Luiz Felipe Scolari’s approach
The veteran manager started with the same line-up that won the Confederations Cup because he has come to trust that starting XI.
But their positions were tweaked with Croatia in mind. The attacking midfielders in the 4-2-3-1 formation were all in different positions. Hulk is famed for his strength and his work rate in tracking back, so he started on the left flank to deal with Darijo Srna, Croatia’s marauding right-back. Neymar tucked in behind Fred to expose Croatia’s lack of a natural holding midfielder.
Other than that, the rest of the players took their usual roles. At the back, David Luiz and Thiago Silva were the central defenders, while Dani Alves and Marcelo had the freedom to charge forward, which suits their styles. Luiz Gustavo took his holding role in midfield, where he would frequently drop into splitting centre backs and initiate play.
Paulinho partnered Gustavo in central midfield; the Tottenham Hotspur man had more freedom to go forward than Gustavo. Oscar started on the right side of attacking midfield and Fred had his usual centre forward role, which frees up space for attacking midfielders behind him.
Niko Kovac’s approach
This game was always going to be a tough one for the former Croatia captain to get anything from. He could not just ask his team to sit and defend in numbers because he does not have a reliable, natural holding midfielder. So, he went with his obvious option, which was to start with his three playmakers in central midfield and try to leverage their ball-winning and passing qualities to keep the ball from Brazil.
Offensively, he pinned his hopes on his wide players sneaking in behind Brazil’s full-backs, then rounding the exposed Selecao centre-backs. In central midfield, he had two similar players in Ivan Rakitic and Luka Modric. They had Mateo Kovacic just ahead of them.
Ivica Olic and Ivan Perisic were the wide players tasked to track back with Brazil’s offensive defenders, then quickly transition into attacks by hugging the line and whipping in crosses during counter attacks. Since Mario Mandzukic was suspended, Nikica Jelavic started as the centre forward ahead of Eduardo because of his superior work rate.
Key tactical changes
Brazil managed to contain Srna but threats came from the Croatia widemen Olic and Perisic. Even at 1-1, both teams stuck to their plans.
At the start of the second half though, things were not going to plan for Brazil as Croatia starved them of possession.
Scolari introduced Hernanes and Bernard in place of Paulinho and Hulk. They were direct substitutions but they added more impetus to the Selecao’s attacks. Once Brazil got their lead, the game opened up.
Croatia freed their full backs; they had Modric and Marcelo Brozovic both going forward leaving Rakitic as a single pivot.
Brazil went for the killer goal on the other end. In the end, Oscar deservedly scored the last goal of the game to give Brazil a comfortable win in a difficult game.
