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.

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

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.