vs. Location: Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez, Barranquilla Brazil roster: Goleiros: Alisson, Ederson, Weverton Laterais: Danilo, Emerson, Alex Sandro, Guilherme Arana Zagueiros: Eder Militão, Lucas Veríssimo, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva Meio-campistas: Casemiro, Edenílson, Everton Ribeiro, Fabinho, Fred, Gerson, Lucas Paquetá Atacantes: Antony, Gabigol, Gabriel Jesus, Matheus Cunha, Neymar, Raphinha, Vinicius Júnior From neighboring Venezuela, Brazil crosses the border to the city of Barranquilla to face host Colombia at the same stadium where, on September 5, 2017, Tite's Brazil saw its 9-win streak in WCQ come to a halt as the locals drew Brazil 1-1. It was only 4 years ago, but yes, under Tite, Brazil had built its first-ever record of nine straight wins in WCQ. The current streak stands out not only as it is current, but because it is a streak of 9 wins in 9 matches from the very first WCQ fixture. That streak was interrupted by a friendship match (against Colombia, in a gesture to thank that country for its kind and thoughtful reaction to the Chapecoense disaster in late 2016) and by two FIFA friendly games (Argentina and Australia). Colombia is one of the toughest teams in CONMEBOL. It may appear difficult to believe, but from 2002 to 2010, Colombia was absent from the World Cup, although it reached the quarterfinals in 2014 and the round of 16 in 2018. It recently gave Brazil a very tough match - in Brazil, valid for the 2021 Copa América - which Brazil won only at the last minute. In that tournament, Colombia reached the semifinals and was eliminated by Argentina only on PKs. In this WCQ, Colombia started poorly, with a 0-3 loss at home (at this very same city and stadium) to Uruguay. This was followed by a 6-1 rout at Ecuador. In very early 2021, Reinaldo Rueda replaced Carlos Queiroz, and Colombia has improved, to the extent it is now in 4th place with 14 points. Its best results have been a 0-3 away win at Peru, as well as a last-minute 2-2 draw at home vs. Argentina, although Colombia only drew at Bolivia and Paraguay in September, with both matches ending 1-1. On the 10/7/2021 round, Colombia visited Uruguay. Both teams earned 1 point each with a 0-0 draw. Absent will be Everton's James Rodriguez, who was also absent in the September fixtures. A regular starter for Colombia for years, including in Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018, Rueda has opted to leave Rodriguez out - a move that would be comparable to Tite leaving out a match-fit Neymar. But given Rueda's Colombia has become stabler and steadier, one may not be able to argue with the decision. Against Venezuela, Tite's Brazil was disjointed (albeit nowhere as much as in the first half at Chile) and showed limited aggressiveness, despite the ball hitting the woodwork. Raphinha changed the match in the second half as Brazil stormed back to win the match 1-3. Neymar will be back, and however contested he is, his presence on the pitch will be necessary given Brazil will be facing one of the most complicated NTs in CONMEBOL. That Brazil and Colombia played a friendship game in January 2017 may be less known than the foul Neymar suffered when Camilo Zúñiga kneed his back in the quarterfinals of the 2014 World Cup. Neymar left the tournament and 4 years later, Colombia went to Russia without him - in the same year, he retired. Tite's Brazil will need much more concentration and attention against a team loaded with players who earn their wages in UEFA clubs such as Everton, Juventus, Porto, and Feyenoord. Venezuela has Europe-based players as well, but Colombia is a decidedly superior opponent, and a win for the hosts or a draw would be no surprise. Brazil has played WCQ matches in Colombia six times starting from a 0-2 win in 1969. WCQ matches between these teams in Colombia tend to be low-scoring affairs: 0-0 on 2/20/1977 en route to 1978, 0-0 on 3/2/2000 en route to 2002, 1-2 for Brazil on 9/7/2003 en route to 2006, 0-0 on 10/14/2007 en route to 2010, and 1-1 on 9/5/2017 en route to 2018. Brazil has never lost there for WCQ. Will this streak continue - and can Tite's Brazil make it 10 for 10 and break the 2018 WCQ streak? The following were the starting XI deployed by Reinaldo Rueda for his team's 0-0 draw at Uruguay on 10/7/2021: David Ospina; John Medina, Yerry Mina, Carlos Cuesta, Johan Mojica; Juan Cuadrado, Wilmar Barrios; Mateus Uribe, Luis Díaz; Rafael Borré, Radamel Falcao.
Allison; Danilo, Marquinos, Militão, Alex Sandro; Fabinho, Fred; Jesus, Paquetá, Neymar; Gabigol. Gerson out as expected as he has been God awful. Raphinha doesn't get a nod to start but hopefully he can come as a sub and get a real test vs a stronger team.
We've found plenty of spaces in Colombia's defense. It'd be nice to get a goal before they adjust. Specially at HT.
Fuk off Fred. How does a player like this makes it into ManU ? Even if they aren't as good as they used to be. Dude has 2 left feet.
Militao runs over a Colombian player ... should have been a foul. Crazy some things that don't get called as "corpo a corpo".
I know that we haven't had great or good strikers since what ? Adriano ? Luis Fabiano ? Even Fred. But it's crazy that for a decade now, we can't really create good scoring chances for our strikers. Except for that period in WCQ 2018 with Jesus working well as a striker.
Like I said, would have been nice to score a goal before Colombia adjusts. Can't get the ball out of our half at the moment.
Colombia 0 x 0 Brasil - FT First points dropped. Not a big deal. Good first half but second half wasn't as good. We have problems with the Fred position. Neither him nor Gerson are good enough. They are both really poor. Fabinho is also meh. Jesus and Gabigol not really delivering and the FBs are average. Raphinha came in well again and Antony did good too. Would like to see Raphinha start next game.
Not winning in Colombia isn't what we wanted, but as I wrote previously, Tite's previous streak of consecutive WCQ wins ended in Colombia as well, and with a draw too. Ironically, while Brazil played an overall better game than it did vs. Venezuela (especially earlier on), the goals didn't materialize. Colombia had some chances, and at certain points, the players in our team weren't being aggressive enough. Raphinha needs to start. Tite has now had 2 competitive matches to see who should and who should not be in the starting XI. It's a strange time when Brazil has 9 wins and 1 draw, the best offense, the best defense - and Tite and the team are being harshly criticized and questioned by the Brazilian sports press. Not entirely without reason - but things could be far worse. Anyone who remembers what WCQ 20 years ago was alike will agree. Uruguay on Thursday - they lost Arrascaeta and lost 3-0 tonight.
Just saw the game. I liked how well Neymar can play sometimes (especially in the first half), but he needs help from the other OFFENSIVE players. As a Brazil fan I'm not too worried about a somewhat mediocre Colombia. They know how defend against a team like Brazil and it worked last night. Against world class teams (Germany, Italy, France, etc.) Brazil will need to solve the problems it faced last night (and in the CA final against Argentina and in the Quarters in Russia against Belgium), namely a strange inability to score goals when it really matters. Hopefully Richarlison is part of that solution because Gabigol is not cutting it.
Still can’t believe Fred missed that. NEYMAR getting a lot of slack from the media, give him a break.