RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - OCTOBER 23: Bruno Henrique of Flamengo celebrates with teammates after ... [+]
Is there such a thing as perfection in soccer? By any standard Flamengo’s season has been otherworldly. The club is on the brink of winning the Brazilian league for the first time since 2009 and swept past Gremio in the last four of the Copa Libertadores. Victory in the continent’s premier club competition paves the way for a rematch with European champions Liverpool. In 1981 a Zico-led Flamengo defeated the English club 3-0 in the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo.
Flamengo’s recent results have been impressive, but what truly stands out is the manner and ethos of achievement. Flamengo coach Jorge Jesus has battered and upended the paradigms of Brazilian soccer. His team plays with a high defensive line and presses high up the field, two features of the modern game that hadn’t yet found their way to Brazil. Spanish central defender Pablo Mari is the key to the success of that system. His speed and versatility allow Flamengo to play that high line and move as a compact unit keeping space tight between the lines.
Amid all the bravura and braggadocio with which this Flamengo embody the club’s DNA, it is often forgotten how solid the team’s backline has been. There are of course a plethora of stars who have excelled in contributing to the free-flowing soccer and stellar score lines. Veteran full backs Rafinha and Filipe Luis are essential in pushing forward, midfielder Gerson makes the team tick and the interchangeable frontline of Everton Ribeiro, Giorgian De Arrascaeta, and Bruno Henrique with number nine ‘Gabigol’ up front has proven irresistible. As a consequence, Flamengo plays a game that few Brazilian clubs have been able to match in the past.
Brazilian soccer has taken notice, even though conservative voices out there, perhaps out of jealousy, are reluctant to accept the obvious: Jesus’ brand of soccer is simply superior to the kind of game Brazilian coaches have been advocating for years. His true legacy will be measured in the seasons that come: will Brazilian coaches really take a cue from the Portuguese or will Brazilian soccer, notoriously obtuse, resist change?
There is Jorge Sampaoli as well at Santos, whose excellent coaching has also demonstrated that Brazilian soccer stands to gain from the influence and teachings of foreign coaches.
LIMA, PERU - NOVEMBER 21: Players of Flamengo run during a training session at Videna on November ... [+]
Last weekend, the Rio giant defeated Gremio from Porto Alegre with a second-string side, another testimony to Flamengo’s strength in depth. Jesus doesn’t like to rotate, not even if Brazil’s grueling schedule and long travel distances often compel coaches to do so. The 1-0 away win against Renato Gaucho’s team however harbors a danger - that things are going too well for Flamengo. Where is the struggle? Where is the adversity? The team and its fans may have become too confident in the process.
The 4-4 draw against Vasco Da Gama, Flamengo’s last domestic home game, was far more instructive because it showed how teams - and River Plate - can combat the seemingly invincible Flamengo juggernaut. Since the arrival of Jesus, Flamengo has lost just two games - 3-0 away to Bahia in the Brazilian league and against Ecuador’s Emelec in the Copa Libertadores.
Vanderlei Luxemburgo is probably one of the coaches who belongs to a brigade of outdated Brazilian managers, but at the Maracana he set up his limited team wonderfully well to frustrate Flamengo for large swathes of the game and to lethal effect. An encounter of coaching ideas resulted in a topsy-turvy game with a last-gap equalizer from Ribamar.
Rodrigo Caio was exposed multiple times in defense. He wasn’t alone. In recent games Flamengo’s pressing has diminished in intensity which in turn leaves the Rio rearguard vulnerable.
Wingers Rossi and Marrony played as strikers to get in behind Flamengo’s high line and force the opposing defense to drop back. The duo drifted to the wings as well to exploit the space left by Flamengo’s two advancing full backs. At River Plate, Matías Suárez and Santos Borré have similar roles. The Argentineans, too, transition quickly. In a 4-1-3-2 formation the lateral movement of Nicolas De la Cruz might pose additional problems for Flamengo.
Against River Plate, Flamengo must prove that it is more than simply a domestic force. In a way the Rio club has simply exploited the conservative environment of Brazilian soccer. Even in the Copa Libertadores Flamengo encountered Brazilian opponents in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.
Soccer is ultimately a dialectic of systems. One formation seeks to negate and supersede another. Taking cues from Vasco Da Gama and Emelec, River Plate can arm itself well to thwart Flamengo’s dream of winning the Copa Libertadores and retain its title, a feat that has not been achieved since 2001.
