Brazil won the Copa America in 2019, and they are also one of the biggest favourites to win the Copa America 2021. They had a good start in the group stage by topping Group B without a loss, scoring 10 while conceing only twice. They came up against Chile in the quarter-finals, who finished fourth in Group A.
Gabriel Jesus’ red card was one of the big talking points of the match, but apart from that, tactically, Brazil showed their cautious attitude in this competition. Some may think the game was an extremely boring one as chances were limited in the 90 minutes, but Tite believes that this conservative mindset helps Brazil defend better. This tactical analysis will point out four key themes of the games. Despite winning the game ugly, Tite certainly had some good information to take away when preparing for the next game.
Lineups
Brazil made a lot of rotations in the last group match to rest a few key players, who were all brought back into the XI for this game Neymar, Jesus, Richarlison, Casemiro, Fred, Danilo and Thiago Silva. This is the core group of players who Tite trusted the most in the tournament.
Chile weren’t at their best when playing in a back four in the group, they lost to Paraguay by 0-2 and Martín Lasarte felt changes were needed. They started in a back three against Brazil with Alexis Sanchez back as a starter, partnering Eduardo Vargas as the two strikers. Meanwhile, Tomás Alarcón was replaced by Erick Pulgar at the midfield, while Sebastián Vegas was the extra centre-back.
