plays for Tottenham Hotspur, Willian and Oscar who play for Chelsea, Gustavo who plays for Wolfsburg, and Hernanes who plays for Inter Milan…

The defense has always been the weakness of the Brazilian national team – but that was relative to the extremely powerful offensive line at the time. The 2002 Brazilian national team also had superstar defenders like Lucio, Cafu, and Roberto Carlos.

But the current Brazilian national team is the opposite of the situation back then. Compared to their weak forward line, the Brazilian team's defense is much more luxurious… The Brazilian defense line with Marcelo, Alves, David Luiz, and Thiago Silva can be called the most expensive "human flesh Great Wall" in this World Cup.

You know, the three most valuable defenders in the world all come from Brazil.

Of course, value does not fully represent ability. This luxurious defense has conceded two goals in three games, and the two full-backs Marcelo and Alves have exposed the problem of being strong in attack and weak in defense, which is not surprising.

As for the goalkeeper, "Saint Cesar," who once helped Inter Milan win the treble, is now old and has not even played football for a long time. Everyone who understands football knows how important continuous high-quality games are for goalkeepers.

But such a goalkeeper is still the main goalkeeper of the Brazilian national team.

It can be seen how far the talent shortage in Brazilian football has gone.

Cesar's performance in this World Cup has not been satisfactory, and the public has been putting a lot of pressure on him.

With his weight gain, slow reaction, and lack of games to maintain his form, he is like a bomb on the Brazilian defense line. God knows when it will explode.

Such a team that is not very strong, coupled with a stubborn and arrogant coach, this combination is truly a "perfect match."

In so many games simulated by Zhou Yi, the Chinese team can roughly tie with the Brazilian team – can you imagine that? In the past, when the Chinese team played against the Brazilian team, the Chinese team would automatically feel inferior before the game even started, thinking that they would definitely lose, and the only question was how much they would lose.

In the 2002 World Cup group stage, this was indeed the case. In the first game, Brazil narrowly defeated Turkey with Ronaldo's genius strike and Rivaldo's "cunning." At that time, the Brazilian team did not seem to have entered the rhythm of the World Cup.

As a result, in the second game, they met the Chinese team, and a 4-0 victory not only allowed Brazil to advance to the group stage early, but also helped Brazil find the rhythm to play in the World Cup. From then on, they advanced all the way and finally won the Hercules Cup.

Zhou Yi watched the live broadcast of that game and was deeply impressed.

So comparing it with the simulated games now makes him sigh: We have really become stronger, and Brazil is really not as good as before…