Brazil vs. Ecuador

Estádio Beira Rio, Porto Alegre, June 4, 2021

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

US TV / Streaming: FuboTV (not available through their free trial since you need the “CONMEBOL & More” add-on package to watch it)

Likely Starting Lineup: Alisson; Danilo, Éder Militão, Marquinhos, Alex Sandro; Casemiro, Fred, Lucas Paquetá; Richarlison, Neymar, Gabigol.

On The Bench: Ederson, Weverton; Emerson Royal, Rodrigo Caio, Felipe, Renan Lodi; Fabinho, Everton Ribeiro (questionable); Everton Cebolinha, Roberto Firmino, Gabriel Jesus, Vinícius Júnior.

Unavailable: Douglas Luiz (suspended), Thiago Silva (injured)

Notes And Storylines

After an agonizing, COVID-prolonged wait, South American World Cup qualifying is finally back. The Seleção is back! Let’s see what sort of lineup we’re going to… oh.

Tite’s done his thing where he changes his lineup in some encouraging ways and some baffling ones. I love that Paquetá and Gabigol are starting; I have no idea why Alex Sandro is. But what’s more on my mind is, who’s just in the side for this one game? I ask because Douglas Luiz is suspended and Everton Ribeiro appears to be dealing with some sort of knock, which raises the chilling prospect that they’ll knock Fred and Paquetá out of the starting XI the second they’re available. (I’m really not that big a fan of Fred, but after how dreadful Douglas Luiz was last November, I would absolutely prefer to see him starting in that position; the bigger issue is that Tite selected such a weak midfield.)

Now let’s talk Gabigol. This is his chance to demonstrate what Brazil’s been missing. He’s been the most prolific Brazilian goalscorer over the past two and a half years or so, but that comes with a lot of caveats: he’s playing in Brazil, he’s scored a lot of penalties, he doesn’t have a ton of responsibility beyond putting chances away. But Brazil are in desperate need of what he could bring: a striker who can pounce on the smallest lick of a chance and reliably put the ball in the net. Is he the answer? I’m skeptical, both because international football is a step up in difficulty from what he’s accustomed to, and because Flamengo’s style of play is more direct and conducive to creating great chances for him than Brazil’s is. But what we’re currently getting with Gabriel Jesus, Richarlison, and Roberto Firmino certainly isn’t good enough. If nothing else, Gabigol seems capable of scoring from shots and positions where the three guys we currently have wouldn’t even think to shoot. At the very least, we have to try out some alternatives, and Gabigol is certainly one of our best options right now. (Fingers crossed for an epic Matheus Cunha breakout season in 2021/22.)

Now for our opponent. This might be our trickiest test yet. Ecuador have been the undisputed surprise package of this World Cup qualifying cycle, absolutely obliterating Uruguay and Colombia by scores of 4-2 (4-0 after 75 minutes) and 6-1 respectively. They even managed to find a way to play a friendly in March when almost every other team in South America saw their games cancelled, so they might be sharper than we are. That said, as a team whose home stadium is 9,000 feet above sea level, they’re not quite so good on the road; they lost their opening game to Argentina and eked out a narrow victory over Bolivia, who probably don’t enjoy quite as much home-field advantage against the other team that regularly plays at similarly high altitudes.

Nevertheless, Ecuador have shown themselves to be adept at everything from scoring on set pieces to pressing opponents into coughing up the ball, and even at low altitude we should not underestimate them. I honestly wonder if Tite’s selection of Alex Sandro over Renan Lodi is because he’s so worried about Ecuador exploiting the space in behind his fullbacks if they push too far up the pitch. It’s a valid concern—they absolutely wrecked both Uruguay and Colombia by getting into those spaces—but it does reek of the same “don’t lose” attitude we despise so much. (And plus, Alex Sandro hasn’t exactly been a defensive rock for Brazil in the past.) My prediction is that it mostly works, but at the expense of Brazil’s attacking game, and after late attacking changes we eke out a 2-1 win.

Brazil U24 vs. Cape Verde

Partizan Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia, June 5, 2021

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

US TV / Streaming: probably something illegal

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Cleiton (Red Bull Bragantino), Brenno (Grêmio), Gabriel Brazão (Real Oviedo)

Fullbacks: Guga (Atlético-MG), Gabriel Menino (Palmeiras), Guilherme Arana (Atlético-MG), Abner (Athletico Paranaense)

Center-backs: Gabriel Magalhães (Arsenal), Luiz Felipe (Lazio), Nino (Fluminense), Vitão (Shakhtar Donetsk)

Midfielders: Bruno Guimarães (Lyon), Liziero (São Paulo), Matheus Henrique (Grêmio), Gerson (Flamengo), Claudinho (Red Bull Bragantino), Reinier (Borussia Dortmund)

Forwards: Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal), Rodrygo (Real Madrid), Pedro (Flamengo), Evanílson (Porto), Antony (Ajax), Malcom (Zenit St. Petersburg)

Notes And Storylines

Note that while we’re playing Serbia’s Olympic side on Tuesday, Saturday’s game is apparently against the senior Cape Verde side. While Brazil’s under-24s should still be more than good enough to win, Cape Verde have proven to be no pushovers recently, taking four points from two games against Cameroon to help secure their place in next January’s Africa Cup of Nations.

But again, we should have more than enough to win this game handily. Check out all the big names we’ve got available! Bruno Guimarães, Gerson, and Claudinho could take the place of Douglas Luiz, Everton Ribeiro, or Fred in the senior squad and instantly make it better. Gabriel and Luiz Felipe could step in as our fourth center-back without losing any quality. And even without the injured Matheus Cunha, our crop of forwards brings immense promise, and potentially holds the answer to the “who will score our goals?” question. (I’m excited to see Pedro up top, but I really hope Gabriel Martinelli gets some time as a number 9.)