Five-time winner Brazil, reigning champion Germany and Lionel Messi’s Argentina all had different agendas prior to starting their 2018 Fifa World Cup campaign but safe to say, none of the trio were able to assert their dominance over their respective opposition.
Brazil’s stuttering performance stemmed from anxiety at playing their first World Cup game, coach Tite said after their 1-1 draw with Switzerland in Group E Sunday.
The five-time champion opened the scoring on 20 minutes when Philippe Coutinho’s stunning strike went in off the far post but Steven Zuber levelled five minutes into the second half with a powerful header.
Switzerland were well-organised throughout and Brazil created chances but failed to convert them as Neymar and his team mates lacked the guile to secure the win, becoming the latest of the tournament favourites to stumble.
As a result of those nerves, the Brazil defence were too passive when Zuber barely had to jump to head a corner home in the 50th minute, giving the Swiss a deserved point in a group also featuring Serbia and Costa Rica.
Brazil need to improve on dead balls, said Tite.
Brazil’s next game is Friday against Costa Rica, who lost 1-0 to Serbia in their opener.
Earlier Sunday, Germany coach Joachim Loew said there was no need for panic or radical change despite his team again looking defensively vulnerable in their shock 1-0 defeat to Mexico in the opening game of their World Cup defence.
Germany showed many of the fault lines that had been there for all to see in recent games, and Mexico had obviously been doing their homework as they exploited them again and again and should have scored more goals.
It is true that few would bet against Germany turning things round in their remaining games against Sweden and South Korea, but all is clearly not right with the four-time winner.
Loew was at a loss to explain the problems.
A day earlier Saturday, Sampaoli said in a blunt assessment of their failure to beat Iceland in their opening World Cup match.
Despite an abundance of individual talent, Argentina have looked anything but impressive during Sampaoli’s year in charge and their 1-1 draw against the World Cup debutant, including a missed Messi penalty, was another frustrating afternoon.
Sampaoli said Argentina started slowly and wasted too much time passing the ball around innocuously in midfield - although he may have played a part in that by fielding two defensive players, Javier Mascherano and Lucas Biglia, in front of the defence.
The draw left Argentina in an uncomfortable position in Group D with matches against Croatia and Nigeria still to come.
Sampaoli also explained why he chose Willy Caballero in goal ahead of Franco Armani - and denied it was simply because the Chelsea player, who looked shaky throughout, was better with the ball at his feet.
