Brazil World Cup Blog

News, analysis, history, and discussion on all things Verde-Amarela

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Thoughts on Neymar’s Move to Saudi Arabia and Fernando Diniz’s First Callup

This week, Neymar left Paris Saint-Germain for the Saudi club Al Hilal on a two-year deal. Reportedly, this contract will see him receive 160 million euros a year. Roll the clip:

I don’t think I need to spend much time explaining to you all how this is Very Bad for pretty much everybody except Neymar and his bank account. The sums of money involved—and the fact that his nine-figure salary makes Neymar only the third-best paid footballer in the world, because the Saudis have splashed so much cash that Kylian Mbappé is now the only European-based player among the top 10 best paid—portend a grim power shift for the global game, as Saudi Arabia looks to leverage its vast oil wealth to launder its human rights abuses and establish itself as a hub for tourism and business. It’s also obviously bad for Brazil’s national team: not only is the guy who’s still pretty undeniably our most gifted player going to be playing in a much less challenging environment, but his mere presence there is likely to help convince other Brazilian stars to leave Europe while still in their prime. (Fabinho and Roberto Firmino preceded Neymar in their moves to the kingdom, but both seem pretty well washed at the highest level anyway. But someone like Alisson?)

It’s also worth noting that by intervening in the civil war in Yemen and establishing land, sea, and air blockades into the country, Saudi Arabia has directly caused a famine that has killed hundreds of thousands of people. But who among us, right?

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Match Preview: Brazil vs. Jamaica

This is gonna be another short one. It’s real simple: after losing to France in the second group game, Brazil essentially must beat Jamaica to make it to the World Cup round of 16. (There is a scenario where Brazil makes it through with a draw, but this depends on Panama pulling off the greatest upset in World Cup history and beating France.) The good news for Brazil is that this should be very doable. We’ve won both of our previous encounters with Jamaica, including a 3-0 win in the group stage of the last World Cup, and while the transitive property doesn’t really apply in football, we won our group game against Panama far more comfortably than they did. That said, Jamaica only need a draw, and they opened their World Cup with exactly that against France.

If we make it through to the round of 16, perhaps the loss to France won’t have quite so dour repercussions as I thought it would. Colombia are in the driver’s seat to win Group E after their stunning win over Germany, and while they’d be a tough opponent in the round of 16, we have a far better historical record against them than the Germans. And hell, even if we end up facing Germany after all, they just keep piling up surprising losses and we beat them in April—they don’t look nearly as scary as they did just a few days ago.

We’re at the point now where every game could be Marta’s last in a World Cup. The queen herself says this game won’t be it. I just really want to see her score in a sixth straight World Cup.

Brazil vs. Jamaica

Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne, Australia, August 2, 2023

Kickoff: 6:00 AM EDT / 7:00 AM BRT / 10:00 AM GMT

Possible Starting XI: Lelê; Tamires, Rafaelle, Lauren, Antonia; Adriana, Luana, Kerolin, Ary Borges; Debinha, Bia Zaneratto.

Match Preview: Brazil vs. France

This is the moment of truth for this team.

Brazil started off the Women’s World Cup on the right foot, with a 4-0 stomping of Panama for the team’s biggest World Cup win since 2007, and Ary Borges marking her World Cup debut with the first Brazilian hat-trick in the competition since… okay, only since Cristiane in Brazil’s opening game four years ago. But the real cherry on top was her assist for Bia Zaneratto’s goal, which is sure to instantly go down as an all-time great Brazilian goal:

Say what you will about the heartbreaking way Brazil’s men’s World Cup campaign ended last year, and the way the women’s campaign could still very much end this year, we’ve been absolutely spoiled for stellar Brazilian World Cup goals in the past year. But now things get a lot harder.

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Brazil vs. Panama Match Thread

Welp, I’m sorry once again. I did not leave myself the time to write a proper preview ahead of Brazil’s Women’s World Cup debut. But here’s a thread for those who’ll be watching tomorrow morning.

Brazil vs. Panama

Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide, Australia, July 24, 2023

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

Possible Starting XI: Letícia; Antônia, Kathellen, Rafaelle, Tamires; Luana, Ary Borges, Kerolin, Adriana; Debinha, Geyse.

Match Threads: Brazil vs. Guinea and Senegal

Once again, I’ve let my life get too busy and not left enough time to write up something proper for this week’s friendlies. In my defense, I’m not sure how many of us will be able to watch them legally, as I haven’t found any evidence that they’re actually going to be broadcast in the US.

Brazil vs. Guinea

Estadi Cornellà-El Prat, Barcelona, Spain, June 17, 2023

Kickoff: 3:30 PM EDT / 4:30 PM BRT / 7:30 PM GMT

Possible Starting XI: Alisson (Ederson), Danilo, Éder Militão, Marquinhos, Ayrton Lucas; Casemiro, Joelinton, Lucas Paquetá; Rodrygo, Vini Jr, Richarlison.

Brazil vs. Senegal

Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal, June 20, 2023

Kickoff: 3:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM BRT / 7:00 PM GMT

Notes and Storylines

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Brazil’s U-20 World Cup Campaign Starts This Sunday

Well, crap. I’ve been busy with other things and left myself without enough time to compose a proper preview for Brazil’s U-20 World Cup campaign. And it’s a pretty big deal! Repeated screwups in the South American U-20 Championship, and a healthy dose of COVID cancellations, meant Brazil had only qualified for one U-20 World Cup in the past decade. For once, though, the youngsters won the South American tournament outright earlier this year to easily qualify for the big show.

Unfortunately, some big names will not be participating, as their clubs would not let them. In particular, Athletico-PR’s Vitor Roque, joint-top scorer in the Sul-Americano, and Pedrinho of Corinthians, who added two goals of his own, weren’t released by their clubs. This is to say nothing of Endrick, who Palmeiras kept from playing in the Sul-Americano in the first place, let alone the World Cup. Still, several of Brazil’s most exciting young stars did manage to get their club’s blessing, including the other joint-top scorer from the Sul-Americano, Andrey Santos. Here’s the squad:

Goalkeepers: Mycael (Athletico-PR), Kaíque (Palmeiras), Kauã Santos (Flamengo)

Defenders: Arthur (América-MG), Jean Pedroso (Coritiba), Robert Renan (Zenit St. Petersburg), Kaiki Bruno (Cruzeiro), André Dhominique (Bahia), Douglas Mendes (Red Bull Salzburg)

Midfielders: Andrey Santos (Vasco), Marlon Gomes (Vasco), Matheus Martins (Watford), Guilherme Biro (Corinthians), Ronald (Grêmio)

Forwards: Giovani (Palmeiras), Marcos Leonardo (Santos), Marquinhos (Norwich City), Giovane (Corinthians), Kevin (Palmeiras), Matheus Nascimento (Botafogo), Sávio (PSV)

It’s a pretty top-heavy squad, which concerns me a bit (only three center-backs and three fullbacks!), but even without several of our best young prospects, it’s a pretty talented one. Coach Ramon Menezes, though he didn’t do a great job as the caretaker manager for the senior Brazil team back in March, has done really well with the youngsters, and I expect that’ll continue here. (And he’s been here before—he was part of the squad that lost the 1991 U-20 World Cup final on penalties to Portugal.)

For all Brazil’s struggles in actually qualifying for this tournament, we’ve done very well whenever we actually appear in it. We’ve reached the final in our last three appearances: losing on penalties in 2009, to a 118th-minute winner in 2015, and winning it all in 2011. (I expect Argentina to bring some of this same energy: they didn’t even qualify for the tournament at first, but got a spot by becoming the new hosts of the tournament after FIFA stripped Indonesia of the rights. Watch ’em make it all the way to the final.)

Anyways, here’s our schedule for the group stage. This is a tough group, no doubt, but as this is a 24-team tournament, the four best third-place teams in the group stage go through to the knockout rounds.

As for TV broadcasts and streaming in the US at least: the whole tournament is being carried by FOX Sports and FuboTV. It sounds like every game will be available to stream on Fubo and most will be broadcast on FS2, with the remainder on the premium Fox Soccer Plus channel. Brazil’s first two games will be on FS2, with the game against Nigeria on FSP.

Brazil vs. Italy

Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza, May 21, 2023

Kickoff: 5:00 PM EDT / 6:00 PM BRT / 9:00 PM GMT


Brazil vs. Dominican Republic

Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza, May 24, 2023

Kickoff: 5:00 PM EDT / 6:00 PM BRT / 9:00 PM GMT


Brazil vs. Nigeria

Estadio Único Diego Armando Maradona, La Plata, May 27, 2023

Kickoff: 2:00 PM EDT / 3:00 PM BRT / 6:00 PM GMT

Brazil vs. Morocco Match Thread: The Start (???) of a New Era

Well then. After the Tite era ended in such, uh, infuriating fashion in the quarterfinals of the World Cup, Brazil is about to take to the field with its first new manager in charge since 2016. Tite was, for all his many faults, clearly the outstanding Brazilian coach of his time—which is maybe less a credit to him than an indictment of his competition—and lacking any obvious successor, the CBF has a choice between two unorthodox options: either they hand the Seleção over to a fresh but unproven Brazilian manager and hope that his new ideas and skillset can overcome his lack of experience in the global game à la Lionel Scaloni for Argentina; or they bite the bullet, acknowledge that there is no Brazilian manager who has proven himself at the highest levels of the game, and hire a foreign coach for the first time in Brazil’s history.

Right now, they seem to be splitting the difference. Leading the team in Saturday’s game against Morocco is Ramon Menezes, a man who, before he led the under-20 side to victory in the South American Youth Championship last month, had achieved little distinction as a coach. But it seems very likely that he will be nothing more than a stopgap option, as rumors have Carlo Ancelotti leaving Real Madrid to take the job in the summer. Except that may not be finalized yet and the CBF may still be keeping tabs on the likes of Jorge Jesus, José Mourinho (ugh), and even some Brazilian coaches like Fernando Diniz.

For now, though, Ramon has the reins. What did he do with them? Well, he kind of made the case for avoiding another Brazilian coach:

The Squad

Goalkeepers: Ederson (Manchester City), Mycael (Athletico-PR), Weverton (Palmeiras).

Full-backs: Arthur (América-MG), Emerson Royal (Tottenham), Alex Telles (Sevilla), Renan Lodi (Nottingham Forest).

Center-backs: Ibañez (Roma), Éder Militão (Real Madrid), Bremer (Juventus), Robert Renan (Zenit).

Midfielders: André (Fluminense), Andrey Santos (Vasco), Casemiro (Manchester United), João Gomes (Wolverhampton), Lucas Paquetá (West Ham), Raphael Veiga (Palmeiras).

Forwards: Antony (Manchester United), Yuri Alberto (Corinthians), Rodrygo (Real Madrid), Rony (Palmeiras), Vini Júnior (Real Madrid), Vitor Roque (Athletico-PR).

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The Brazil World Cup Blog Pays Tribute To Pelé

The GOAT debate in football is tedious, overplayed, exhausting, and as evidenced by how many people seriously consider Cristiano Ronaldo to be the greatest player of all time, often very, very stupid. Any entity that measures success in likes or views or retweets or comments has a vested interest in stirring the debate anew, and people and pundits will inevitably gravitate towards favoring the players they actually saw play, especially if advancements in filming and broadcasting meant they were able to watch them play more easily, more clearly, and colorfully.

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Remembering Pelé

Pelé, the greatest footballer of all time, died in São Paulo today at the age of 82 after a lengthy battle with colon cancer.

I plan to update this post with some lengthier observations, and please leave your own tributes in the comments; I’ll include as many of them as I can. In the meantime, I can suggest a few assorted pieces of reading and viewing.

The Ringer’s Brian Philips dedicated the last episode of his 22 Goals podcast to Pelé and his famous goal in the 1958 World Cup final, the one this blog chose as the greatest Seleção goal of all time. Pelé also features in the penultimate episode, about Carlos Alberto’s goal in the 1970 final.

Netflix’s documentary Pelé combined some wonderful historical footage with an honest look at the man as he was in the throes of old age.

And here’s Pelé with his Argentine counterpart Diego Maradona—himself also deceased not terribly long ago—putting aside (well, somewhat) the question of who’s the greatest to have a little fun together.

FUCK

SB Nation’s Jon Bois has a great video on 1980s baseball star Lonnie Smith, who won the World Series three times and then overcame a cocaine addiction to put together one of the greatest seasons in MLB history, but is instead remembered for failing to score the winning run in game 7 of the 1991 World Series because he lost track of the ball while rounding second base. Jon tries to talk through the play before he rewatches it to see if that’ll dull the pain, still so strong even after more than two decades. It, uh, doesn’t work:


“Go! GO! GO! FUCK! Go, go, go, go, go! Shit! Ah, holy shit. Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Ah, fuck.”

JON BOIS

Two decades from now, I think we’ll still be reacting to Croatia’s equalizer in pretty much the same way as Jon reacted to Lonnie Smith’s blunder.

Fuck.

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