Month: May 2022

Brazil vs. South Korea

Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul, June 2, 2022

Kickoff: 7:00 AM EDT / 8:00 AM BRT / 11:00 AM GMT

US Streaming: BeIN Sports Connect

Starting Lineup: Ederson, Daniel Alves, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva, Alex Sandro; Fred, Bruno Guimarães, Lucas Paquetá; Raphinha, Neymar, Richarlison.

On The Bench: Alisson, Weverton, Éder Militão, Léo Ortiz, Gabriel Magalhães, Guilherme Arana, Alex Telles, Fabinho, Casemiro, Danilo (of Palmeiras), Gabriel Martinelli, Rodrygo, Coutinho, Gabriel Jesus, Vini Jr, Matheus Cunha.

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Brazil vs. Japan

Japan National Stadium, Tokyo, June 6, 2022

Kickoff: 6:20 AM EDT / 7:20 AM BRT / 10:20 AM GMT

US Streaming: BeIN Sports Connect

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Notes and Storylines

Soooo our plans to make something meaningful of this FIFA date kind of blew up. We were going to play a third game against Argentina, in Australia, on the 11th, but the Argentine federation decided at the last minute that they didn’t want to play—leaving it too late for us to find another opponent, leaving Tite and his staff very upset, and leaving the 50,000 Aussies who’d apparently already bought tickets feeling screwed. And with the fate of that postponed World Cup qualifier between Brazil and Argentina still up in the air—FIFA wants it to be played on September 22nd, but both federations just want to cancel it at this point—we may have to keep dealing with scheduling headaches until the eve of the World Cup.

Anyway. That leaves us with two games this week against teams that, while decent, probably aren’t the sort of opponent we need to be testing our mettle against to make sure we don’t fall once again to the first European opponent we face in the World Cup knockout rounds. So what are these games good for? Well, trying some new things, I guess. And with a pile of first-teamers being rested for Thursday’s game thanks to having just played in the Champions League final, that has resulted in Tite making a few intriguing selections—namely, with Casemiro and Fabinho both getting a rest, Fred and Bruno Guimarães will anchor the midfield together, while Richarlison joins the Neymar-Paquetá-Raphinha front four that kickstarted our recent run of good performances with that 4-1 win over Uruguay.

On the other hand, ugh, I hate having to complain about this once again, but it feels like Tite’s playing it too safe. Sticking to Dani Alves and Alex Sandro as the fullbacks (especially since Tite passed up the opportunity to call up a right-back to replace the injured Danilo)? Sticking to the Thiago Silva-Marquinhos pairing even against the sort of opposition where you could give Gabriel Magalhães a start? This would be a great time to take more risks. That said, maybe I’m being too harsh. It has been a while since Alex Sandro has gotten a chance to start, and he’s clearly still Tite’s first-choice LB even if we all think he sucks. Maybe it’s better to ease Magalhães into things, since he’s only the fourth-choice center-back.

I dunno. I figure these will be fairly easy games, so at the very least I hope we see Magalhães finally get the Brazil cap he somehow still does not have. And that Palmeiras’ promising youngster Danilo gets a little time too. And that we finally get some sort of clarity about who can reliably score goals for this team. Is it Richarlison? Matheus Cunha? Gabriel Martinelli? Gabriel Jesus? Okay, it’s probably not the last one. Last two, really. Quite possibly last three. Sorry, Matheus. Ya gotta stop missing so many sitters for Atlético.

Anyways, prediction time! I think we win these games pretty handily. I’m seeing a 3-0 win over South Korea and a 5-2 win over Japan. Actually, you know what, the Japan thing poses an interesting question. Neymar looooves playing against Japan. With eight goals in four appearances, including the Puskás Award nominee at the top of this post, they’re his favorite prey in a Brazil jersey. But you have to figure Tite will want to also fit Vini Jr. into the starting lineup after his Champions League heroics. How will that work? I’m hoping Ney through the middle, or as a false nine, with VJ on the left, but I think what we actually get will be somehow clunkier—like VJ on the right.

Tite just called up 27 players for our June friendlies against South Korea (June 2), Japan (June 6), and a TBD African opponent (June 11) since the planned friendly against Australia was cancelled at the last minute. Here’s the squad, copy/pasted from Globo:

Goleiros: Alisson (Liverpool), Ederson (Manchester City) e Weverton (Palmeiras);

Zagueiros: Eder Militão (Real Madrid), Gabriel Magalhães (Arsenal), Marquinhos (PSG) e Thiago Silva (Chelsea)

Laterais: Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Danilo (Juventus), Alex Sandro (Juventus), Alex Telles (Manchester United), Guilherme Arana (Atlético-MG);

Meio-Campistas: Bruno Guimarães (Newcastle), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Danilo (Palmeiras) Fabinho (Liverpool), Fred (Manchester United), Lucas Paquetá (Lyon), Philippe Coutinho (Aston Villa);

Atacantes: Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City), Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal), Matheus Cunha (Atlético de Madri), Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain), Raphinha (Leeds United), Richarlison (Everton), Rodrygo (Real Madrid) e Vini Júnior (Real Madrid).

Very quick takeaways:

• At this point, we have a very clear idea of where the competition remains for positions and who on the outside still has a chance. For instance, Gabigol and Everton Ribeiro have now been left out of three of the last four squads, suggesting that they’ve fallen hard out of favor (compare to Gabriel Jesus, who got left out last time but returns here). Gerson and Edenilson are among the others in the same boat; on the flipside, Bruno Guimarães’ good performances seem to have cemented him firmly in Tite’s good graces, and Matheus Cunha’s upside still seems to outweigh his middling performances for Atlético Madrid since his return from injury.
• The big remaining competition is left-back, where Tite has called up seemingly his three preferred options for the two spots. I’m disappointed to see Renan Lodi remains left out. He’s been playing more as a wingback for Atlético, but he’s better going forward than any of the three guys Tite called and is at least as good defensively as the (admittedly pretty lax) Alex Telles. If FIFA does end up allowing 26-man squads at the World Cup, Lodi would be a tempting option for one of those three extra spots, as he brings the ability to play on the left side in a very different way from our other LBs.
• The surprise inclusion is Danilo of Palmeiras, a very highly rated 21-year-old midfielder. I’m still not too familiar with him, but he seems to combine defensive adeptness with a good passing range and a knack for snatching the occasional important goal. I’d certainly rather have him than Ribeiro or Edenilson, and I’m curious to see him get some game time, but I can’t help but wonder if this is a bit of an olive branch to all the Casagrandes of the world who insist that Tite should be calling up more players based in Brazil. (Then again, the guy they really want to be called up is Danilo’s teammate Raphael Veiga, so who knows?)