order and progress – ordem e progresso – read the brazilian flags adorning the stands at the emirates on sunday, and the samba stars have certainly made some decent headway since their unceremonious exit from their home world cup eight months ago make no mistake, this was no vintage selecao showing there was little of the free flowing football we have come to expect from brazil head coach dunga, himself a world cup winning defensive midfielder, has implemented a defence first policy, with long balls up to the strikers very much the order of the day as far as attacking play was concerned firmino celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the friendly match between brazil and chile  firmino is congratulated by teammates after scoring the opening goal during the match  at emirates stadium  neymar was in the wars again after this foul on the touchline left the barcelona star in apparent agony  but brazil, missing david luiz, dante and maicon from the back four who started the 7 1 humiliation against germany, looked a vastly more robust outfit defensively thiago silva, so sorely missed in that ill fated semi final, was an assured presence at the heart of the back line, while centre back partner miranda weighed in with impressive physicality – especially in dealing with the driving force and trickery of alexis sanchez brazil are the pioneers of the attacking full back, but much coveted porto defender danilo, despite his excellent through ball for fermino’s opener, was relatively reserved on the right side of defence danilo (right) springs into an acrobatic challenge to try and win back possession for his side from sanchez  jefferson samba star  danilo samba star  miranda samba star  thiago silva samba star  marcelo samba star  costa samba shocker  souza samba star  fernandinho samba star  coutinho samba shocker  luiz adriano samba shocker  neymar samba star  left back marcelo, perhaps a surprising inclusion given his culpability in belo horizonte, was also uncharacteristically disciplined, but still offered support to neymar and philippe coutinho when the situation called for it sitting midfielders souza and fernandinho – the latter being the only other survivor from the world cup semi final – were effective in protecting the back four and took their clear pre match objective to kick lumps out of sanchez very seriously though the manchester city man rode his luck a few too many times in dangerous positions where dunga’s men really struggled to deal with chile’s high pressing game was in attacking midfield coutinho and douglas costa were hassled and harried by their opponents’ packed midfield on the rare occasions they maintained possession, and as a result created very little for their forwards, who were often forced to drop deep to influence the game brazil forward luiz adriano struggles to keep his balance as medel challenges his opponent for possession  barcelona star neymar keeps his eye on the ball as he tries to control and begin another attack  barcelona star neymar is evidently in pain after medel's cynical stamp at the emirates stadium on sunday  predictably, neymar drew the majority of attention – both from his baying supporters and his on pitch adversaries – and he was by far brazil’s biggest threat in attack his lively play in a free role was vital to ensure they didn’t stagnate at the business end of the pitch and his ability to occupy multiple defenders was invaluable to his side strike partner luiz adriano, on the other hand, was ineffectual with the creativity of coutinho and costa stifled, the shakhtar man saw very little of the ball and appeared disinterested in forcing the issue neymar has all eyes on the ball against chile midfielder medel at the emirates stadium on sunday  real madrid left back marcelo attempts to clear the ball under pressure from vidal during the friendly  brazil manager dunga passes on instructions to his right back danilo as he watches his side take on chile  arsenal forward sanchez sprints away from thiago silva (left) on the emirates stadium pitch  firmino skips past the on coming claudio bravo on 72 minutes to slot brazil ahead at the emirates stadium  his replacement, firmino, showed impressive composure in scoring brazil’s winner, and his intelligent movement was a definite upgrade though at that stage, jorge sampaoli’s men were looking leggy after 72 minutes of dogged pressing, and firmino exploited this on the whole, we witnessed a complete change in brazil’s philosophy since the world cup, which is not necessarily a bad thing their gung ho approach dictated by passionate home support was perhaps their biggest downfall last summer a lengthy mexican wave in the first half told the story of brazil’s performance, but in sacrificing an emphasis on attack dunga looks to have addressed brazil’s major defensive defects attacking cohesion will have to wait
dunga brazil world cup
former defensive midfielder dunga has implemented a defence first policy . it's a far cry from the days of samba football the fans have come to expect . long balls up to the strikers are very much the order of the day in attack . but new new look brazil have won eight in a row since their world cup exit 