Time to have a little fun?

Brazil vs. Venezuela

Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos, Rio de Janeiro, June 17, 2021

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

US TV / Streaming: FS1, TUDN, Univision

Likely Starting Lineup: Ederson, Danilo, Éder Militão, Thiago Silva, Alex Sandro; Fabinho, Fred (Everton Ribeiro), Neymar; Gabriel Jesus, Gabigol, Everton Cebolinha.

Notes And Storylines

I noted in my last match preview that Tite’s Brazil has shown itself unwilling to “turn itself on” in attack beyond the bare minimum of effort to secure three points. Well, from that perspective, I thought we saw a much better, more comprehensive attacking display against (an admittedly depleted) Venezuela in our Copa América opener, doing far more than just stepping it up for 10 minutes at a time at the end of each time. But when it came time to turn that play into goals, we stumbled. Our 3-0 win could easily have been twice that or more; per SofaScore, we had eight big scoring chances and missed five. We’re still lacking a clear, reliable goalscorer—Neymar seems to be rediscovering some of his old pizazz in this more centralized role, but his finishing hasn’t yet caught up; Richarlison moves well and finishes well but his touch lets him down; Gabriel Jesus seems totally uninterested in shooting these days.

But I think the bigger news is that Tite is finally experimenting, seemingly intending to throw out esoteric XIs in every game of this group stage. More than half the starters have changed from the last game, and it’s great to see Fabinho and Cebolinha finally getting chances to start after being weirdly sidelined for so long. May this continue and may we learn some fruitful stuff from them. But may we also remain frustrated that Tite didn’t see fit to use all 28 spots available in his squad if he was planning to swing so hard for the fences.

As for our opposition, we’re once again facing Peru, which has out of nowhere become one of our most reliably entertaining competitive fixtures—our last three competitive games against them have averaged five goals each. With this experimental lineup, I’ll go out on a limb and expect that to continue. Brazil 3-2 Peru.

Oh, and the squad for the Olympics is going to be announced tomorrow too! Unfortunately, it seems like clubs are particularly unwilling to release their players for the tournament. Notable absences confirmed so far include Neymar, Marquinhos, Weverton, Rodrygo, and Vinícius Júnior. Pedro, Gerson, and Guilherme Arana are among those whose status is uncertain as their clubs try to keep them from going. On the flipside, Matheus Cunha, Bruno Guimarães, Guga, and Reinier should be there, and Athletico-PR goalie Santos is apparently going to be called up in Weverton’s absence. Beyond that? We’ll have to see.