World Cup 2018: 3 things that went wrong for Brazil against Switzerland
Brazil were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw in their opening game in Group E of the WC 2018 at the Rostov Arena last night.
The Selecao started the game on the front-foot and took the lead in the 20th minute when Philippe Coutinho curled a thunderous effort from outside the penalty area to beat Yann Sommer in goal for the Swiss.
However Tite's men resorted to letting Switzerland have the ball for prolonged periods while putting their backs to the wall. That approach backfired as Vladimir Petkovic's side slowly took control of the proceedings.
They restored parity in the 50th minute when Steven Zuber found the back of the net following a well worked corner routine that completely caught out the Brazilians.
Neymar and company never looked like recovering from that blow and failed to kick-start their World Cup campaign on a positive note. Without further delay, let's take a closer look at a number of reasons that probably led to Brazil's undoing on the night.
#3 Lack of creativity in midfield
Despite taking the lead through Philippe Coutinho's stunning strike in the 20th minute, the Brazilian midfielders did not enjoy the upper-hand in the middle of the park for the majority of the game.
Paulinho in particular struggled to replicate the kind of form that had helped him re-ignite his career with FC Barcelona in La Liga this year and he was eventually withdrawn in the second half after fading off as the game progressed.
With the exception of Coutinho, almost all of Brazil's creativity went down the drain as Switzerland swiftly took control of the proceedings at the expense of a dismal approach adopted by the five-time World Cup winners.