Brazil's weaknesses

The whole is less than the sum of its parts

Football may be a team game, but Brazil are staking their hopes of winning this World Cup on the superior quality of individual players. Neymar is showing why he's been considered one of the world's top talents for years. His pace alone is too much for 95 percent of all defenders, and it's no accident that Brazil look their most dangerous when he regularly touches the ball. Against Chile, the Selecao forgot about the Barcelona forward for much of the second half, and it very nearly cost them dear.

In a similar vein, if goalkeeper Julio Cesar hadn't had a cracker in the Round of 16, Brazilians would probably be holding their heads in their hands, asking themselves how it all went so dreadfully wrong. Not only did the man from Toronto FC (!) save two penalties in the decisive shootout - he's been an invaluable anchor at the back, especially with Dani Alves apparently on mental AWOL.

On the whole, the Selecao has looked pretty toothless. Hulk has had a couple of bright moments, but Fred and Jo have people asking: Is this the best Brazil can do in terms of strikers? And beautiful Brazilian futebol is a thing of the past. This version of the Selecao is more kick-and-rush than samba.

Brazil may miss their sheriff

Luiz Gustavo's yellow card against Chile means that he gets an involuntary day off in the quarterfinals. And that could come back to cost the Selecao dearly.

The defensive midfielder may play for less-than-glamorous Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, but he's tougher than Luis Suarez's dental work and thus one of coach Luiz Felipe Scolari's favorite players.

"Luiz Gustavo doesn't talk a lot, but his work is fundamental for the team," Scolari said a few days ago. "He's smart and does a good job with what we ask him to do on the field."

Offensive midfielder Willian was even more vivid, calling Gustavo Brazil's "sheriff on defense."

Although they play for higher-profile clubs, neither Manchester City's Fernandinho nor Tottenham's Paulinho have shown they deserve to get on the pitch ahead of him at the World Cup. Scolari has to be concerned that the team could unravel, when deprived of its linchpin - especially as their next opponents Colombia are an attacking unit that haven't dropped a point yet in the tournament.

Practice those penalties

Brazil came into the World Cup as the favorites for the title, and they may yet end up winning the tournament. But to judge from their first four performances, they won't win it with ease or anything resembling the traditional Brazilian flair.

On the contrary, if the Selecao are to hoist the trophy for a record sixth time on July 13, they'll likely do it in dogfights. With that in mind, Brazil would be well-advised to improve on the less-than-persuasive penalty shoot-out performance from the Chile match.

A sixty percent conversion rate was good enough to get by the exhausted Chileans. But would it be good enough to best Argentina, the Netherlands, France or - gasp - Germany? Probably not.

Neither of the two players who missed on Saturday - Willian and Hulk - looked at all cool from the spot. And the pressure is only going to build as the World Cup title gets nearer. As the nail-biting match against Chile exemplified, the difference between Brazilian triumph and potential Brazilian tragedy has thus far been razor-thin.