Brazil 2-0 Serbia
Richarlison couldn’t have dreamed of a better World Cup debut as he lit up the Lusail Stadium to give Brazil the three important points to kick off their World Cup 2022 campaign in style.
Brazil had to work harder than usual as they couldn’t break down Serbia early on, but their persistence paid off since they wore down their European counterparts for a well-deserved victory.
But despite getting the win, there’s a bigger concern for the Samba Boys as their talisman limped off late due to an ankle injury.
Continue to read on below as SBOTOP recaps the World Cup 2022 highlights from this contest.
Highlights of the game
It’s been established that Tite has a lot of options to choose from. And for this game, he assigned Richarlison, Raphinha, and Vinicius Junior to lead their frontline, while Neymar was their No. 10.
Brazil tried to set the tempo from the get-go, but they faced heavy resistance against the Serbians. It didn’t help as well that they couldn’t convert on some of their early opportunities.
Neymar was cheeky to try curl the ball in goal straight from the corner during the 13th minute, but Serbian goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic tapped it away, no problem.
Raphinha wasted two chances before half-time as he shot tamely on both occasions. However, it was a sign of things to come for the Samba Boys because they were slowly figuring out how to breach Serbia’s rock-solid backline.
Alex Sandro had his chance near the hour mark to break the deadlock when his swerving effort hit the foot of the post, but they would get their breakthrough in the 62nd minute.
Vinicius Junior’s shot was blocked by Milinkovic-Savic, but Richarlison was in the right place and at the right time to tap the ball off a rebound to put them ahead for good.
Richarlison would find the back of the net once more when he was teed up inside the penalty area 10 minutes later. The Spurs star masterfully controlled Vinicius Junior’s cross and converted with a vicious scissor kick – in what is considered by many as early candidate for the goal of the tournament.
From that moment on, Brazil were content in moving the ball around, and they snuffed out any semblance of an attempt from Serbia. As a result, the Serbs had zero shots on target.
The only negative for Brazil in this game was Neymar hobbling off the pitch as he was replaced by Antony at the 80th minute. The PSG forward was fouled nine times throughout the match, which is at least four more fouls won than any other player at the World Cup thus far.
Neymar was understandably upset since it probably brought back memories of his World Cup run in 2014. At the time, he was diagnosed with a broken bone in his back following a ruthless challenge by Juan Zuniga and had to sit out for the remainder of the competition.
But according to reports, Neymar is expected to carry on and it’ll be interesting to see how Tite would navigate this situation since he’s one of their most important players.
Key statistics
Brazil are now undefeated in their opening game in each of the last 20 editions of the World Cup (W17, D3). They also now own a three-game winning streak over Serbia.
Their last opening game loss was a 3-1 result against Spain way back in 1934.
Serbia have now lost eight of their 10 World Cup matches –the most by a European nation currently. Only Australia have more with nine following their opening loss to France on Wednesday.
Richarlison has scored nine goals in his last seven appearances for the Samba Boys across all competitions. The Tottenham hitman became the eighth Brazilian to score a brace on his World Cup debut and first since Neymar in 2014.
Since making his national team debut in September 2018, Richarlison has scored more goals in all competitions for Brazil than any other player (19).
What’s next?
With the win, the Samba Boys are now level with Switzerland with three points apiece as the latter also won their opener against Cameroon. They will face off for the top spot on Monday at Stadium 974.
The World Cup 2022 odds are backing Brazil to win the said match, which isn’t a surprise.
Cameroon and Serbia, meanwhile, are in must-win mode when they’ll go head-to-head at the Al Janoub Stadium on the same day since the loser will end up at the bottom of Group G.
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