Coach Tite on Sunday blamed first-night nerves after Brazil’s bid for a sixth World Cup win got off to a rocky start as Switzerland withstood an early onslaught to snatch a 1-1 draw in Rostov-on-Don.
On the day when holders Germany were shocked 1-0 by Mexico, Brazil’s tag as pre-tournament favorites looked justified in a dominant first-half capped by Philippe Coutinho’s wonder strike to open the scoring.
However, Brazil paid for their failure to kill the game off when Steven Zuber powered home an equalizer from Xherdan Shaqiri’s corner five minutes after the break.
Photo: Reuters
The pressure will now be on Brazil to kick-start their campaign when they face Costa Rica on Friday.
The stalemate left coach Tite unimpressed.
“I’m not happy with this result. Our finishing wasn’t good. We had 20 chances, but too many shots were off target. We should have made their ’keeper work harder than that. I put it down to stress, first-match nerves, that’s true for me too,” the Brazil coach said. “Up to their goal, I was satisfied. We were moving well. Then they raised their game and it took us 10 minutes to regain our rhythm, but once again our finishing wasn’t good.”
His Swizterland counterpart Vladimir Petkovic had an understandably more upbeat assessment of the game.
“I’m proud of my lads. I hope this will mean we are taken seriously,” Petkovic said.
Coutinho had been handed a central role behind Neymar, on his first competitive game for four months, Gabriel Jesus and Willian in a lineup filled with attacking intent.
The five-time world champions went about their task of erasing the memories of a 7-1 thrashing by Germany on home soil four years ago purposefully early on.
Paulinho passed up a glorious chance when his scuffed effort from close range was turned behind by Yann Sommer.
It seemed a matter of time before Brazil’s pressure paid dividends and the opener arrived in stunning style on 20 minutes.
Barcelona’s record signing picked up a loose ball on the edge of the penalty area and in trademark fashion crashed the ball in off Sommer’s far post.
Neymar looked bright despite his lack of match practice as he teased the Switzerland defense, provoking yellow cards for Stephan Lichtsteiner, Fabian Schar and Valon Behrami.
However, Brazil failed to build on their lead as Thiago Silva and Jesus headed off target from dangerous corners and were made to pay early in the second half.
Switzerland had offered barely any attacking threat before leveling when Zuber took advantage of a gaping hole in the heart of the Brazil defense to head home Shaqiri’s corner.
Forced back onto the front foot, Brazil turned to Neymar for a moment of inspiration, but he could only blast into the side-netting before Coutinho sliced wide with a much simpler opportunity than the one from which he opened the scoring.
Brazil were unhappy that Zuber was not penalized for a slight push on Miranda for the equalizer and felt hard done by again when Jesus tumbled under a challenge from Manuel Akanji inside the penalty area with Mexican referee Cesar Ramos unmoved.
Tite’s men ended as they had begun with a series of chances for a late winner as Neymar and Roberto Firmino headed straight at Sommer, before Miranda dragged a shot just wide.
Deep into stoppage-time Schar’s outstretched leg turned a goalbound effort from Silva wide as Switzerland held out for a vital point.
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