Brazil are in Boston for tomorrow nights match against Portugal at Gillette Stadium and tonight’s practice was open to the media. I just could not turn down the opportunity to see the Samba Boys up close so I headed down to Gillette for the show.
And it was worth. I have watched Manchester United and Barcelona practice before and those practices were tightly scheduled. Everything had a purpose and went for a specific period of time. That was not the case with a Luiz Felipe Scolari practice.
Big Phil seems to take a much more laissez faire approach to practice, with a quick tactical walkthrough followed by a high tempo small sided game, free kick and penalty practice.
Still it is impossible not to notice the class and ability that Brazil has throughout its lineup. It didn’t matter if it was David Luiz, Thiago Silva, Paulinho or Pato, the technical ability of the Brazilian players up close is amazing to see. Pato looked really sharp, while Oscar has an unbelievable first touch.Scolari finished the practice with penalty kicks and free kicks. Wow. I would say that the Brazilian players made over 95% of their penalties. It didn’t matter what Julio Cesar tried to do, when the ball it put in the side netting over right under the crossbar and goalpost they are unsaveable.
Then it became the Neymar and David Luiz show. Free kicks from 25 yards, both side of the goal. Yes Neymar was good, but David Luiz was incredible. To cannot really appreciate not only how hard he hits those free kicks, but also how quickly they dip until you see them up close.
The Brazil practice was followed by a Brazilian love fest, aka a Luiz Felipe Scolari press conference. While it was all in Portuguese,a language I don’t understand, it was clear from the laughing and smiling that Scolari after winning the Confederations Cup has a honeymoon period with the Brazilian media, at least until the games start in earnest again next summer.
Terrific experience watching Brazil up close. Really looking forward to the game tomorrow at what should a sold out Gillette Stadium.