The Brazilians endured until the play-off – Newspaper Kommersant No. 221 (7422) of 11/29/2022
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The second after the French team, the participant of the World Cup in Qatar, who earned a ticket to the playoffs, was the Brazilian team. It was brought to the Brazilians by a heavy 1-0 victory in the second round of the tournament in Group G over the Swiss, thanks to a goal in the end by Casemir.
There was a very strange match in the history of the Brazilian national team. It took place at the group stage of the 1994 World Championship, in which she won her fourth championship title. The Brazilians played with the Cameroonians and delivered their first normal shot on goal only in the 32nd minute. Then, however, they achieved a devastating 3-0 victory, but in any case, everyone was surprised at how long they swayed. Usually, after all, this team, no matter who opposes it, immediately gets down to business. And then – half an hour of silence.
So, since then, for almost three decades, the Brazilian team has not even hinted that the incident could happen again. But on Monday, it was very close to its repetition, only five minutes were not enough.
More than half of the first half was left behind, when the Brazilians finally had a chance. Rafinha on the right gave a cross to the far post, and Vinicius was already laying the body there. He didn’t manage to hit the ball perfectly, but still the blow was not bad. Happen goal prevented all felt and calculated everything seasoned Swiss goalkeeper Jan Sommer.
And everything that happened on the field before and after this chance for Vinicius spoke in favor of the version that, no matter how egocentric Neymar was, the Brazilian team is worse without him than with him.
The injured striker, when she fought with the Swiss, was treated, and the reshaped Brazilian attack, seemingly doing everything that she did in the starting round in the match with the Serbs, and at about the same technical level, could not open the Swiss defense. All these touchdown passes, tricky runs were absolutely pointless. And the hero of the match with the Serbs, Richarlison, turned sour before our eyes.
However, another version looked no less relevant, explaining why the Brazilians are so inefficient. It’s not about Neymar, it’s about the opponents.
In the compactness, even rather solidity of the Swiss team, which, of course, does not have even half of the amount of talent that is inherent in the Brazilian national team, but which compensates – and for quite a long time – its deficiency with its other qualities. Although the Brazilian mentor Tite, of course, was sure that problems were born within his own team, and therefore, during the break, he replaced Lucas Paquetu, who actually replaced Neymar, with Rodrigue, who was much more similar in functionality to a real striker, and a little later removed one more midfielder Fred, throwing Brun Guimaraes, accustomed to the front line, into battle.
The game has actually become more fun. True, not least thanks to the emboldened Swiss, who climbed into someone else’s penalty area. The Brazilian national team endured for a long time before suffering the opportunity to prick them. The injection was beautiful: an interception in the center of the field, an instant counterattack by the whole team, a thin pass calculated up to a centimeter to Casemir under Vinicius’s jerk, a neat finish of the striker. The Brazilians managed to properly celebrate the goal born in such torment before they realized that it was canceled due to offside.
This match went straight to a goalless draw, because the Swiss seemed to have already adapted to the Brazilian attacks so much that they can cover them blindfolded. And then something happened that, given all this unpleasant context for the Brazilian team, was like magic. Well, or to prove that logic does not work with it.
The Brazilians again monotonously played the ball. And suddenly, in transit through Rodrigue, he found himself in the penalty area at Kazemiru, who had got to it, who had plowed the whole match in depth. And none of the disciplined Swiss guessed to cover him. And Casemir succeeded in such a blow, which only Brazilians are capable of – completely wrong from the point of view of any coach of a children’s football school, not with the instep, but with the outside of the foot. But he lay right in the corner.
The victory turned the Brazilian national team into the second team after the French team, which guaranteed a ticket to the playoffs before the final round. For the second from her quartet, three teams will fight – the Swiss, which has three points left, and the Cameroonian with the Serbian, having only one point each. The Swiss to play with the Serbs. And a draw will suit them only if the Brazilians do not play the fool in a meeting with the Cameroonians. Because a victory over the Brazilians in this case will certainly bring the Cameroon national team to the play-offs with almost the same as the Swiss national team – “minus 1” against “zero” – a goal difference, but with three goals scored against one from a competitor. Winning in order to break through to the 1/8 finals, of course, is also necessary for the Serbs, whose situation is even a little worse than that of the Cameroonians, because of the minus 2 difference.
Second round
Brazil-Switzerland 1:0
Casemir, 83
November 28. Doha, Stadium 974. 43,649 spectators.
Match statistics
Brazil Switzerland
Shots on goal 13 6
shots on target 5 0
Corners 7 3
Offsides 3 1
fouls 10 17
Warnings 1 1
Possession percentage 53 47
Group G table
V N P M O
1. Brazil 2 0 0 3:0 6
2. Switzerland 1 0 1 1:1 3
3. Cameroon 0 1 1 3:4 1
4. Serbia 0 1 1 3:5 1
December 2 in the final, third round of the group stage meet: Cameroon-Brazil, Serbia-Switzerland.
The Brazilian team reached the 1/8 finals.
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