BRAZIL COACH TITE has admitted that he’s been having sleepless nights ahead of the Copa America semi-final against Argentina (1.30am Irish time).
Tite took over from the sacked Dunga following Brazil’s poor performance at the 2016 Centenario Copa America and said that he is just as nervous now as he was during his early matches in charge of the national team.
“I couldn’t sleep properly. I’m not Superman. I’m the way I am and I can deal with that,” he said ahead of Tuesday’s match in Belo Horizonte’s Mineirao stadium, the scene of Brazil’s 7-1 semi-final humiliation against Germany at the 2014 World Cup.
“Yesterday I woke up at 3.15 am, I was thinking about what I’m going to do.
“As a coach I always have a notepad next to me to write something down. That’s the reality of being a coach, not just me, [Argentina coach Lionel] Scaloni too, all of us.”
This match has been billed as a clash between the individual brilliance of Argentina’s star players such as Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero against the collective ability of Brazil.
But Tite said the Argentina team is more than just a collection of individuals and that it would be impossible to try to just stop those singular talents.
Argentina make the most of those individual talents linking them into a coherent unit,” he said.
“You can’t eliminate Messi, you might be able to reduce what he can do but you can’t neutralize a player of that level, just as you can’t neutralize [Philippe] Coutinho, [Roberto] Firmino, Willian, David [Neres] — at some point, they will produce something.”
In goalkeeper Alisson, Brazil have one player who is used to knocking Messi out of important competitions.
He was in goal in 2017/18 when Roma came back from a 4-1 Champions League first leg deficit against Messi’s Barcelona to win 3-0 at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico and reach the semi-finals on away goals.
And in May, having since made a then-world record £56 million transfer to Liverpool at the start of the season, he was part of the side that produced a remarkable 4-0 victory at Anfield in the Champions League semi-final second leg after losing the first leg 3-0 at the Camp Nou.
“In football there’s no logic, there are matches where one player makes a difference: I saw that when we played against Messi and he made the difference,” Alisson said about the Champions League first leg between Barcelona and Liverpool in which Messi scored a brace.
“But in the second match our team prevailed and we qualified.”
He added: “Every match has its story; the match with Roma had its story, the match with Liverpool had another story. Fortunately they were two stories that went my way.”
Scaloni was giving little away about his team selection, although he’s expected to stick with much the same line-up as beat Venezuela 2-0 in the quarter-finals.
That means Messi and Aguero would line up alongside Lautaro Martinez in attack.
“Aguero will play, I’m saying that because I’ve read there’s a doubt, so to be clear,” said Scaloni.
That’s as far as he would go, though.
No-one’s confirmed for the team, not even Messi. Only Aguero,” he added.
Aguero has had a mixed tournament so far, having a quiet game in the opening 2-0 defeat to Colombia before he was dropped for the 1-1 draw with Paraguay.
But he made a goalscoring return to the starting line-up in the 2-0 defeat of Qatar and was involved in both Argentina’s goals against Venezuela.
Little was expected of Argentina before the tournament but they have been improving and this clash between the continent’s two heavyweights is eagerly anticipated.
The pressure, though, is on Brazil “because they’re the hosts and have something to prove in front of their fans,” said Scaloni.
Although he said they were at an advantage as “they’ve been together a long time with the same coach and players who’ve played together for a long time.”
Argentina, on the other hand, are in a period of transition since their dismal 2018 World Cup exit, with several new and inexperienced players in the squad, as well as a new coach.
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Even the great Sexton left Leinster to play for a better club!!
The analysis isn’t worth squat without application of a strategy that all the players buy into. Something is not right in Munster badly need to rebuild with 2-3 quality signings, Henshaw would be nice, and a top quality management team needs to be given 3 years minimum.
Why would Henshaw want to move to munster. When he has the best coach of all the provinces and the best youth development. A few big signings would be nice for connacht maybe cj stander and dave foley ?
Well said Harvey. He’d be mad to leave a great learning environment with Mils, Bundi, Pat and great players his own age around him. Time to put the idea of Connacht as a feeder club to bed. Munster should come up to Connacht and see how things are done with a small budget because that is where they are now. They could learn how to develop players like Leader, Marmion and Henshaw. Sort your mess out, especially your board, and leave Connacht grow.
Exactly they wont even invest in there own youth ie jj hanrahan he has the potential to be one of the best outhalfs in the country and he was let go. Problem with leinster and munster is they are looking for the quick fix to get them back winning trophies there two different teams than what they were a few years ago with different coaches . Things arent going to be built overnight for them .
Good things are happening at connacht and if the other provinces and the irfu come in and unsettle things they will have shown alot of disrespect for the people out west.
At the moment the irfu need pat lam more than he needs them. They would want to keep on his good side he is doing great things for irish rugby at the moment.
@theheathen you can also add Buckley to that list of home grown big hitters; also just look at the difference Connacht has been to Quinn Roux, he’s a new player since he moved!
Munster did all that developing years ago that’s how they got to the top so did Leinster the problem is now they have to try stay there which is not easy sucess leads to expectation!Connacht are just starting to build something now hopefully they succeed with the players they have but have bit to go yet don’t get carried away with yourselves!
A load of bull Harvey
Leinster get back the wining trophies? I think Leinster have been winning trophies season after season for a long time now.
Your problem is you know and I know that good young players want to do the best for themselves and play for the best teams. Munster and Leinster are the two biggest and best teams in all the Celtic nation’s history.
If a young player didn’t want to play for either of them he simply doesn’t have enough ambition
Henshaw to Munster and Marmion to Leinster is the way it will work out.
@Harvey Kinkel The Leinster development set up is the best in the country, yes the coach is sh*t but there are plenty of young guys coming through. They don’t need a “quick fix”, but it is always nice to augment a team with quality players such as Elsom and Thorn.
Munster on the other hand can’t develop a centre if their lives depended on it. JJ is a massive loss! Personally I think if they want to buy a centre they should try to get a bench warmer in Leinster or Ulster or go after Chris Farrell in Grenoble
@ Chris McDonnell it is ridiculous to say a player wanting to play for Connacht has no ambition. They’re not too far off the other Irish Provinces in the Pro12 and their coach is certainly better than the others. I’m hoping coaches like McCall Jackman and O’Shea feel homesick soon!
Yer all full of crap
@harvey great rugby jargon there harv,perhaps you could keep the replies a bit shorter with less big words for the ordinary supporter!!
I said henshaw would be nice. Well done Harvey you miss the point completely and then respond subsequently saying the management in Connaught and potential is better than munster. Ya haven’t a clue
Lay of the hash lad.