Brazil vs Mexico: Tite names team for World Cup round-of-16 tie and calls for measured expectations

Tite’s calming influence on Brazil has never been clearer. A side that in years past has sparkled only to later melt down, most notably four years ago in Belo Horizonte, the former Corinthians coach is as measured and assured as they come and it transmits to his players.

There are those who urge him to make his Brazil side more aggressive, more attacking. There are those who think they should be beating smaller sides by bigger margins but that is not Tite’s way and that is not what he wants. He wants game-by-game improvement, which we have seen during this tournament, and he wants people to live in the real world rather than illusions of Brazil that linger from generations gone by.

“Your situation,” he told reporters, “like gamblers, is not our situation. Ours is looking to grow. We don’t live by expectations, we live by reality. (We live by) a team that mentally deals with the pressure, is balanced, that has replacement parts for important moments. You have to have a strong team. If the players didn’t have all this preparation then we’d surely not see this kind of performance.“

A coach characterised by restraint and method, Tite did nonetheless take the minor risk of naming his team before the clash with Mexico. Filipe Luis, who replaced Marcelo after the Real Madrid defender experienced back spasms against Serbia, will start in the latter’s place. Otherwise it is the same team that looked solid yet creative against the Serbs in confirming their place atop the group and securing this tie with the Mexicans, with the hope that the better displays since the draw with Switzerland can continue and propel them to a quarter-final place.

”I hope the team maintains the standard of the two previous games, even more,“ he said. ”We want to reproduce the physical, tactical, technical, emotional, and type of play like in the last match.”