The New Guy’s first test.

Brazil vs. Bolivia

Estádio Mangueirão, Belém, Pará, September 8, 2023

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

US TV/Streaming: Telemundo/Univision (maybe??? who knows???)

Likely Starting Lineup: Ederson, Danilo, Marquinhos, Gabriel Magalhães, Renan Lodi; Casemiro, Bruno Guimarães, Neymar; Raphinha, Rodrygo, Richarlison.

Bench: Alisson, Lucas Perri, Vanderson, Roger Ibañez, Nino, Caio Henrique, André, Joelinton, Raphael Veiga, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus, Matheus Cunha.

Notes and Storylines:

Well, the waiting is over. It’s finally time to see what Fernando Diniz can do with the Seleção. Expectations are high, there’s a lot to be written, and, uh, I once again find myself without a lot of time to write.

So let’s focus on the big stuff. Bolivia at home is the easiest game of the World Cup qualifying cycle, which is probably a good thing. Diniz has many ideas and they’ll take a while to implement (he’s said he’ll be instilling them one at a time over the next few games), so starting out with a good result can buy him some momentum and goodwill.

And now WordPress is down. So that’s less time for me. Anyways. What will be the first idea Diniz implements, the first part of the relationist philosophy? Who knows. If I were in charge, I think I’d be focusing on tempo more than anything. After all, as the article I linked just above notes, Brazil are no strangers to the relationist style—and, indeed, Neymar’s goal that should have beaten Croatia is one of the examples it cites of a relationist goal. But as I noted last year, one of Brazil’s fatal shortcomings in that game was a complete inability to raise their tempo to play through Croatia’s midfield press and organized defense.

Interestingly, Diniz has started out with a lineup that seems to take quite a few pages out of Tite’s notebook. Nine of the starters, all but Renan Lodi and Gabriel Magalhães, were part of the World Cup squad, and of those nine only Bruno Guimarães and Rodrygo weren’t regular starters. It’s a lineup that immediately smacks of one of the big problems with Tite’s World Cup starting XIs: a lack of proper midfielders. Yes, Bruno is much better suited to holding down a two-man midfield than either Lucas Paquetá (not called up because of the investigation into his illegal sports betting) and Fred (hopefully never being called up again), but it’s still a two-man midfield with four forwards in front of it.

On the other hand, again, it’s Bolivia. We won our last two home qualifiers against them 5-0. We beat them in La Paz in March 2022 4-0, without Neymar. I think we win this one at least 4-0, even with the chaos of a new coach, and there’s a good chance that Neymar scores the goal that lifts him past Pelé as the Seleção’s all-time top scorer. (I mean, according to the FIFA lists. I don’t think Ney has much chance of reaching 96 goals for Brazil.)

So with all that said, I think I’ll be looking for tempo tomorrow night. Diniz is fielding a fairly Tite-esque lineup, so let’s hope the difference in coaching styles manifests itself in an un-Tite-esque aggression. Maybe we’ll see some breakout moments too! That 4-0 win last year featured Bruno’s first international goal and a thrilling cameo from Gabriel Martinelli that probably secured his spot in Qatar (even if it also reinforced why he has yet to become more than a bench option for Brazil). Vanderson, Caio Henrique, Raphael Veiga, Matheus Cunha—who knows might come in and surprise us? (Hell, Gabriel Jesus could use that sort of performance to banish the demons of a miserable last four years in a yellow shirt.)