Copa America: Brazil draws with Paraguay, Venezuela causes shock
While defending champion Brazil continued to disappoint when they were lucky to escape defeat against Paraguay, Venezuela caused a shock when they defeated Ecuador 1-0 to rise to the top of Group B.
After the lackluster draw against Venezuela, coach Menezes made adjustments by benching Robinho to make room for Jadson, as well as letting the duo Lucas and Ganso play together in midfield. Meanwhile, Neymar, Pato and Ramires are still trusted.
Fred brought a valuable point for Brazil. Source: Reuters
With a squad consisting of so many excellent young players, Brazil had to wait until 1/3 of the first half to continuously have the first dangerous situations, but Neymar and Pato were unable to convert the delicious opportunities into opening goals.
After tireless efforts against Paraguay's resistance, the Samba team finally got the opening goal 1-0, after Jadson's dangerous and surprising long-range shot defeated goalkeeper Villar.
It was thought that after scoring the first goal in this match as well as in Copa America 2011, the defending champion would play more explosively. However, things went the opposite way when the match entered the second half with Brazil playing inexplicably sluggishly.
In the 55th and 67th minutes, Paraguay unexpectedly pushed Brazil into a losing position and put them at risk of defeat when they scored two consecutive goals by Santa Cruz and Valdez. In both of these goals, the central defender pair Lucio-Silva failed to complete many tasks due to positional errors.
To let the opponent take the lead, Brazil continuously made adjustments in the following minutes when both Lucas (70) and Fred (82') were brought onto the field. And just 8 minutes after entering the field, Fred became the hero when he scored a golden goal to save Brazil from defeat.
Speaking after the match, Fred said: "This is not a bad result. Of course we did not expect a draw but it has given us a chance in this tournament. What we need to do now is win the last match to qualify for the next round."
According to Vietnam+
