Richarlison's magical moment gets the Samba party started
The coming out party for Brazil is a four-yearly occasion. The watching world sucks in a deep breath and allows itself to wonder if the old magic might present itself again. Or, are we just kidding ourselves once more? It is a glimmer of the unknown, a chance to dream.
And opening night here at the Lusail Stadium was no rude awakening. Brazil’s 2022 debut was on the very turf where Argentina were humbled two days earlier, but this was the opposite script with a catwalk model of a goal to sit back and admire.
In the dying minutes, when Casemiro curled a side-footed shot against the crossbar, so nearly converting two goals into three, it did indeed all feel rather beautiful. Brazil favourites for this World Cup? No longer are they a wager for quadrennial romantics.
It wasn’t all good, though. Neymar limped off with an injury to his right ankle, a joint that will become the soap opera of the Brazilian media for every minute until he is seen back on the pitch again.
And Brazil’s was by no means a straightforward towering performance, it wasn’t a thumping the likes of which Spain gave to Costa Rica, or England inflicted on Iran.
Not against Serbia, whose centre backs were the best players on the pitch in the first half, who were really robust, well organised and not remotely fazed by the task.
Tite was full of compliments for Serbia afterwards. He described them as “a great team”. Indeed, when they came off at half-time with the scoreline still untouched, Serbia seemed inspired by it and you wondered if Brazil had something sharper and smarter in them than just bags of lovely possession.
When they might have doubted themselves, Brazil actually got better. And with Richarlison’s second goal, they did look exactly how you might dream they would.
They looked like Brazil. The opportunity, here, shone on Neymar, two World Cups gone and a chance, finally, to burnish his reputation, but it went far beyond that. It went to Tite, the coaching sage, who had decided, it seemed, that the way to win this one was to attack.
Thus his four-man forward line, a quartet that would become a quintet with Lucas Paquetá moving up to join the fun. Neymar was crucial to the first goal.
The real Neymar headline, though, was his work-rate. This is no show-pony outing for him, he is one of the troops and he looks good this way. And Vinícius Júnior — the next month could be delicious for him.
If nothing else, Brazil came here intending to adopt a state of mind. No anxiety and no talk of pressure. No, they arrived with joy in their souls and dancing in their feet.
When their team bus arrived here at the Lusail Stadium, they conducted a team dance before opening the doors to disembark.
TV pictures then showed Neymar and Raphinha walking into the dressing room and cutting some more impromptu dance shapes.
So much for the psychology. The best pair of feet here belonged to Vinícius. He is one young man who took no time to declare that he belongs on the world stage.
He and Raphinha spent much of the evening hugging the touchlines, but every time that he cut in, the threat rose, the danger escalated, and the percussion in the vast yellow beat a louder, happier beat.
It took Vinícius no time to warm to the task. His team-mates required a quarter of an hour to find their rhythm and assert themselves on the game.
From there, though, we had a pattern: Brazil with the possession and attempting to weave their way through to goal, with Serbia bursting forward on the counter. Yet though they lacked for possession, Serbia didn’t look outclassed.
They were very much equal to the task. Their best players were their centre backs, Nikola Milenkovic and Milos Veljkovic, both given some protection by Nemanja Gudelj in front of them. If Brazil were struggling for the last touch, it was because they read the attack so well.
The best chances fell to Raphinha. He received a lovely return pass from Paquetá to open up the shot in the first half, then pounced on an error in the second. What followed, though, were two poor shots and you wondered — is that as good as it’s going to get?
No. It got a lot better. It helped that Serbia dropped half a gear, a loss of intensity that confused their coach, Dragan Stojkovic. “I don’t know why and it is something completely strange,” he said afterwards.
Stojkovic also berated the injuries that afflicted his team. Dusan Vlahovic could only start on the bench; Aleksandar Mitrovic should maybe not have started at all.
Brazil were certainly in a position to capitalise. As the game wore on, Serbian resistance looked less composed and Brazil found more openings. Neymar should have opened the scoring when he got under a low cross, but blasted it high and wide.
That was a really good chance. Then, Alex Sandro hit the post with a shot from outside the area. Surely, it was coming.
Finally, the goal arrived: created by Neymar, running at defenders into the box and releasing Vinícius to shoot. The shot was low and curling and all that Sergej Milinkovic-Savic could manage was to parry it; Richarlison had to react and adapt fast to manouevre himself to shoot but tension, now, was finally lifted.
If that was comparatively prosaic, Richarlison’s second was a beauty. The ball in from Vinícius he had to control on the volley, flicking it up over his shoulder.
Then came the turn, the spin into a bicycle kick, and the clean contact with his right foot, out of reach of the goalkeeper, the contest finally settled.
Richarlison was man of the match. Neymar stole the limelight.
That’s how the story goes with Brazil — and this one might run and run.
From THE TIMES
