Tite’s key player, Casemiro scores his first goal in a World Cup

Midfielder Casemiro scored his first goal in World Cups this Monday (28), in the 1-0 victory over Switzerland, in the second round of the group stage of the World Cup in Qatar. It was a reward for insistence.

“In the first game [contra a Sérvia], the ball hit the crossbar. Today, I was lucky enough to score. The most important thing is to help the team”, said Casemiro, leaving the field.

This is Casemiro’s second World Cup. There are six games in the history of the competition, and now a goal. A key part of the Brazilian national team, he is an absolute starter in Tite’s team.

At the 2018 World Cup, in Russia, he was on the field in Brazil’s first four games. But, in the match against Belgium, in the quarterfinals, he was out, suspended by the second yellow card. Brazil ended up being defeated by 2 to 1 and said goodbye to the World Cup.

With Tite, he has been a key player on and off the field. This week, he acted as midfielder off the field and came out in defense of Neymar, during a press conference, saying he was sad about the criticism received by the attacker.

The exchange of praise came this Monday, after the game. Neymar, who stayed at the hotel undergoing treatment on his injured right ankle, posted on social media that “Casemiro has been the greatest midfielder in the world for a long time”.

This has been a year of big changes for Casemiro. In August, after eight years wearing the shirt of Real Madrid, he left the Meringue club to play for Manchester United, in England. The English club disbursed R$ 311 million in signing him.

Revealed by São Paulo in 2010, he was negotiated with Real Madrid in 2013, for R$ 17 million. He played for Real Madrid Castilla, the Merengue youth team, and was also loaned to Porto, until he was integrated into Real’s first team in 2015.

At the Spanish club, the Brazilian midfielder won 17 titles, five of them in the Champions League. Already in the national team, he was champion of the Copa América in 2019. Before, at the base, he had been world champion under-20, in 2011.

Casemiro took a while to establish himself at the English club, but today he is already a starter in the team commanded by the Dutchman Erik ten Hag.