With Brazil’s early qualification for the round of 16, Tite decided to spare the starters, confident that he would maintain the first place in Group G –which happened even with the defeat to Cameroon–, and give them a rest in the World Cup.
Rest that should prove to be very necessary for the duel of the round of 16, against South Korea, on Monday (5), at stadium 974, in Doha.
Of the 16 teams qualified for the round of 16, Brazil and Argentina are the ones that will have the least time to rest between the final game of the group stage and the first elimination match in the World Cup.
Always considering Brazilian time (Qatar is six hours ahead), Tite’s team ended the match against the Cameroonians around 6 pm this Friday (2).
As the opening whistle of Brazil x South Korea is scheduled for 4 pm on Monday, the interval between one game and another is 70 hours, or less than three days.
The South Koreans, who played earlier on Friday, qualifying against Portugal, will have four hours more rest than the Brazilians.
Of Brazil’s starters, Tite, who considers the World Cup to be an exhausting competition not only physically, but mentally, managed to spare six starters at the Lusail stadium for the whole game: Alisson, Thiago Silva, Casemiro, Lucas Paquetá, Richarlison and Vinicius Junior .
Marquinhos, due to an injury to left-back Alex Telles, and Raphinha entered the second half.
With Telles gone, the Brazil coach has four players out of the 26 squad for the Cup handed over to the medical department. The others are wingers Danilo and Alex Sandro and striker Neymar.
Argentina is in the same situation as Brazil on the issue of the shortest rest period.
Messi and company qualified against Poland in a clash that ended around 6 pm on Wednesday (30).
This Saturday (3), at 4 pm, they take to the field at the Ahmed bin Ali stadium, in Al Rayyan, to face Australia, who played hours earlier on Wednesday.
On the other hand, the World Cup table is very friendly with England and Senegal, who will have a recovery time of a little more (the Senegalese) or a little less (the English) of five days.
The two teams, which will duel for survival in the Cup, qualified on Tuesday (29) and will only play on Sunday (4), at 4 pm, at the Al Bayt stadium, in Al Khor.
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