Doha, Qatar.- richarlison He brightened Brazil’s debut this Thursday at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar by scoring the two goals of the victory against a tough and seasoned Serbia, one of them in a spectacular Chilean kick. The Tottenham striker, who is playing his first World Cup, cracked the Balkan defense in the second half (62, 73) and put the ‘Seleção’, one of the favorites for the title, at the head of Group G. Switzerland, which beat Cameroon 1-0 earlier.
without a neymar lucid, who left the field at 79′ after a blow, the 25-year-old ‘9’ shirt rescued a ‘Canarinha’ who suffered to deactivate the iron defensive system set up by Dragan Stojkovic, resistant until minute 62 partly due to the reflections of goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.
Both teams collided in the stunning lusail stadium, almost completely occupied (capacity for 88,966 people) and which will host the final of the tournament on December 18. Although the ‘yellow’ shirts were the majority, they did not infect the traditional South American passion. On the second day, Monday, Brazil will face Switzerland at stadium 974. Serbia and Cameroon, meanwhile, will clash to stay alive the same day, although earlier, at Al Janoub.
Without complexes or fears and playing “smart football”. In the first half, Serbia fully complied with the instructions issued by their coach the day before the debut in the first world Cup held in an Arab country. The ‘Águilas’ bothered the five-time champions and their offensive formation too much, in which Casemiro was the only containment midfielder, backed by a man with a creative profile like Lucas Paquetá.
It had little to do with the choice of tite for a team that came out to propose with the difficulty they found to develop their game: between the Serbian physical strength and Stojkovic’s approach they cut the Brazilian circuits.
The four pure attackers of the ‘scratch’ barely caused three chances to score in the first 45 minutes, in a corner taken by neymar (13) that Milinkovic-Savic prevented it from being an Olympic goal; in an assist from Thiago Silva (27) that left Vinicius Jr face to face with the goalkeeper, whose quick exit dispersed the risk; and in a shot missed by Raphinha (34). Frequently harassed by the Balkan fans when he touched the ball, Neymar contained himself before the rival free kicks (5) that interrupted his desire to do damage.
the bet of Serbian fielding only one man up front, Aleksandar Mitrovic, leaving his attack partner Dusan Vlahovic on the bench, allowed him to dominate the midfield and mortify Brazil. Although the task was incomplete, as Alisson was a mere spectator due to the defensive sacrifice of Mitrovic and captain Dusan Tadic.
The rear guard, however, had cracks at the beginning of the second half, especially due to the lack of concentration of Nemanja Gudelj and the struggle of Raphinha and Vinicius Jr on the wings. The Barcelona winger tormented the Sevilla midfielder, even forcing him to lose the ball on the edge of the area (46) and causing a new intervention by Milinkovic-Savic. Stojkovic reacted early and replaced Gudelj with Ivan Ilic. When his hands did not silence Brazil’s coup attempts, the Torino (ITA) goalkeeper had the help of the sticks, as in two long shots by Alex Sandro (60) and Casemiro (81).
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Luck, however, is not usually eternal. The only rebound that he gave in the game, from a shot by Vinicius Jr after a play by Neymar, was taken advantage of by Richarlison’s right leg to relieve a Brazil that upon returning from the locker room he was more incisive.
Then he would have more activity, and a stretch only useful to embellish Richarlison’s scissors, who received a pass from Vinicius jrhe turned and hit a right hand to score a bit of relief and that he would surely fight for the podium of the most beautiful in the Qatar World Cup 2022.
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