With the Barcelona star unable to break his shackles
against a well-organised Mexico side, Scolari's side looked worrying
bereft of ideas
By Robin Bairner at the Estadio Castelao, Fortaleza
Mexico might not have managed to inflict a bloody nose to World Cup
hosts Brazil on Tuesday afternoon, but as they battled to a scoreless
draw in Fortaleza, the north Americans helped to expose the limitations
on Luiz Felipe Scolari’s squad.
A 3-1 win in their opening match
was rather masked by a soft penalty award and the excellence of Neymar,
but with the young Barcelona star for once mute in the gold of his
country, the lack of other options open to Felipao was brutally exposed.
Fred,
in particular, had a laborious match. The supposed spearhead of the
Brazil side failed to threaten Guillermo Ochoa’s goal and was lamentable
in much of his hold-up play, meaning that Neymar’s talents were often
pushed into the shadows. Despite this, the Barcelona star still draw a
couple of world-class stops from the visiting keeper.
The
Fluminense forward has been described as this generation’s Serginho – a
big, lumbering presence, with whom the team can succeed in spite of his
presence.
But can they?
When Fred finally plodded off
after a pedestrian hour, on came Jo, who offered an identical problem to
the man he had replaced. Technically inadequate and not particularly
sharp in front of goal, he is not the striker of a team aiming to win
the World Cup.
Oscar offered a sparkling piece of skill early in
the game that culminated with Fred, who had strayed offside in any case,
striking wide of the target, yet this was an all too fleeting cameo
from the Chelsea midfielder, who had abetted Neymar excellently in the
victory over Croatia.
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