Brazilalready qualified for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, thrashed this Tuesday 4-0 Paraguay in their penultimate match for the South American qualifiers, and established themselves as the undefeated leader, while ending any hope of qualifying for the Paraguayans.
With a new victory, with goals from the youth Raphinha, Antony and Rodrygo and veteran Philippe Coutinho in a game in which the Brazilian coach, Adenor Leonardo Bacchi ‘Tite’, took the opportunity to experience new players, Brazil now has twelve wins and three draws in fifteen games, with which he has 39 points, four more than Argentina, his closest rival.
Paraguay, on the other hand, was sunk in penultimate place in the classification of the South American qualifiers, with 13 points, and no chance of qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar or advancing to a possible playoff.
Brazil, with the same trio of young attacking players with whom they drew 1-1 with Ecuador last week (Vinicius Junior, Matheus Cunha and Raphinha), started pressing from the start of the match and Raphinha needed only a minute to open the scoring, but his annotation was annulled by touch of hand verified by the VAR.
The annulment did not stop the momentum of the Canarinha, who maintained their pressure on the goal defended by Anthony Silva with finishes by Raphinha, plays by Lucas Paquetá and even a shot by veteran winger Daniel Alves.
With Vinicius Júnior playing on the left wing and Raphinha on the right, Paraguay opened spaces in the center that allowed incursions mainly from Paquetá, Coutinho and Dani Alves. In the 16th minute Raphinha squandered the clearest scoring opportunity to date after receiving an assist from Vinicius Junior inside the area and a few meters from the goal, and kicking the ball over the crossbar.
Raphinha only quenched his thirst for goals in the 27th minute by receiving a perfect shot from Marquinhos, dominating in the center of the area and kicking with his left foot to open the scoring. It was his third goal in seven games for the Brazilian team.
After Raphinha’s goal, Vinicius Júnior and Matheus Cunha also wanted to take advantage of the opportunity that Tite offered them as starters to show effectiveness but they wasted the finishes they had. Brazil went to the showers as the clear dominator of the first half, with 73% possession of the ball, and ten completions, against only two of the Paraguayans.
The azulgrana Dani Alves played the entire match against Paraguay
The Brazilian team also started the second half fast and in a minute Raphinha crashed a ball against the crossbar after receiving a lift from Vinicius.
The Real Madrid attacker was the protagonist of the first fifteen minutes of the second half, with advances to the far left and dangerous lifts, but he was substituted by Antony in the 60th minute due to Tite’s commitment not to overload players with important games for his clubs, but he left applauded and acclaimed by the fans.
A minute later Philippe Coutinho, summoned again by Tite despite his irregularity and his injuries, returned the confidence of the coach with a great goal from the entrance of the area after receiving an assist from Marquinhos. The midfielder scored his nineteenth goal with Canarinha after a drought of almost a year and a half.
With victory practically guaranteed and a wide dominance, the Canarinha dedicated themselves to managing their partial advantage, which did not prevent Antony and Raphinha from abusing individual plays in their attempt to show service against Tite and claiming a place in the squad for the world Cup.
Another who tried to take advantage of the ten minutes he had to show his conditions was the also youthful Rodrygo, who replaced a Raphinha suffering from cramps. And it was precisely Antony and Rodrygo who scored the last two goals for Brazil in the last five minutes of the match.
DATA SHEET
Brazil-Paraguay 4-0
4 – Brazil: Edison; Daniel Alves, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva, Alex Telles; Fabinho, Lucas Paquetá (m.81, Rodrygo), Philippe Coutinho (m.72, Bruno Guimaraes); Raphinha (m.81, Everton Ribeiro), Matheus Cunha (m.60, Gabriel Jesús) and Vinicius Júnior (m.60, Antony).
Coach: Adenor Leonardo Bacchi ‘Tite’
0 – Paraguay: Anthony Silva; Robert Rojas (m.46, Juan Escobar), Fabián Balbuena, Júnior Alonso, Santiago Arzamendia (m.46, David Martínez); Braian Ojeda, Mathías Villasanti (m.68, Alan Benítez), Richard Sánchez (m.86, Julio Enciso), Miguel Almirón; Braian Samudio and Carlos González (m.68, Antonio Sanabria).
Coach: Guillermo Barros Schelotto.
Goals: 1-0, Raphinha (d. 27); 2-0, Philippe Coutinho (m. 61); 3-0, Antony (d. 85); 4-0, Rodrygo (d. 87)
Referee: The Argentinian Facundo Tello gave Arzamendia, Villasanti and Júnior Alonso a yellow card.
Incidents: Match of the sixteenth day of the South American qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup played at the Mineirao stadium in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte before 32,344 spectators
