Fred de Jong: Stopping Brazil no easy mission

As we approach the end of the World Cup it is becoming clearer that Brazil have not been four-time winners by coincidence. The South Americans are again posing the "how can we stop Brazil?' question to coaches of the other survivors.

No one would dare suggest it is going to be easy.

One option could be to select a team intent on all-out attack. One prepared to slug it out toe-to-toe and gamble on Brazil's sometimes shaky defence. I think Costa Rica almost tried that but still went down 5-2. Of the teams remaining, Germany and Italy have the individual players capable of adopting this approach.

Teams could also go and "kick lumps" out of the Brazilian players in an effort to interrupt their rhythm. This approach has been made easier now that Fifa has decided to wipe the yellow cards from the first round. Players who were on one yellow card do not have the threat of suspension hanging over them now. It has almost become a case of rotating the players to get stuck in.

Another option coaches will be looking at is defending in numbers and then counter-attacking in numbers, to try and catch the Brazilians out as they stream forward in attack. Again though, that can be risky.

With all these strategies it is important to limit the service given to the likes of Ronaldo and Rivaldo and to ensure that less-talented ball players in the Brazilian team are allowed to have the lion's share of possession.

Some teams have other advantages.

I can see England causing trouble for Brazil if, as we now expect, they meet in the quarter-finals.

In the last cup France beat Brazil in the final with two goals from set play - two Zinedine Zidane headers from corners. England have already shown they are among, if not the best, at set plays at this tournament and could trouble Brazil in a tight game.

There has been a lot of talk about the failure of the big name teams like France, Argentina and Portugal to go beyond group play.

The coaches have to take a lot of responsibility for this. In trying to keep faith with players who had served their teams well, some coaches were guilty of picking players who were out of form.

These big name teams could get away with this in the past when the gap between the top guns and the rest was bigger.

They could carry some of these out-of-form players and hope they would play themselves into some sort of form as the tournament went along. Not this time.

Players like Gabriel Batistuta, Davor Suker, Emmanuel Petit, Patrick Vieira and Luis Figo did not perform up to their coach's expectations and along with their team-mates are gone.

While the upsets have continued to make this an entertaining tournament, we could do without the diving and players feigning injury. This has become a real blight on the game and probably the only thing that is turning people off the cup.

Running out with a stretcher every time a player goes down is making a mockery of Fifa's attempt to speed things up. More often than not, the player jumps straight off the stretcher and back on to the field.

Fifa should look at the way the National Rugby League allows the trainer on the field to treat players in back play while the game continues.

Having a player down feigning injury would stop immediately if play was allowed to continue. Teams never want to play one short.

nzherald.co.nz/fifaworldcup

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