What do they say about good deeds and punishments?

Brazil vs. Uruguay

Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador, Bahia, November 19, 2024

Kickoff: 7:45 PM EDT / 9:45 PM BRT / 12:45 AM GMT

US TV: Telemundo

Likely Starting XI: Ederson; Danilo, Marquinhos, Gabriel Magalhães, Abner; Bruno Guimarães, Gerson, Raphinha; Vini Jr., Igor Jesus, Savinho.

On The Bench: Bento, Weverton; Alex Telles, Dodô, Léo Ortiz, Murillo; André, Andreas Pereira, Lucas Paquetá; Luiz Henrique, Estêvão, Gabriel Martinelli.

With the caveat that the team’s performance was still thoroughly flawed in a number of ways, there was actually a lot to like about Brazil’s performance against Venezuela on Thursday! For the first time maybe ever, it felt like Vini Jr. was finally thriving for the Seleção. Even while enjoying the majority of possession, Brazil were able to get the ball forward quickly and find Vini in behind the defense time and time again, where it felt like we were missing only any semblance of luck to go ahead: Vini hit the post and Raphinha and Savinho couldn’t put shots he’d set up for them on target, before Raphinha scored a lovely free kick to put us in a deserved lead going into the break. Unfortunately, Venezuela scored less than a minute into the second half, once again raising questions about why we concede so many goals from outside the box (this game, both games against Paraguay this year, Bolivia last September, Croatia and South Korea at the World Cup, I’m sure some others I’m forgetting) and negating all our good work in the first half. (The defending had been pretty shaky and it was hardly Venezuela’s first good chance, but still, we could’ve been free and clear by this point.)

Then Vini, once again terrorizing the opposing backline, won a penalty by himself, stepped to take it, missed, and shanked the rebound. He had one more good moment, getting in behind and trying unsuccessfully to square to Raphinha when he maybe should have shot, but otherwise, neither team really threatened the other much over the last half-hour. (Interestingly, Dorival Júnior actually added a midfielder for once when he yanked Igor Jesus for Lucas Paquetá, but that didn’t really work, maybe because we no longer had a striker, and neither did yanking Bruno Guimarães and Abner in the final minutes to throw on more forwards.)

I really hope we see more of this Vini Jr. This should be a template for how he should be playing for Brazil: terrorizing defenses with his speed and athleticism, and trusting that he and his teammates will never have a day this cursed in front of goal again. But can we trust Dorival to not throw the baby out with the bathwater? He’s been so capricious while trying to figure out something that both plays well and actually wins games that I don’t think so. (And this isn’t even to touch on the defense still being extremely shaky.) On the plus side, his lineup suggests he may be trying to not fix what ain’t broke by retaining Thursday’s starting XI other than the suspended Vanderson, replaced by Danilo. On the minus side, it’s Danilo. He’s started only about a third of Juventus’ games this year, more of them as a center-back than a right-back. And Uruguay are a far more imposing opponent than Venezuela, even with the rumors that the players are turning on Marcelo Bielsa. Regardless of their veracity, the team ended their monthslong goalless drought on Friday with a last-gasp 3-2 win over Colombia, and again, now the same group of forwards who murdered Marquinhos and Gabriel last year will have the chance to do so again, but now with Danilo at right-back. I’m predicting they’ll run it back: a 2-0 win for Uruguay.

Now, you might think getting thoroughly outplayed by Uruguay might spell the end of Dorival’s tenure, but remember that we live in a world where we can’t have nice things, where the myopic and profoundly corrupt Brazilian soccer federation often seems blissfully unaware that anything is even wrong, and where even if they do, they’ll find someone just as out of touch with the realities of the modern game. (Or they’ll appoint Filipe Luís way too soon. Or maybe this is the right time? It could be that the longer he spends in the crab bucket that is Brazilian football, the more his forward-thinking ideas will be replaced by simple survival instinct.)

Then again, Santos just fired Fábio Carille, who literally just led them to the Série B title and promotion back to the top tier, for which he’d earned an automatic contract renovation with a pricey severance clause, apparently on the basis of the whole fanbase just despising his defensive style of play. Maybe that’s an omen? Of some kind?

Anyways, let’s talk about something a little happier. Marta scored this amazing goal yesterday, which put Orlando Pride in the NWSL final:

The final is this Saturday, so might as well have this serve as a match thread for it as well.

Orlando Pride vs. Washington Spirit

CPKC Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri, USA, November 23, 2024

Kickoff: 8:00 PM EDT / 10:00 PM BRT / 1:00 AM GMT

US TV/Streaming: CBS/Paramount+

Notable Brazilians: Marta, Rafaelle, Adriana, Luana, Adriana (all on Orlando).