Dani Alves saved the day for the five-times World Cup winners in a thrilling night at Johannesburg. For times the Brazilian side was so pressured and so out of shape that the recurrent and energic African team nearly scored twice. The Bafana Bafana and their supporters must be proud at the way they got out of the tournament: few teams can play at such a high tempo and resilience against Dunga's men.
Next stop for the Brazilians is Bob Bradley and his team in the great final. Certainly the previous match in the group stage set a standard but, regarding the Americans, one never knows if they are really imposing a threat or a current danger. Still, the final of the tournament will clear all expectations since the Americans are the second ever team from CONCACAF to qualify to the final match; obviously second to Mexico.
South Africa v. Brazil 0-1
Ramires and Gaxa, within fifteen minutes, set the high tempo of the highly-rated match between the organisers and the Brazilians. The Bafana Bafana attacks were cheerful and lively among many attempts from the wings. Offside chances by Robinho and Luis Fabiano were denied by headers from Booth. Mokoena nearly scored from a set piece as the south American defense stood wide open to let the African solely head.
While the Brazilians created several chances, the home team exposed the opposition in a quite unexpected way. Certainly things were supposed to get better for them, but the half whistle denied more attempts, such as Julio Cesar's deviation in the 43th minute. Kaká shot and Pienaar's response ended the fist part.
Julio Cesar's reflexes were becoming a factor to Brazil's game. The defense led by Lucio was inevitably mistaken in many chances that Modise spawned from the midfield. Whilst for large parts of the match the Africans kept possession and distance from each of the sectors from the midfield towards the forward, the south Americans retained any attempt.
With three minutes to finish the game, Alves stunner silenced the Ellis Park; a perfectly taken freekick from the left part of the box, in a 20m distance, shocked Khune's goal. There was no way to stop the terrible driver as it drove further from the sight of the keeper.
The eventual late lead gave the Brazilians a suffered yet, valuable ticket to face the Americans in the final. The host's dreams were shattered as Alves and company celebrated from the distance in a match that, if South Africa would have prove their chances effective, in any case the battle could have been even more harder for Dunga's boys.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment