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The Brazilian team played a game below average against Venezuela. They won 1-0, with a goal from Firmino in the second half, and reached nine points in the tie. But criticism will rain down in the coming days.
It was a bureaucratic selection in Morumbi, slow, predictable. It is true that there were many absences, including Neymar, but a much better game could be played. Put more pressure on the opponent, expand the field more, face, try.
Well, just the result. In fact, it is very curious. In Brazil, we are essentially breeders. Except when it comes to the Brazilian team outside the World Cup. So what matters is performance. Go figure!
In 1989, I went to a stadium for the first time to see the Brazilian team play. It was a 6-0 victory over Venezuela, in Morumbi, with 106,000 people in the stands. At that time, Brazil x Venezuela was a match in which all we needed to know was the size of the win.
Today football has changed. And it does not necessarily go through the worsening of Brazil, which is the trend of any analysis or noise. It mainly goes through the general evolution of the game in years of globalization. There really are no more fools.
Who would have imagined, in 1989, three decades ago, that three Venezuelan players would be the stars of Santos, Corinthians, Atlético Mineiro … that’s right. That is the reality today. Whoever puts the stick a lot in the Venezuelan team, indirectly will be putting the stick in the greatest product of our football: the Brasileirão. And look that Soteldo even started playing, but Savarino and Otero were reserves in Morumbi, this Friday night.
The Venezuelan coach is the Portuguese (what a school!), José Peseiro, and the rival did his part to annoy Brazil. He put together two very compact and solid defensive lines and still had one outlet or the other on the counterattack. In extra time, he had a chance to tie dead balls.
In the selection of Tite, I do not like the presence of Danilo, especially as a secondary constructor. The two midfielders, Alan and Douglas Luiz, did not provide the necessary creativity at the start of the plays. Douglas missed a host of passes and shots and gave way to Paquetá at halftime. The former Flamengo player, now in Lyon, shouldn’t even have been called up. But he ended up finding the good pass from Éverton Ribeiro to cross the national team’s goal.
Comments will rain down on the quality of the Brazilian team on the pitch. But we go. The starting eleven had seven Premier League champions, one from PSG, one from Atlético de Madrid, one from Juventus and one who is the best player for Flamengo and possibly Brazilian football in recent years.
That’s what we had. And it is not little. The football presented was little. But on the other side there was an opponent. That is what we tend to forget.
