Brazil 0, Mexico 0: Ochoa shines in thrilling scoreless draw
Alternate title: Mexico wins 0-0.
In an incredibly entertaining scoreless draw, Mexico was able to hold off Brazil, but not in the way you think. While the Brazilians had the majority of the chances to score and controlled the run of play for long stretches of the match, Mexico were hardly parking the bus. They consistently gave the World Cup hosts scares on the counter.
Nonetheless, it would be misleading to refer to this match as anything other than the Guillermo Ochoa show.
The Mexican ‘keeper was incredible, making game-saving stops on Neymar, Paulinho and Thiago Silva. In total, Brazil had six on target that Ochoa was able to save. It was simply a brilliant performance.
The Saves
SAVE! Guillermo Ochoa, 26 min. Neymar receives a cross just to the left of the penalty spot, he heads it on, and Ochoa stretches way out to his right to get a hand on it. Amazingly, he stops the shot and doesn’t crush his face on the goal post.
SAVE! Guillermo Ochoa, 44 min. A free-kick from Brazil lands in the box, and the ball gets batted around untili it comes to Paulinho. The Brazilian fires away, but Ochoa moves forward at a perfect angle to stop it.
SAVE! Guillermo Ochoa, 86 min. Thiago Silva heads a corner right in the center of the goal, and Ochoa does well to react fast enough to block it with his arms. An amazing performance.
*****
Man of the Match - Guillermo Ochoa
See above.
The Controversy
Despite what you may have seen online this afternoon, Guillermo Ochoa does not have six fingers on his right hand. It’s a hoax, started on a Fulham fan blog years ago when a transfer to bring the Mexico goalie to London fell through.
Convincing, though. This photo was floating around online throughout the match:
How did Brazil and Mexico try to win?
Brazil did what it usually does. Give the ball to Neymar as often as you can in the attacking third, and hope for the best. It almost worked several times, but it should be noted that Oscar didn't get nearly the same amount of space as he did against Croatia, and the results show the effect.
It also has to be mentioned that Fred was an especially offending waste of space this afternoon for Brazil. When he finally came off in 68th minute, most spectators were shocked to see sweat on his brow. It remains unclear as to what caused this.
Mexico employed a far more cautious defensive strategy than the one they used against Cameroon. Their holding midfielders came back to help often, but the two fullbacks —Miguel Layun and Hector Herrera — pushed up just as frequently, often creating the team's best chances.
It was clear that they were looking to challenge Julio Cesar from distance, but their shots were just missing the target.
The Takeaway
Mexcio is happy. Brazil is sad.
Assuming Croatia is able to beat Cameroon, they’ll have to beat Mexico in the Group A finale to advance, while all Mexico would need is a draw. Meanwhile, Brazil, who will be disappointed with today’s result, should have little difficulty facing Cameroon on Matchday Three.
The 1,000 Words
Stray Thoughts
In the win against Cameroon, Mexico employed a swarm defense. Every time an opponent had the ball, multiple defenders would press and surround him. Today, they were far more withdrawn, letting Brazil come to them.
Brazil’s best player in the first half, Thiago Silva had an amazing, goal-saving tackle in the 32nd minute, and probably an amazing, goal-saving foul in the 79th minute.
This was an incredibly physical match, with little shoves and shoulder barges a part of almost every single possession. Good on Turkish referee Cüneyt Çakır for maintaining control without issuing a silly amount of cards. It was physical, but never dirty.
I love watching Miguel Layun in possession down the left flank. He’s a constant threat to dribble through, cross or even cut inside and shoot from distance.
Ochoa is without a club, right now, but something tells me he won’t be a free agent for much longer.
It looked as though the pace of the first half wouldn’t be equaled in the second, but Mexico began to really push forward around the 55th minute, opening up the match again in the process. Almost all of their attacks ended with a shot from distance on Julio Cesar. Unfortunately, the great majority of those attempts missed.
Hector Herrera played so well today, I half expected the Brazilian fans to give him a standing ovation when he came off.