Brazil aspires to win the Copa América for the tenth time in their history by advancing from a group that includes Colombia, Costa Rica, and Paraguay. After a tough start with a draw against Costa Rica, Brazil regained their balance with a 4-1 victory against Paraguay.
In a not-easy situation, Brazil will face the group leader, Colombia, tomorrow in the third and last match of the group stage. Colombia have 6 points after winning the first two matches, Brazil is in second place with 4 points, Costa Rica has 1 point, and Paraguay is at the bottom without any points.
On the other hand, Brazils bright spot could directly contribute to their going far in this tournament: their defending scheme during set-pieces, especially corner kicks. In this tactical analysis, we will dissect Brazils tactics in defending corners, showing all of its strengths and how difficult it is for opponents to get through it because its hybrid defending system protects the six-yard well. We will also mention the probable weaknesses in this scheme, showing how opponents can exploit them.
The strengths of the main scheme
Starting with their main defending scheme, they follow a modern hybrid system that tries to merge the advantages of zonal marking and man-marking defending systems, giving priority to the zonal system. Below, you can find that they assign six zonal defenders, two man markers, a short-option defender, and a rebound defender.
The same scheme is applied against out-swing crosses but with a few differences. First, the zonal line takes more steps forward due to the expected path of the cross, while the second change is the position of the goal defender who sticks to the post in case of in-swing crosses; he pushes forward vertically to protect the area in front of the near post after the six-yard, as shown in the photo below.
As we kn
