ARTIST-JUGGLERS OF THE BALL, THE BRAZILIANS HAVE NOT BROUGHT ANY NEW ELEMENT TO THE TACTICS...
— Lucien Gamblin | 22/06/1938 —

Let us now focus on the exhibitions provided by the Brazilian team, which was almost unknown to us, and whose production could have been expected, if not from a new method, at least from a game system having no not an exact resemblance to what we are used to seeing.

Well, we lived up to our hopes. Brazilian footballers demonstrated in Strasbourg, Bordeaux and Marseille that they were exceptional ball artists, for whom juggling no longer held any secrets. But they played simply primary football in terms of tactical sense, the diversity of actions that a team can use to oppose the companies of the opposing team, and an essential discipline to give maximum performance to an example.

The proof is that during the second match Brazil-Czechoslovakia, the Brazilian team was held in check at the mark and clearly dominated in football by the Czechoslovak eleven during the entire first half of the game only because The Czechoslovakian eleven, without changing anything from its usual manner, played much faster than during the first match.

We had confirmation there: that it is very difficult to innovate in football.

Despite their certain individual value, Brazilian players base their game on the transcendent value of their “aces”. A man like Leônidas attracts the ball which, moreover, he constantly asks for. A teammate like the centre-half Martin, constantly tries to bring order to the game of his team, by replacing with his calm and his intelligence of the game the disorderly actions of his two wing half-backs, who, moreover, when they are embarrassed, move on to their pivot, who looks like a big brother watching his younger siblings having fun. A player like Domingos frequently stays close to his goalkeeper without ever making the slightest offensive move. He often passes to his half-backs, instead of trying to clear far away, but without having passed the line formed by the opposing attack.

So, no innovation, on the contrary, since the whole only acts in small groups, while it is no longer possible to say that the game of a football team is all the more perfect and productive, that all team members participate effectively in community enterprises.

Of course, the Brazilians scored goals, but they conceded as many, or almost.