With all of its friction and misplaced passes, it might have been more fun had the Argentina vs. Brazil World Cup qualifier been played on a waterlogged pitch on its original date of Thursday night.
Waiting 24 hours allowed for a better playing surface and the arrival of the crowd, but it was not enough to produce a vintage clash between the great South American rivals. Though Brazil will go away happier after the 1-1 draw, for two reasons.
First is the position in the table. Despite a faltering start, Brazil lie fourth, an automatic qualifying slot, even though two of their three games have been away from home. Argentina, meanwhile, have played twice at home but are still looking for their first win. Amazingly, they are down in ninth place, with only Venezuela behind them.
Brazil can also be more content with a point because they came closest to leaving with nothing. The key moment in the game came early in the second half. Argentina were good value for the 1-0 lead given to them by Ezequiel Lavezzi, but it so nearly became 2-0 when Ever Banega thudded his shot against the near post. An inch or so to the right and Brazil would have found it very hard to come back.
For most of the game, Argentina's ideas worked better than Brazil's. The match looked set up for Brazil to cause problems for Argentina's defence down the flanks, just as Ecuador had done the previous month on the same ground. The question was how would Argentina's defence cope with the pace and skill of Neymar and Willian?
The answer came by denying them space; by making sure that the midfield and defensive lines were close together, and by pressing Brazil to stop their moves at source when possible.
Indeed, it was Argentina who caused Brazil problems down the flanks. Right-back Facundo Roncaglia capitalising on his element of surprise and helped Angel Di Maria, while on the other flank Marcos Rojo and Lavezzi formed an interesting partnership, with Banega linking the team together with his passing.
The Argentine goal displayed these virtues well. Banega won possession and fed Di Maria, who played a nicely disguised pass into the space behind Brazil centre-back David Luiz; Gonzalo Higuain then collected and slipped the ball low into the box for Lavezzi to round off his intelligent movement with an efficient finish.
The moment when Banega nearly clinched the game also mirrored their gameplan. It began with an interception and forward burst from Nicolas Otamendi -- the centre-back this time becoming the attacking element of surprise -- and he played a fine exchange with Higuain before passing square to Banega, who had an initial shot blocked before hitting the post from the rebound.
Brazil had been awful up to this point; a festival of misplaced passes. Neymar may well have been suffering from an ankle injury sustained in the first half, but he was not helped by the lack of an identifiable collective plan. On the other flank, Willian found himself dragged back to defend against Rojo and Lavezzi while Lucas Lima would have been better employed in a more withdrawn role, organising Brazil's play from deep.
The tide, though, had begun to turn before Brazil got their 58th minute equaliser. As tiredness became a factor, space started to open up between the Argentine lines, making it easier for Brazil's flyers to get on the ball and run at the opposing defence.
Coach Dunga saw a chance -- swapping centre forward Ricardo Oliveira for Douglas Costa, another of his pacey dribblers -- and Brazil instantly came up with the move that sealed the draw.
Neymar, with one of those feats of peripheral vision that make him so interesting, switched the play to advancing right-back Daniel Alves -- who switched it back with a cross to the far post for Douglas Costa. The Bayern star's free header back across goal came off the bar, and fell for Lucas Lima, who had burst into the box.
Lavezzi was too tired to track his run -- Argentina's gameplan had forced their wingers to work up and down the pitch -- and Ramiro Funes Mori was not alive to the danger, allowing Lima space to volley home.
With over half an hour to go there was still the prospect of a classic, but the rest of the game generated more heat than light, symbolised by David Luiz losing his head and picking up two yellow cards in quick succession.
Luiz will miss the home game against Peru on Tuesday -- a match against a team with a dreadful away record. Argentina, meanwhile, face a tougher task as they seek to get their campaign on track away to Colombia in the sweltering heat of Barranquilla.
One feels that neither side would be happy with a draw against their bitter rivals, but as the standings show, Argentina are the ones under serious pressure.
Tim is an English journalist who has been based in Brazil for over 20 years. He is the South American football correspondent for the BBC Sport website.
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