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After an excellent performance against Bolivia, Tite’s Brazilian team suffered much more today to face Peru for the 2nd round of the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers. And this has a lot to do with Philippe Coutinho’s low production this Tuesday. .
The midfielder did well in the last game, giving hope to the fans with freedom to move through the offensive midfield, but presented another drop in production due to having to be more stagnant on the right, as shown by data from Sofascore. He only gave 15 forehand passes in the 69 minutes he was on the court, he only dribbled and never finished on goal.
After Everton Ribeiro and Everton Cebolinha joined the team on the right, the team managed to improve production. Of course, the stupid expulsion of the Peruvian defender after an elbow in Richarlison and a dubious penalty that guaranteed the return also helped on the scoreboard.
Tite and his coaching staff appreciate the technical quality of Philippe Coutinho and the good performances in some decisive moments. The midfielder ended Argentina in Mineirão in the last World Cup qualifiers and earned eternal admiration in the current team. He also scored the team’s first goal at the 2018 World Cup against Switzerland.
But the problem is that his trademark, the throw to the middle followed by a kick placed at the opponent’s angle, is more in the imagination of the commission than in recent reality. In the current model, he still has a hard time having to hold the ball with his back to the goal.
Any fan knows that Coutinho has all the technical conditions to be in the national team, but, as the saying goes, “football is a moment”. And it hasn’t been at its best for some time. Who knows, maybe going back to Barcelona will make the midfielder go up in production. Or use it at specific times, as it was against Bolivia, in a different attack system than the current one.
On the other hand, Douglas Luiz and Renan Lodi once again had great presentations and showed that they must always be remembered by Tite from now on in competitive positions, especially the midfield, which has names in the queue like Bruno Guimarães, Lyon, Arthur, Juventus and Gerson, Flamengo.
Richarlison also showed that he is versatile, he can play from the sides, from the middle and has the technique to be a point guard and spiker in attack. Neymar, who surpassed the goal mark of Ronaldo Fenômeno, flirts with moments of danger with complaints and exaggerated simulations, but returned to play well, as he had already done in the first round.
