Brazil’s 2-0 victory over a resolute Serbia in the Selecao’s opening match of Group G at the 2022 World Cup was fueled by two goals from Richarlison. Sports betting casinos is what you will be able to find on our page!
It took Brazil manager Tite’s team some time to get going, and Neymar was quiet on this particular night, so Vinicius Jr. and Richarlison had to drive the team to victory.
Brazil struggled to get going early on against a disciplined Serbia team, as shown by the tournament’s lowest first-half xG total. And if the opposition deserves credit, Brazil’s creative outlets were muzzled in the first half.
Rafinha emerged briefly before disappearing, Neymar struggled to find room and rowed alongside Nikola Milenkovic and Nemanja Gudelj. Lucas Paqueta was unable to gauge his passing, and the back three effectively controlled Richarlison. Check out 18bet for the best slots and game!
However, there are also individual battles in football. Neymar took a beating from Serbia and eventually left the game weeping with what appeared to be an injury, but Vinicius, possibly the most reliable offensive threat, fired the wide shot that Vanja Milinkovic-Savic spilled into Richarlison’s path to score the game’s first goal.
The second purpose, of course, was pure Richarlison ingenuity and improvisation. That kind of situation cannot be anticipated, and Brazil coach Tite is aware of this.
Against Serbia, it was sufficient despite the fact that they also twice hit the woodwork and had more chances to score. But given what we saw in the first half, Brazil will need to step up their game.
It’s good to have a pool of personal talent at your disposal, but it’s much nicer to force your will on the opposition as a group.
For the first half, Dragan Stojkovic’s game strategy for Serbia was effective. He prevented Serbia from defending too deep, he forced Serbia to play physically and tight, and he kept Brazil’s attacking threat to isolated forays that were typically quickly put down.
His three most experienced players, Dusan Tadic, Aleksandar Mitrovic, and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, had a glaring lack of pace. As a result, launching a counterattack would always be challenging; at best, Serbia might try to gain control of the ball during a transition, keep it, and advance as a unit.
However, on a night when none of the three were performing at their best, Brazil found it too simple to defend that; in hindsight, you could ask if a fit, mobile Dusan Vlahovic would have been a wiser choice.
The big man played only once in the previous month, last week, for 45 minutes in a friendly match against Bahrain. Perhaps Stojjkovic is taking it easy on him because he knows he can make more of a difference against teams like Switzerland and Cameroon.
Brazil’s national squad may very well be the most well-liked in this region of the world. The subway ride up from central Doha was bursting with canary yellow, and the Lusail’s undulating bowl was a sea of canary yellow.
Many of the attendees were Brazilians who had traveled, but many others were locals who had come to support the Selecao due to Neymar’s popularity, the team’s five World Cup victories, or the fact that they are once again the favorites.
Of course, Brazil’s status as the favorite among neutrals is nothing new. Brazil is the nation most strongly associated with the World Cup. Brazil as a team does seem to be more well-liked than any other, perhaps as a result of some of the tension between the European associations and the Qatari organizers.
Brazil appears to have a home-field advantage for the duration of this World Cup, whatever the circumstances. Given how quickly the Al Bayt stadium empty when they were down two goals in the first game, probably more so than the hosts Qatar.
