International Friendly 2019/20: Brazil vs Senegal – tactical analysis

The second international break of the new season started this week with national teams facing each other all across the globe. On Thursday, the five-time World Cup winner Brazil took on the most recent Africa Cup of Nations finalist Senegal in an international friendly in Singapore.

Even though it was just a friendly, both teams fielded practically the strongest XIs for this match. The biggest spotlight was on Neymar who played his 100th game for the Seleção. The Paris Saint-Germain striker did not score but it was the Brazilian Premier League stars who combined for the opener. Manchester Citys Gabriel Jesus found Liverpools Roberto Firmino with a lovely through ball after cutting inside from the right side. The Liverpool man dinked the Senegalese goalkeeper and put Brazil in front.

On the opposite side, it was another Premier League star who carried his team forward. Liverpools Sadio Mané took the ball on the left-wing close to the halfway line and wriggled his way through bypassing three Brazilian players. The Champions League winner earned a penalty that was coolly converted by his teammate Famara Diédhiou.

In general, it was a pretty equal game. Both teams had a similar number of shots (Brazil 11; Senegal 10) and a similar amount of ball possession (Brazil 53%; Senegal 47%). However, the tempo of the game was not the highest due to humidity and hot temperature that saw the game being stopped for a cooling break twice.

This tactical analysis will take a closer look at both teams’ game strategies and explain the key moments that lead to a one-all draw.

Lineups

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, both teams took this friendly match seriously and fielded their strongest starting XIs. The Brazilian head coach Tite opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation in this game. It was Ederson who started in goal replacing injured Alisson and was protected by a back four consisting of Dani Alves, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva and Alex Sandro. Further up it was a midfield duo of Barcelonas Arthur and Real Madrids Casemiro with Phillipe Coutinho in front of them taking up a playmakers role. Lastly, it was the attacking trio of Neymar on the left, Jesus on the right and Firmino down the centre who were going to threaten the Senegalese goal.

Tites opponent Aliou Cissé also went for a 4-2-3-1 shape. Alfred Gomis started between the sticks with Lamine Gassama at right-back, Racine Coly at left-back and the centre-back duo of Napolis Kalidou Koulibaly and Schalkes Salif Sané. Then, it was Cheikhou Kouyaté and Idrissa Gueye who formed the midfield partnership with Krépin Diatta slightly ahead of them. Senegals main man Mané was deployed on the left-wing with Ismaila Sarr taking up the position on the opposite flank. Diédhiou started down the middle and was a lone striker for the Lions of Teranga.

Brazil in possession

The five-time World Cup winners shaped up in a 4-2-3-1 formation as mentioned previously. The aforementioned system can be also easily altered to 4-3-3 depending on players characteristics and flexibility. Regardless of the numbers, it is more important to define the positions that the Brazilians took up in the build-up phase.

If one of the centre-backs had the ball, the Seleção played out having all fo