Fluminense – Al-Hilal: The Flu Knock Out Saudi’s Stronghold (2-1)
This game would mark the end of the road for one confederation in this celebration of global football. It took time for the fixture to flower into life, but it was the spirit of the Samba nation that triumphed by the final whistle, mixing defensive discipline with a side of old school flair.
Tactical analysis and match report by Emmanuel Adeyemi-Abere.
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Fluminense felled Inter Milan in the Round of 16. A two-goal victory would mark their third clean sheet in four outings in the Club World Cup after 0-0 draws with Borussia Dortmund and Mamelodi Sundowns in the group stage phase. Thiago Silva sits at the heart of a unit with defensive discipline that has demonstrated the quality of football in Brazil, who have two teams in the last eight. First of all, Flu set out to establish a precedent for Palmeiras and keep CONMEBOL alive in this tournament.
In this fixture, Simone Inzaghi intended not to topple like his former employers. He has a history of navigating cup competition with expert pragmatism, reaching the Champions League final twice in three years at Inter. The second of those showpiece events was an infamous 5-0 rout to PSG, but he has shown at Al-Hilal that issues did not start and stop with him. Holding Real Madrid to a 1-1 draw to kick off the cup campaign, the Saudi side stunned Manchester City with a 4-3 extra time triumph.
Inzaghi sent out the exact lineup that he picked for the clash with City. Rúben Neves, João Cancelo, and Kalidou Koulibaly continued to sit on the right of their back five. Sergej Milinković-Savić stayed as a focal point in the middle of the park. Their skipper, Salem Al-Dawsari, was absent again with a hamstring injury, while Aleksandar Mitrović missed out with a calf issue. So, they were banking on two Brazilians in the attack. Malcom and Marcos Leonardo looked to add to their tally of four goals.
Renato Portaluppi arrived in the dugout for Fluminense in March, but he is well acquainted with the role: it is his sixth stint as the head coach of the club. He switched to a system with five defenders to contain Inter and again adopted that approach. He also rotated only one member of his last starting eleven. Renê dropped out of the squad, so Gabriel Fuentes filled in as the left wing-back. Midfielder Hércules, who scored the second goal against Inter as a substitute, had to watch from the bench.
A half of nullification
Both these clubs beat more fancied opposition with dogged defensive effort in the last round. Trading phases of ball possession, they cancelled each other out for most of the first 45 minutes of the match.
Already, Al-Hilal have crafted an identity around a few pillars when they have possession of the ball and were a little more profitable. Whether they deploy a back four or add an extra central defender, Neves likes to open the game up from the back with his passing, firing balls to the right of the field.
26th minute: offensive sequence from Al-Hilal. Cancelo feinted to throw off Fuentes, then chopped inside and tried to carry away from Nonato with an additional sole roll. The execution was a little inefficient as the midfielder could cut up his path, but the ball reached Mohamed Kanno, who found Al-Dawsari between the lines. Al Harbi’s run did not connect, and he saw his shot blocked away.
That is no surprise. Milinković-Savić stood surrounded by Cancelo, a fullback who embellishes his carries with skills and passing to release runners, and Malcom, with whom he could combine. The Saudi side liked to progress the ball through the pod in this channel many times before the break. The option of going more directly to take advantage of the physique of the midfielder was also there.
However, Fluminense firmly defended in their box. Leonardo could not link the attack well enough with his back to the goal, and once the ball reached the left of the attack, momentum fizzled out.
Fluminense pick their moments
Fluminense fielded a 3-4-3 formation, circulating the ball around the sides of the Al-Hilal block. Jhon Arias is their inventive spark, and he was free to drop down the channels to get onto the ball. But there was nothing productive in the final third that came out of these spells for the Brazilian outfit.
Their best work was the exploitation of errors. In the 18th minute, Germán Cano charged down a switch from Kanno and Arias set him off to shoot, but he could not beat Yassine Bounou between the posts. Other misplaced passes or misjudged loose balls paved the way to flashes of a breakthrough.
The contest was crying out for quality, and the Brazilians answered the call on the verge of half time. Cancelo cocked up a clearance and as he shanked the ball, Fuentes reclaimed the possession before setting a layoff to the edge of the penalty area. Martinelli made the ball his, taking a first touch that sidestepped Milinković-Savić. His shot was just as sweet, swiveling his hips to hit the top corner.
A livelier second half
Al-Hilal hit back almost immediately. Neves nailed a delivery from a corner, aiming for the far side of the penalty area. Koulibaly climbed freely to steer a headed effort at the target. The ball bounced off the foot of Leonardo, who steadied himself and struck six minutes after the start of the second half.
The action sparked into life. Lodi severely underhit a backpass, and Cano charged down the loose ball, driving into the danger zone. But Bono held his ground, timed his dive, and scooped the ball away from the striker. At the other end of the pitch, Neves’ crosses caused havoc from corners.
Thankfully for the neutral, Arias also came to center stage with his bag of party tricks. He almost assisted Cano with a classy reverse pass to the top of the eighteen yard box before his teammate fumbled his lines. But his brilliant balance, agility, and ability to bounce off challenges indicated how the team were coming out of their shell. In the end, they would be the ones to strike the decisive blow.
52nd minute: offensive sequence from Fluminense. Arias drifted into deep wide left pockets in the second half with frequency. Here, Freytes stepped beyond the shadow of Milinkovic-Savić, and Malcom guarded the lane on the outside. As the defender drove forward, Arias angled himself inside to receive, protected the ball with his back foot and barged off Kanno to carry into the final third.
Leonardo looked to break away on the transition with a through ball for Malcom. But before the Brazilians could connect, Hércules wrapped his leg around the forward and stole the possession from him. He then rattled a strike at the target that cannoned off the leg of Neves and into the air. Neither Lodi nor Al-Harbi handled the situation proactively, and Xavier swooped in to win the loose ball. Hércules continued to sneak forward, picked up the knockdown, and then fired the ball beyond Bono.
Takeaways
The passing of Diogo Jota pertained closely to the lives of a few players in the Al-Hilal camp. It is not a shock that Inzaghi indicated external events had affected some of his men in their performance on the pitch. Yet, he is still proud of how his players have helped to put Saudi football in the minds of the masses. A blend of national talent and exports from Europe have stacked the squad to be able to compete beyond expectation. If Inzaghi invests his future there, it is a project worth watching.
The fairytale for Fluminense goes on. Palmeiras exited the quarter-final against Chelsea, so they are now the only outfit flying the flag for Brazil. Four of their eight goals in the competition came through substitutions, signaling how well they set themselves up with solid showings at the back: indeed, the threat they faced almost only came from corners. Now, Silva shall confront his previous pitstop as Flu fight in the last four of the competition against the Blues for a chance to be in the final.
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