Brazil 1-1 Switzerland: 3 things we learned

Brazil tied Switzerland 1-1 on Sunday afternoon in their opening match of the World Cup. Here are three things we learned.

Brazil opened their World Cup group stage with a 1-1 draw with Switzerland, a disappointing but not disastrous result overall.

Brazil dominated the first half, and Coutinho scored a fabulous curling effort in the 20th minute, but a second half header from Steven Zuber off a corner kick allowed Switzerland to eek out a hard-fought and well deserved point.

1. Neymar is going to rough get roughed up

It was clear from the opening whistle that Switzerland were not going to play nice with Brazil’s star forward. Neymar still isn’t 100 percent, and every team that the selecao face will know that. The Swiss, in particular Valon Behrami, made it a mission to get some sort of physical contact on the star on his every touch. On a few occasions, most notably the foul that drew his yellow card, it was clear that Behrami was targeting his injured right foot.

This isn’t anything new to Neymar. Most star players receive this type of treatment from teams, especially from underdogs like Switzerland, but the fact that he’s still recovering from a serious foot injury makes it all the more worrying.

There’s not too much that can be done about this from Brazil’s standpoint. It’s up to the referee on how much leeway to give when it comes to this type of play. Cesar Ramos was in control of this match, and he let quite a bit go early, which only helped the Swiss’ gameplan. To give credit to Vladimir Petkovic, his tactics worked to perfection. Neymar tried to get involved early and often, but never really threatened to score until a late header in the 88th minute.

Neymar is going to get this treatment for the rest of the tournament. It’s up to him to adapt.

2. Coutinho saved a point

Brazil looked like the World Cup favorites early on against Switzerland, but their attack stalled after their opening goal. They had 20 shots overall, but most were half-chances or efforts from distance. One of those efforts, however, found the back of the net.

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Coutinho is known for his distance shooting. He scored on a handful of those at Liverpool and collected a few with Barcelona as well. One in particular against Girona in La Liga earlier this year was eerily similar to his goal today. He picked up the ball off a deflection from a Swiss defender and collected the ball with one touch, curling in a stunning shot from 20-plus yards that Yann Sommer couldn’t do anything about. It was a fantastic strike, and it ultimately saved Brazil from their first opening day defeat since 1934.

Brazil is filled with attacking talent at their disposal, but they showed little of that against Switzerland after the 20th minute. They created a few good chances late, but none were good enough to beat a solid Swiss defense. Brazil will have a game or two like this, mainly because defenses are going to pack it in to stifle their attack. In these types of matches, sometimes what’s needed is a shot from distance or an individual run and finish to get something out of it. Today it was Coutinho, but Brazil have plenty of other options as well.

3. Switzerland proved their worth

Brazil are still the clear favorite to win the group and will be favored in most knockout round games as well, but Switzerland proved why they might be able to shock a few more favorites in the upcoming weeks.

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Brazil attacked the Swiss defense early and had a few half-chances inside the first 15 minutes before Coutinho produced his moment of magic. It looked like Brazil would kick on and and score a few more before the match ended, but Switzerland had other ideas. The back four, as well as Granit Xhaka and Behrami, stuck to the game plan and held the Brazilians in check for the rest of the match.

A corner where Brazil looked lost, combined with a slight push off from Steven Zuber, saw Switzerland tie the game up in the 50th minute. They held on through a late flurry of chances, coming out of their toughest test in the group stage with a point. Yann Sommer, in particular, was sharp all game, commanding the box and coming up with a few fingertip saves to deny Brazil’s attack.

Switzerland didn’t have have much going forward, but they weren’t dominated either. Brazil’s 20 shots look gaudy, but only four were on target and only two had any real chance at finding the back of the net. If they can keep up this type of team defensive effort, they should have enough firepower against the lesser teams in the group to get to the round of 16.

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