SC Internacional U-20 faced Portuguesa U-20 in a match that could define the future of both in their chances to qualify for the next round of the competition. SC Internacional set up in a very offensive 3-4-2-1, while Portuguesa opted for a totally opposite style and mentality knowing that they challenged one of the toughest opponents in the tournament, an approach that was effective until the individual talent of the current Copinha champions appeared to make a 2-1 victory.
Youth Ratings
1 – Ready for the first team
2 – Good, potential to be first team
3 – Decent, could make first team squad
4 – Decent potential, unlikely to make it to first team
5 – Unlikely to make first team
Bernardo
Player profile:
- Nationality: Brazilian
- Age: 19
- Date of birth: 31/03/2002
- Current club: SC Internacional
- Career: SC Internacional
- Position: Right wing-back
- Secondary position: Right-back
- Preferred foot: Right
If there is a player who was notorious in the first minutes of the game, it was Bernardo. The wing-back was the main threat of Portuguesa’s defence in the beginning, not only because of his constant attacks on the right but also because of his great speed that allowed him to overcome his opponents. The Brazilian connected with the midfielders to play one-twos and then crossed to the box, it was from that continuous play that the first goal of SC Internacional was scored after a great cross that arrived precisely at Allison’s head. In possession, Bernardo was quite calm and did not make much mistakes in his decisions, preferring to keep the ball on his ground, playing with the right centre-back João Pedro, or higher on the pitch with Pedrinho to find spaces.
Standing at 1.70 m, he doesn’t have a great physique, which ends up being favourable for Bernardo since his agility together with his acceleration make it very difficult for a non-physical defender to take the ball from him, being the ideal player for offensive teams that focus on crossing balls to a header forward. As the SC Internacional system has two attacking midfielders who have total freedom to move, the offensive task on the left becomes a piece of cake, he only had to reach the bottom line and receive the ball from one of the number 10s that waited for his overlap.
As Bernardo is usually standing high up on the pitch, the team risks being easily attacked from that side and gives a double responsibility to the right centre-back who must cover when the wing-back fails to comeback. However, Portugesa did not stand out especially for their offensive material but quite the opposite, so Bernardo could not be seen much more defensively, in addition that the Brazilian had to be substituted in the 60th minute due to complications in his knee. Anyway, he didn’t seem like a great player in defensive duels due to his lack of strength, and he probably won’t have a good time against the typical fast Brazilian wingers who likes to dribble.
Rating – 2
Despite playing 60 minutes, Bernardo had a great performance and I think he has the potential to play in the first team in the future. He has to improve his strength to not be easily overtaken when he faces more offensive sides. I think that in a line of 4 he may have defensive problems, but it is only an assumption in view of his great attacking traits and his physique, so it only remains to watch him more often.
Lucca Holanda
Player profile:
- Nationality: Brazilian
- Age: 18
- Date of birth: 02/04/2003
- Current club: SC Internacional
- Career: SC Internacional
- Position: Forward
- Preferred foot: Right
The number 9 came from a good game with a goal included, so there were high expectations that he would score again, however the young man did not have the best performance against Portuguesa. Behind Lucca, there were two offensive midfielders such as Pedrinho and Allison, who were constantly asking for the ball to create dangerous occasions, and as they could only achieve this goal a few times, it was difficult for Lucca to receive balls in good attacking positions to take advantage of his qualities, so he didn’t have shots on goal and received the ball in quite uncomfortable positions for a forward with the characteristics of Lucca. Therefore, he had to go down more on the field and connect with his teammates, especially in the first half, where he held the ball well and constantly gave first touches to not get complicated.
As SC Internacional focused the attack on the wings, since it became increasingly difficult on middle, Lucca had to wait in the box for the wing-backs crosses, however he is not that type of player. The 18-year-old, despite taking advantage of his strength well, is not a physical player and his 1.79 m. didn’t favor him against the tall defenders of Portuguesa. He is a forward with a more than decent speed and is skilled with his feet, so it seems that he is better at taking advantage of that making one-twos with his offensive partners, losing his marker by making good runs and anticipating quickly in counterattacks.
Lucca seemed very lonely at the top and I think he would get much better performance accompanied by another striker with different characteristics that complement each other, however, with a different system and style he could perfectly play as the only striker, but that was not the case and was a factor for an appearance of few interventions by the Brazilian.
Rating – 4
If we talk about making to the first team in a club like SC Internacional, I see it very far away based on this match. However, I believe that Lucca couldn’t display all his potential because of the mentioned before, and I recommend watching him more often. He is one of those players that despite not standing out, you see that they have that thing which can make them go far, so you never know.
Allison
Player profile:
- Nationality: Brazilian
- Age: 19
- Date of birth: 07/02/2002
- Current club: SC Internacional
- Career: SC Internacional
- Position: Attacking Midfielder
- Preferred foot: Right
The 19-year-old played as an advanced playmaker and was responsible of bringing creativity and unpredictability to SC Internacional’s offensive along with his partner Pedrinho, something that didn’t happen as often as expected. Allison stood out for his technical ability and his desire to be the match protagonist, asking for the ball and going forward looking to make definitive passes, something he achieved at the end of the first half with a high quality pass to the wing back who was in a great position to score but they fouled him and got awarded a penalty. The play that was started by Alisson was also finished by him after he took advantage of the rebound from the penalty missed by Pedrinho, scoring his second goal of the game.
The Brazilian had freedom of movement throughout the pitch, so he was often set back from his position to recover balls or start counterattacks, and also constantly he arrived into the box to finish off Bernardo’s crosses, where he scored the first goal of the game with a great header despite standing 1,77 m. Alisson was a key player for the victory of the team, and although it is not to detract from him, he only made two great actions in 90 minutes and then he did not contribute much more. Even so, when the playmaker had the ball, he showed his class by being very comfortable in possession, having great control, vision and quality first touches, as well as a good dribble that compensated with his low strength to get rid of his opponents. As I mentioned before, it was very hard for Internacional to create dangerous chances and that caused maintaining a lot of possession in their own half without being able to find spaces, partly because the players who had to produce chances (Allison and Pedrinho) weren’t decisive enough, but not because of a quality matter but rather because of their identical roles in the system, which made them get in the way of each other and that didn’t allow to see the best of each one.
In spite of that, Allison undoubtedly showed a lot of potential, it was seen in every ball he touched even when he didn’t participate as much as he should.
Rating – 2
Allison is a player with a lot of technical quality, and in times where there is a lack of number 10s, the Brazilian breaks the standard and I think I am not rushing to say that he could become a top player if he develops his full potential. I won’t burn him out by giving him a 1 rating because I still don’t see him as a starter in SC Internacional first team and didn’t had a superb game despite his two goals, but he is able to make it sooner rather than later.
João Pedro
Player profile:
- Nationality: Brazilian
- Age: 19
- Date of birth: 02/08/2002
- Current club: SC Internacional
- Career: SC Internacional
- Position: Centre-back
- Preferred foot: Right
João Pedro played as a right centre-back and was the leader of the defensive line of 3, initiating play from the back. The captain stood out especially for his physique, with which it was quite easy for him to impose himself on his opponents on body-to-body duels. He also has pretty decent speed and that makes him the perfect type of player for Bernardo to go up on the attack at his pleasure, being able to take on fast wingers without being easily dribbled past. It will be interesting to see how João Pedro deals it on the wing against better sides.
The last man in the defence, Tiago Guth, did not want to risk in any way in his passes, so he gave the responsibility of starting plays to João Pedro, who despite being pressured sometimes, had the composure to play forward, although he didn’t risk much either preferring to pass it short to the playmaker. He didn’t have major complications in defence, not only because it was a well standing and organized line of 3 but also because of the opponent’s passivity. His 1.85 m. makes him a very dangerous player in aerial duels, where he had a very clear chance to score in a corner with a powerful header.
He is a player who doesn’t get complicated when in possession, he is aware of his technical limitations and his presence provides peace to SC Internacional defence. I would have liked to see him more in action in defensive phases since he didn’t have much work either, even so he won all his duels and recovered balls.
Rating – 2
Unfortunately, this was not the best match to analyse SC Internacional defenders since they did not have to work much. Nevertheless, Joao Pedro did his job in every appearance he had and I saw a player who was mentally and physically ready for the first team, but I prefer to watch him again against harder opponents before assigning him the highest rating.
Additional notes:
Players like Pedrinho, Jonathan and Lucas Ryan also had a good game and attracted my attention, however I could not get enough notes from them for a proper analysis.
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