Brazil increases offensiveness and beats Ghana in the penultimate friendly before the World Cup

Tite doesn’t usually sit on the bench during matches. He is usually restless and gesticulating at the edge of the lawn. In the friendly against the selection of Ghana this Friday (23), however, the Brazil coach seemed more relaxed watching his team play. He enjoyed the Brazilian victory by 3-0.

At the Océane stadium, in Le Havre, France, the coach set up a much more offensive team than the one he usually puts on the field. Going ahead of Lucas Paquetá, he formed an offensive quintet with shirt 7 alongside Raphinha, Richarlison, Neymar and Vinicius Junior.

With intensity, speed and many dribbles, the canary team almost didn’t give chances to the rival. In the first half alone, there were 13 shots on goal against just one of the Ghanaians, and far from Alisson’s goal.

Building a good score just seemed a matter of time. It started at nine minutes, when Marquinhos hit the net with his head. Afterwards, Richarlison scored twice, both with assists from Neymar. In the first, at 28, shirt 10 served his partner with a low pass. Then, at 40, he put the ball on the attacker’s head in a free kick.

In the first 45 minutes, it was practically a walk for the Brazilians in front of a team that could get in the country’s way in the World Cup in Qatar, which starts on November 20th.

Brazil is in Group G, with Serbia, Switzerland and Cameroon. Ghana is in Group H, along with Portugal, South Korea and Uruguay. Therefore, as they are on the same side of the draw, Brazilians and Ghanaians can cross paths in the round of 16.

The friendly was the penultimate test for Tite’s team before their World Cup debut, on November 24, against Serbia. The last test will take place on Tuesday (27), against Tunisia, again in France.

These are games, therefore, they are the last opportunities for the coach to close the squad. In the match against Ghana, in addition to testing a more offensive team, he promoted the debut of Juventus defender Bremer. The defender came in at halftime, replacing Thiago Silva. The number 22 shirt was one of the novelties in the last call-up, alongside fellow defender Ibañez, from Roma.

In the final 45 minutes, however, Brazil reduced the intensity in relation to the initial stage. So much so that the Ghanaian team managed to appear in the attack more often and had three submissions.

Brazil also had good moments in attack and created chances to reach the fourth goal, but in the final part of the game it seemed that the players were already physically saving themselves.