Raphinha shines and Coutinho scores again in Brazil’s victory over Paraguay

The Brazilian team beat Paraguay this Tuesday (1st), by 4-0, at Mineirão, in a game in which Tite was finally able to do the tests he would like in the Canadian team, given the last doubts of the coach for the World Cup. of the World in Qatar in November.

The coach had planned to do that on Sunday (27), in the duel with Ecuador, but ended up having his plan frustrated by the confused action of the referee and the early dismissal of Emerson Royal, which hampered the progress of the match – at the time, the draw by 1 the 1 only served to maintain the invincibility of the Brazilians in the Qualifiers.

This time, more than the triumph, Tite observed another great performance from Raphinha, who in his seventh game for Brazil was the main name of the first stage and almost went to halftime with two goals in his account. In the opening minute, he hit the net, but the play was disallowed because he hit the ball with his arm at the moment of dominance. At 27, however, he scored again, to open the scoring.

While shirt 19 has been consolidating on the right side of the attack, now with three goals for the national team, the fight for a spot on the left and in the middle is fiercer. In the absence of Neymar, recovering from injury, Vinicius Junior had another opportunity to show in the national team the football that has made him the highlight of Real Madrid.

The striker did well in the first half, mainly in the individual plays, but he missed the shots in the two good chances he had to swing the net. In one of them, he was served by Philippe Coutinho, another who has been trying to gain (or rather recover) space with Tite.

When Neymar is back, the coach’s challenge will be precisely to find a place on the team to accommodate Coutinho and Vinicius in a sector that is also disputed by Paquetá, the commander’s trusted man.

Before the break on Tuesday, there was a confusion in the stands involving fans from Brazil. TV Globo footage showed people in the upper stands of the stadium exchanging punches and throwing chairs. According to the report, 20 people were arrested and the fight would have been provoked by organized supporters from Atlético-MG and Cruzeiro.

The others present at Mineirão had the chance to witness a beautiful goal from Coutinho in the final stage. At 16 minutes, the midfielder received the ball freely in the middle, noticed that the goalkeeper was ahead and finished placed to cover the Paraguayan shirt 1.

Surprised at the call-up, the midfielder returned to the national team for his first games for the team since October 2020. During the hiatus, he needed to recover from an injury. Remembered at the beginning of the Brazilian trajectory in the Qualifiers, he had not scored with the canary shirt since the first round, when he scored one of the goals in the 5-0 rout over Bolivia.

At the time of Coutinho’s goal, Tite had already made other changes to the team to gain more momentum. Antony and Gabriel Jesus took the place of Vinicius Junior and Matheus Cunha, another who had had a good first half.

With the quiet advantage and the lack of impetus of the Paraguayans, Brazil started to manage the score, but still returned to swing the net twice near the end of the match. In the 40th minute, Antony scored the third and, in the 42nd, Rodrygo closed the score.