Vitória – Cruzeiro: Cruzeiro are dominated in the first half, but turn it around through a sequence of events and mistakes (1-3)

On Matchday 28, Cruzeiro managed to return to winning ways and aim higher up the table, but this came after an away comeback, taking advantage of events and mistakes from Vitória, who managed to dominate and take the lead in the first half. The match featured a duel between a goalkeeper called up to the Brazil National Team and another who has been heavily discussed as a potential option for Carlo Ancelotti.

Tactical analysis and match report by Marcus Arboés.

Jair Ventura has faced considerable criticism from parts of the sports media, but many analyses end up overlooking the fact that Vitória had ten players unavailable for this match due to physical issues, forcing the coach to deal with this context in order to earn points. As a result, at the international level, very few Vitória players are well known: Matheus Silva, Cacá, Luan Cândido and Jamerson in defense; Caíque Gonçalves and Emmanuel Martínez as holding midfielders; Erick on the right wing, Tarzia on the left wing and the talented number ten Matheusinho in the central area; up front, striker Renê, one of the Brasileirão’s biggest surprises, completed the team, but the main highlight of the side is goalkeeper Lucas Arcanjo, who has been frequently called up to the Brazil National Team.

On the other side was a team with a much deeper squad, greater financial power and fewer absences. Portuguese coach Artur Jorge lined Cruzeiro up in the traditional 4-2-3-1 outline: Otávio (Brazil National Team) in goal; Fágner (former Brazil) at right fullback and Rojas on the left; João Marcelo and Jonathan Jesus, another player on Ancelotti’s radar, as the center backs; Gerson (former Zenit) and promising youngster Zé Lucas forming the midfield alongside Matheus Pereira (former West Brom); in attack, Keny Arroyo on the right wing, Wesley on the left and Kaio Jorge (former Juventus) as the target man.

Jair Ventura’s Vitória values

Jair Ventura is a young Brazilian coach who has stood out in recent years for having saved five teams from relegation. At the same time, he is unfairly stigmatized as a coach who can only build defensive ideas. This year, his Vitória have experienced significant fluctuations, especially away from home, but have produced strong performances at home. Against Cruzeiro, once again, the team showed an ability to create despite their attacking difficulties and managed to impose themselves defensively, taking a deserved lead into halftime.

Cruzeiro’s build-up in an asymmetrical 4-2-3-1 shape, looking for verticality against high pressing through man-oriented marking in a 4-1-3-2 formation.

Cruzeiro are a team that like to use their technical superiority to make quick progressions, regardless of how high or deep the build-up starts. Against Vitória, they won, but that cannot hide the difficulties they had against the opposition’s high press. In an asymmetrical 4-2-3-1 formation, they tried to build through supporting movements that allowed one player to release another forward into space.

On the right, Fágner provided support on the flank, Matheus Pereira offered an inside option, Zé Lucas was the forward passer and Arroyo was the target. On the left, the team became more stagnant. Gerson is an excellent ball-playing midfielder and carrier, but Rojas had a lot of difficulty on the ball, while Wesley alternated between supporting and attacking space alongside Kaio Jorge, who could drop inside or attack the space behind fullback Matheus Silva.

The great defensive merit was how Vitória defended in the opposition half. Matheusinho and Renê formed an extremely aggressive first pressing line in a 4-1-3-2 shape, stepping out onto the center backs. The wingers Tarzia and Erick alternated between pressing the fullback out wide or moving centrally onto one of the holding midfielders when Cruzeiro built up from the opposite side. Caíque Gonçalves pressed inside, helping maintain the second line high and making life difficult for Zé Lucas and Gerson.

Defending in a 4-1-3-2 high block is a global trend, but I have seen many teams struggle to coordinate long tracking movements within their man-oriented marking, maintaining enough compactness to avoid leaving too much space behind the first defensive line. This was largely down to Emmanuel Martínez’s excellent covering work. His challenge was significant: marking Matheus Pereira, the team’s creative mind.

But the ball did not reach him very often, precisely because of the first block of five players pressing and marking, allowing Vitória to win the ball at least three times in the opposition half through this combination of factors.

Vitória’s goal coming from a positional attack using off-ball movements to confuse Cruzeiro’s 4-4-2 formation.

Vitória’s starting lineup was a 4-2-3-1 outline. In practice, the team often formed a 3-2-5/3-1-6 shape: the fullbacks stayed wide, one of the holding midfielders dropped between the center backs or moved laterally; Matheusinho, Tarzia and Erick played with slightly more freedom inside, behind striker Renê, but one of them was always dropping and changing their height to confuse the marking through combination movements down the flanks, looking for a long switch to the fullback providing width or a combination carry through the middle.

In the build-up to the goal, Cacá had switched positions with Caíque Gonçalves. Luan Cândido released the ball to fullback Jamerson, who received in a wide position, triggering Cruzeiro’s defensive shift in their 4-4-2 formation. Tarzia and Matheusinho moved closer to the left fullback in the half-space and ended up switching positions. Tarzia dropped and then attacked the space at speed. This movement caused Fágner to drop slightly and completely confused Zé Lucas. That was the key to the goal.

Matheusinho dropped to receive the ball to feet, but Zé Lucas did not follow because he had made a preliminary movement to track Tarzia, being deceived by the off-ball movement and then having to recover before tracking Matheusinho’s diagonal carry from outside to inside. At that moment, Gerson and Wesley were closing inside, while right winger Erick made a diagonal movement to fill the box. After carrying the ball, Rojas also closed toward the last line, but ended up managing the distance to the center back poorly.

As a result, Renê moved toward the right and exploited this blind spot to receive a precise assist from the number ten. It was definitely not a great game for Rojas, and the situation became even worse in the second half. Vitória could also have extended their lead, but Renê was denied both by Jonathan Jesus and by goalkeeper Otávio.

Football is defined by chaos and mistakes

With the lead secured, both teams made changes: Artur Jorge switched the right fullback to have more attacking presence in the final third with William and also changed the left wing. Jair Ventura did the opposite on the right, replacing Matheus Silva, the more attack-minded option, with Brítez, who is practically a center back. He also took off Caíque to bring on holding midfielder Zé Vitor, who is very tall and protects the edge of the box well. These were good changes for the context, but they were undone by a completely chaotic goal before the clock had even reached the first minute of the second half.

The second-half scenario after the first substitutions, with Cruzeiro having more space in the build-up due to the change in Vitória’s midfield profile.

Lucas Arcanjo made a mistake with his distribution and, in a quick counterattack, failed to get a firm hand to the ball and ended up making a mistake on Keny Arroyo’s finish. With the score level, Jair Ventura’s plan was to sit deeper, protect the box and use counterattacks. Vitória are one of the best teams in the country at counterattacking from a low block. This had a lot to do with the change in holding midfielders. The idea was to have Zé Vitor protect the box through his height, covering ability and reading of space, and he initially did this well after Cruzeiro’s goal.

However, he ended up significantly disrupting Cruzeiro’s high press, which had been very effective. In addition to becoming confused by the individual marking references, he couldn’t decide whether to drop and defend in line with Emmanuel Martínez, freeing the holding midfielders, or press high alongside the wingers. The issue is that he does not have the same ability for continuous tracking movements, speed and energy to do this that Caíque had. As a result, both Cruzeiro’s holding midfielders were left free, while Matheus Pereira found more space amid the disorganization in midfield.

The game became more balanced and Vitória reacted well after conceding, so Artur Jorge made another move from the bench: he brought on Matheus Henrique (former Sassuolo) for Zé Lucas, giving the team greater build-up ability rather than support, and took off Rojas, who was marking poorly and struggling technically, to use Villalba as an improvised option once again. This had a direct impact, as Villalba scored after Vitória’s defense became completely distracted and watched Keny Arroyo carry the ball all the way to the byline to cross, following a throw-in.

The “culprit” for this goal was heavily booed. Erick did not recover defensively and left Villalba completely alone to finish. After the comeback goal, he was replaced by Lucas Silva, and Vitória began relying mainly on switches of play or inside movements followed by medium-distance shots to make life difficult for goalkeeper Otávio.

The final scenario of the match, with Cruzeiro defending in a 5-3-2 formation and Vitória looking for aerial attacks.

After Gerson received a yellow card for a foul in a central position, against a Vitória side growing increasingly excited by the possibility of equalizing at home, the coach took off the midfielder and brought on Fabrício Bruno, changing the defensive formation to a 5-3-2 shape. Jair Ventura, on the other hand, took off Renê and Matheusinho to bring on two number nines who would occupy the box, trying to compete with the attacking volume. Despite his height, Zé Vitor was not used as much as an aerial option, operating in the central area alongside Tarzia and supported by Emmanuel Martínez.

The fullback Jamerson, meanwhile, became even more attack-minded, and even center back Luan Cândido appeared as an aerial option on several occasions. They managed to create dangerous situations a few times, but every now and then they flirted with mistakes in the build-up, with misplaced passes giving Cruzeiro counterattacking opportunities. This has been a problem in other matches for the team.

In the final minute, in a chaotic sequence where Vitória stopped a Cruzeiro counterattack and then lost possession, Keny Arroyo launched a devastating transition, escaping Zé Vitor’s poor defensive reaction, and assisted Matheus Pereira, who put the final result on the scoreboard: 3-1 to Cruzeiro away from home.

Takeaways

With just one Vitória in a five-match span, several absences and following their elimination from the Copa do Brasil, Vitória are becoming increasingly concerned about the shrinking distance to the relegation zone. While goalkeeper Otávio was very important for Cruzeiro to earn the points, goalkeeper Lucas Arcanjo, who has been frequently compared to him due to not being called up by Ancelotti, made a crucial mistake that ultimately ruined the coach’s game plan in the second half. The “good” news is that the team will have three weeks to recover players, organize their ideas and prepare to face Chapecoense, who are bottom of the table.

Cruzeiro, meanwhile, have been inconsistent in both results and performances, but managed to win once again. However, Fluminense’s victory over Corinthians meant they remained stuck in fifth place. Keny Arroyo decided the three points, was called up to the Ecuador National Team and will play during the international break. After returning, Cruzeiro’s next match will be against São Paulo at home.

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