Very poor second half so far, but that PK means 3x0 and a goal for Coutinho. Neymar still on the field and didn't take the PK. That's... a good sign?
Richarlison on for Antony. Martinelli on for Vini Jr. If I'm not mistaken Vini is suspended for Bolivia too due to his yellow.
He is. Given it's the altitude match, I wonder if Tite will pack the midfield and defense. It may be noted, however, that Bolivia lost to Ecuador, Argentina, and Chile as host in this WCQ (and drew Colombia).
I liked Brazil's posture in the first half. That blitz probably stunned the Chileans, who did a decent defensive job at first. The second half saw a drop in rendimento, and that was to be expected. That kind of aggressive marking is unsustainable over time. With Neymar and Vini Jr and even Casemiro suspended for Bolivia, I wonder what Tite will come up with. It's difficult to win there, so if we walk away with a draw, I'll be satisfied. @Ombak I'm glad your prata da casa kid scored!
LOL It wasn't even a horrible performance or anything. Just, we had a "get the job done" kind of average game and the scoreline ended up 4x0 Neymar, awful. Arana, positive but some issues. With Neymar out it will be interesting to compare the center-forward next match. Probably Richarlison, with Antony and Martinelli on the wings (or Coutinho as left-mid).
This is the second consecutive 4-0 Brazil win, and it's the sixth (if I'm not mistaken) time Brazil scored 4 goals in a match with Tite. It happened more in WCQ in this tournament than in 2018 WCQ.
Yep. Neymar basically missed everything he did if I am not mistaken. But at least he didn't try to over do it in this game. We played a lot more like a team.
Minus the first 25 minutes of the second half (I know, it's more than half of a half) during which my feed froze, from what I saw, Neymar didn't have a bad game. He missed that nearly point blank shot which you said Benzema wouldn't have missed; he was aggressive in offense and if I'm not mistaken, even he tried to recover the ball when the Chileans got it. Considering he played a good first half and a terrible second half w/ PSG weeks ago, I think that perhaps, just perhaps, that result sparked a bit of a flame in him to perform better with the NT (although he was imprudent in getting yellow carded so easily).
Awful is certainly an exaggeration on my part. He was not great as a center-forward but he had some solid link up play with Vini in the first half, and he definitely didn't play as though everything had to run through him, which is a huge positive. We need more out of whoever plays in the 9 spot, and Neymar wasn't all of that today, but he wasn't awful, that's for sure.
Seventh actually. 3/27/2017 - Uruguay 1 Brazil 4, WCQ 6/13/2017 - Australia 0 Brazil 4, friendly 10/13/2020 - Peru 2 Brazil 4, WCQ 6/18/2021 - Brazil 4 Peru 0, Copa América 10/14/2021 - Brazil 4 Uruguay 1, WCQ 2/1/2022 - Brazil 4 Paraguay 0, WCQ 3/24/2022 - Brazil 4 Chile 0, WCQ