Brazil vs. Serbia: On Thursday night, Richarlison scored twice to lead Brazil to a 2-0 win against Serbia.
After a sluggish first half, Brazil regained their rhythm and Richarlison scored twice to give the tournament’s pre-tournament favorites a winning start in Qatar.
After ten minutes, Neymar almost scored immediately from a corner, but Serbian goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, formerly of Manchester United, reacted superbly to beat the ball away.
Then, not long after, Milinkovic-Savic sprinted off his line to meet the electric Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid, dodging the danger by diving at the Real Madrid player’s feet.
Brazil, while dominating, failed to fully test the 6’9 monster between Serbia‘s posts in the opening 45 minutes, wasting opportunities by Raphinha and Vinicius Junior.
Neymar had Brazil’s first serious chance after the break, but he squandered it after misjudging a cross 10 minutes into the second half.
Then, shortly after the hour mark, Richarlison got the scoring started following a great effort from distance by Alex Sandro.
Neymar’s good effort inside the area set up Vinicius, whose shot was deflected into the path of the Tottenham striker, who tapped in to give Brazil a deserved lead.
While his first effort lacked polish, Richarlison’s second was a masterpiece. With 15 minutes left, he rose to meet a cross with a spectacular bicycle kick, sending the ball thundering into the back of the goal and clinching the game.
Attempting a hat trick, Casemiro sent a thunderous shot on goal from long range, but Milinkovic-Savic was there to block it.
But Brazil didn’t need the third since Serbia provided so little moving forward.
1. Brazil (4-2-3-1)
GK: Alisson got a 6/10 because he didn’t have much to do.
RB: Danilo (5/10): His defense is good, but he needs to do more to score in games like this.
CB: Thiago Silva – 8/10 – Did everything he needed to do at the back and played like a quarterback when in possession, tearing Serbia’s defense apart with ease.
CB: Marquinhos – 7/10 – Equally as comfortable as his defensive partner. Will be glad they didn’t have to fight Mitrovic.
LB: Alex Sandro – 5/10 – So much more needed to be done on the left wing.
DM: Casemiro – 8/10 – Sublime passing range. Didn’t have to defend himself much, so he was free to show off his more creative side.
DM: Lucas Paqueta – 7/10 – Didn’t play as far back as his role would have suggested because he had a lot of chances to control the game from midfield.
RM: Raphinha got a 4/10 because he ran into a few dead ends and took some really weak shots on goal. Didn’t look like they were going to win against Serbia’s rough defenders.
AM: Neymar – 6/10 – A lot of fouls were aimed at him, so he moved back in the second half to try to run things better. Made some questionable decisions at times.
LM: Vinicius Junior – 8/10 – He was always a threat on the left side and ended up with a couple of assists.
Richarlison (ST): 7/10. He was very quiet before his goals, but after the break, he looked like a huge threat.
SUB: Fred (75′ for Paqueta) – 6/10
SUB: Rodrygo (75 minutes for Vinicius) – 7/10
Antony came on for Neymar in the 79th minute.
Gabriel Jesus comes on for Richarlison (79′) – 6/10
Gabriel Martinelli came in for Raphinha in the 87th minute.
Manager: Tite (7/10): Fans criticized him online because he took off his best players when the game was already won. Made a few good choices here.
2. Serbia (3-5-1-1)
GK: Vanja Milinkovic-Savic – 7/10 – In the first half, he ran out of his position to make a brave challenge on Vinicius Junior. took charge of his box.
CB: Milos Veljkovic – 6/10 – There are a few really bad blocks, but you can’t fault the effort.
CB: Nikola Milenkovic – 7/10 – In the first half, he was a real monster for Brazil’s forwards to deal with. It’s too bad that he lost his clean record.
CB: Strahinja Pavlovic – 7/10 – Wasn’t scared at all by how fast Raphinha moved. Went head-to-head with him and won almost every time.
RM: Andrija Zivkovic – 5/10 – Did a good job defending, but his lack of movement in attack kept Serbia on the back foot for the first hour.
CM: Sergej Milinkovic-Savic – 6/10 – Had a few great runs from deep, but Casemiro kept him out of most things.
CM: Nemanja Gudelj, 7/10. He got a yellow card early in the second half, which changed the way the game went because he couldn’t keep up his good defensive play.
CM: Sasa Lukic – 6/10 – Did a decent defensive job. At times, he looked like he was going to try to rip Neymar’s shirt off.
Filip Mladenovic: 4/10. Before he was taken off, his lack of offensive output was a huge problem.
AM: Dusan Tadic – 5/10 – Had a few good moments, but he couldn’t do as much as he usually does at the club level.
ST: Aleksandar Mitrovic got two out of ten because he didn’t get many services and didn’t do much to help himself.
SUB: Ivan Ilic (57′ for Gudelj) – 5/10
SUB: Nemanja Radonjic (57′ for Zivkovic) – 5/10
Dusan Vlahovic came in for Mladenovic in the 66th minute.
SUB: Darko Lazovic (66′ for Lukic) – 5/10
SUB: Nemanja Maksimovic (83′ for Mitrovic) – N/A
Dragan Stojkovic, the manager, got 5/10. He tried to make his team hard to beat, but they couldn’t find a way to compete with Brazil. As he changed systems in the second half, he seemed to be chasing shadows.
Vinicius Junior was the best player in the game.
