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Brazil’s relationship with the World Cup is completely binary. They have won five, the others have lost, and there is nothing in between.
On Friday they hit the road to what they hope will be their sixth World Cup victory, their first in 20 years, with a 5-0 win over Bolivia that was so comfortable that it serves more to boost morale than as proof of their performance. virtues.
The Bolivian coach, César Farias, had spoken on his side and his desire to face any rival on equal terms, but he is well aware of reality. Bolivia’s main objective is to collect points at home, in the extreme altitude of La Paz. He left some of his best players at home to prepare for Tuesday’s visit to Argentina and left for Brazil for a damage limitation exercise.
The difference between the sides was an abyss. Brazil could easily have been two goals up in the first five minutes. After 14 minutes, Brazil had exchanged 118 passes, against three from Bolivia. It was attack against defense, and the goals were a mere matter of time.
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By halftime, amid a downpour in Sao Paulo, Brazil was up two with goals that shed light on how coach Tite is building his team at the Russia 2018 post. The first came from a short corner to the right, played from He came back for Danilo to spank him. on a cross that was powerfully headed by Marquinhos. And the second came from the other flank, with left-back Renan Lodi reaching the baseline after an exchange with Neymar and squaring low for Roberto Firmino to touch the far post.
Marquinhos was a fixture in the team during the last knockout series, but when the World Cup came around, he was cruelly and surely mistakenly left on the bench. After the fateful quarter-final loss to Belgium, Brazil clearly failed at their fastest center, and now it’s impossible to imagine a Brazilian team without them.
The position of the center backs is also significant. Tite’s idea is a more defensive right back, building from deep and also offering cover. On the other flank, Lodi is licensed to bomb forward, with Douglas Luiz, an extra defensive midfielder, to make sure the space behind is not as empty as it was against Belgium. This also influences the position of the ends. Everton on the right is expected to stay open, while with Lodi superimposed, Neymar can roam the box.
And then there’s Liverpool striker Firmino. One of Tite’s great regrets at Russia 2018 is having persevered with Gabriel Jesús as a forward. Since then, the Manchester City striker, absent this time through injury, has been used in a wide role. Firmino’s time in office has been an overwhelming success, and Brazil won the Copa América last year at home.
Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho have yet to prove that they can both play on the same team. Buda Mendes / Getty Images
That said, the structure of the Brazilian team is very different from Liverpool, and there is fear that Firmino and Philippe Coutinho will seek to operate in the same space. But Firmino can look back on two center-forward style goals in this game: He added the third just after halftime, and came to turn a low center from Neymar home. And Coutinho also got on the roster, adding the last goal with a nice header after Brazil’s left-back worked well again, Lodi sliding into Neymar for a well-flown cross.
The right flank did not work so well; Everton looked uncomfortable on paper, and gave way to Real Madrid’s Rodrygo, who was heavily involved in the fourth goal, cutting to feed Coutinho, continuing his run into the area and making contact with the center, who inadvertently passed by. In front of him. own goalkeeper of the Bolivian central José María Carrasco.
But with the result never in doubt, it was all too easy. Is Firmino the right choice? Can he and Coutinho shoot together? Can Richarlison’s absence in the starting eleven be justified?
On the road to Qatar, Brazil needs these questions to be posed in a way that Bolivia could never do and on Tuesday promises a more rigorous examination. Brazil is out of Peru, the only clash in the first rounds between teams that were in the last World Cup. And of all the teams that played away from home in the first round, Peru was the only one that avoided defeat. It seems the one to look at.
Source: espn.co.uk
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