Brazil World Cup Blog

Brazil vs. Peru

Arena Mané Garrincha, Brasília, October 15, 2024

Kickoff: 8:45 PM EDT / 9:45 PM BRT / 12:45 AM GMT

US Streaming: ViX

Likely Starting Lineup: Ederson; Vanderson, Marquinhos, Gabriel Magalhães, Abner; Bruno Guimarães, Gerson, Rodrygo; Raphinha, Savinho, Igor Jesus.

On The Bench: Bento, Weverton; Danilo, Lucas Beraldo, Fabrício Bruno, Alex Telles; André, Andreas Pereira, Matheus Pereira (replaces Lucas Paquetá, suspended); Endrick, Gabriel Martinelli (might be injured), Luiz Henrique

I don’t have much time for a preview tonight, so just some quick hits:

• Lucas Paquetá’s replacement Matheus Pereira is the same Matheus Pereira who once notched two goals and two assists in one game against Chelsea. Since then, however, he’s had a passage through the middle east and returned to Brazil with Cruzeiro.
• I didn’t watch the game on Thursday, but it sounded like there weren’t any real signs of improvement despite the win. Dorival seems to be going with the one thing that did kind of work—ditching the starting midfield pair of Paquetá and André for Bruno Guimarães and Gerson at halftime—from the start for this game. I can’t help but feel like all this chopping and changing is him just throwing shit at the wall, panicking when it doesn’t work, and trying something wildly different.
• At least Vanderson is finally replacing Danilo, who seems to be well past his sell-by date. Danilo Will Come Good Island has sunk so far below the waves that passing ships no longer even need to fear running aground on its remains.
• Peru have been pretty rotten in this World Cup qualifying cycle. They scored just one goal in the six games played in 2023, and after failing to score at the Copa América they have added a whopping two goals more in the three qualifiers they’ve played thus far in 2024. However, one of those goals gave them their first win of the whole cycle on Thursday, and against Uruguay! (Maybe that’s because the players are all sick of Marcelo Bielsa.)
• Would anyone be surprised if Brazil laid another egg in a winnable game? I’m gonna predict a 1-1 draw for this one.

What happens when a stoppable force meets a movable object?

Brazil vs. Chile

Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos, Santiago, Chile, October 10, 2024

Kickoff: 8:00 PM EDT / 9:00 PM BRT / 12:00 AM GMT

US Streaming: Fanatiz

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Ederson, Bento, Weverton (replaced Alisson)

Fullbacks: Vanderson, Danilo, Abner Vinícius, Alex Telles (replaces Guilherme Arana)

Center-Backs: Marquinhos, Gabriel Magalhães, Lucas Beraldo (replaces Bremer), Fabrício Bruno (replaces Éder Militão)

Midfielders: André, Bruno Guimarães, Lucas Paquetá, Gerson, Andreas Pereira (replaces Vini Jr.)

Forwards: Raphinha, Savinho, Endrick, Igor Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, Luiz Henrique

A win is a win, and Brazil really needed the win they secured on Friday night against Ecuador. But ugh, what a tepid game, and one that only deepens the concerns surrounding coach Dorival Júnior. But more on that after the jump.

Brazil vs. Paraguay

Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay, September 10, 2024

Kickoff: 8:30 PM EDT / 9:30 PM BRT / 12:30 AM GMT

US Streaming: Fanatiz

Possible Starting XI: Alisson, Danilo, Marquinhos, Gabriel Magalhães, Wendell; André, Bruno Guimarães, Lucas Paquetá; Luiz Henrique, Rodrygo, Vini Júnior.

On The Bench: Ederson, Bento; William, Fabrício Bruno, Lucas Beraldo, Guilherme Arana; João Gomes, Gerson; Lucas Moura, Luiz Henrique, Estêvão, João Pedro, Endrick.

I never write as much as I want to. I always have a whole pile of ideas I think would be fun to work on, and then between the demands of everyday life, the time-consuming process of getting from “I should write something with this free time I have now” to actually getting into a rhythm and writing more than a few words, and the frequent desire to just do something else with a free evening, most of them never leave the little list I have in my notes app. Somewhere in that sentence is an explanation for why I never wrote a Copa América postmortem, or an attempt to figure out Brazil’s current depth chart in each position, or a breakdown of interesting Brazilian transfers that might have flown under the radar. Or, to phrase those as questions: Would Rodrigo Muniz have helped at the Copa América? How good is Rodrigo Muniz, really? Is Rodrigo Muniz the most interesting Brazilian striker flying under the radar?

(To answer them in order: Probably not, still seems like a flash in the pan to me, and depends on whether you think Brenner meant to do this.)

Anyways, today’s topic is going to be Dorival Júnior’s squad selections for this month’s World Cup qualifiers.

Brazil vs. Ecuador

Estádio Major Antônio Couto Pereira, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil, September 6, 2024

Kickoff: 9:00 PM EDT / 10:00 PM BRT / 1:00 AM GMT

US TV: Telemundo

Likely Starting XI: Alisson, Danilo, Éder Militão, Gabriel Magalhães, Guilherme Arana; André, Bruno Guimarães, Lucas Paquetá; Rodrygo, Vini Júnior, Endrick.

On The Bench: Ederson, Bento; William, Marquinhos, Lucas Beraldo, Wendell; João Gomes, Gerson; Lucas Moura, Luiz Henrique, Estêvão, Pedro (no wait nevermind), João Pedro.

YOU GUYS

WHATTTTT

HOLY SHIT

Once again, Brazil’s hopes in a major tournament rest upon being able to defeat France, something the women’s team has never done in 12 meetings. To make matters worse, this isn’t simply about getting into the semifinals and having a legit shot at a medal: Marta’s senseless red card against Spain in the final group game could very well have been her last act at an Olympics or World Cup—unless, without her, Brazil can somehow get a result that has eluded them for literal decades.

I don’t think it’s going to happen. Brazil haven’t been one of the top sides in the women’s game since at least 2011, and since then they’ve rarely even looked like they could seriously threaten an upset. Even when they’ve managed to go toe-to-toe with better teams, or even just scrape open a surprise lead, finishing or defending always seem to let them down. (A recent example: the stoppage-time collapse against Japan.)

But there’s nothing wrong with hoping.

Brazil vs. France

Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes, France, August 3, 2024

Kickoff: 3:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM BRT / 7:00 PM GMT

US TV/streaming: Peacock

Have a quick match thread for the women’s Olympic debut. They’re in a really tough group that also has Spain, who won the last World Cup, and Japan, who beat Spain 4-0 in that same World Cup. It’s also likely to be Marta’s last tournament for Brazil (though we’ve been here before), and we’ll all be wanting a better sendoff for her than last year’s grim World Cup exit.

Brazil vs. Nigeria

Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France, July 25, 2024

Kickoff: 1:00 PM EDT / 2:00 PM BRT / 5:00 PM GMT

US TV: Telemundo

Possible Starting XI: Lorena; Antonia, Thais Ferreira, Rafaelle, Tamires; Vitória Yayá, Duda Sampaio, Adriana, Ludmila (Gabi Portilho); Marta, Gabi Nunes (Jheniffer).

The angst continues. Needing a win in the last group stage game against Colombia to win the group and avoid an extremely tough-looking quarterfinal against Uruguay, Brazil were lucky to manage a 1-1 draw in a performance that was quite possibly worse than Fernando Diniz’s disasterclass against them last November. At least in that game Brazil got forward effectively, even as Colombia overran the nonexistent midfield and created plenty of shots of their own; this time, Colombia overran a far more present midfield that also couldn’t create anything going forward.

Now we face an equally high-flying Uruguay side that might pose a similar test just days after we failed the first one. And on top of that, Vini Jr. got his second yellow card of the tournament and will be suspended for this quarterfinal. Oh, and the ref is Argentinian. Oh dear!

Brazil vs. Uruguay

Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, July 6, 2024

Kickoff: 9:00 PM EDT / 10:00 PM BRT / 1:00 AM GMT

US TV: FS1, Univision

Lineup info TBD

Rather than write another 4,000 words about how this game might go, I’m just going to focus on one question for this preview: how should Dorival Jr. replace Vini Jr.? Vini hasn’t had the best of tournaments—nobody in the front line has—but he’s still our top scorer and managed to draw a clear, uncalled penalty against Colombia that may well have made the difference (although the way Colombia were playing, I think they would have just kept the pressure up until they tied the game either way.) Replacing him may well be impossible, but it could well be a blessing in disguise. As I see it, there are three main ways Dorival could approach this: