In June, during a friendly against Brazil, South Korea coach Paulo Bento wanted to see how far out he could push the boat. His side were among the top sides in Asia, reasoned Bento, and so were normally on the attack. Could they take that approach with one of the giants of the world game?
The answer was an emphatic “no.” Brazil breezed to a 5-1 win. It is fair to say that Bento will be doing something different in Monday’s round-of-16 match at the World Cup.
South Korea will have to attack in spurts, spending most of their time covering up and protecting themselves — which presents Brazil with a problem they faced throughout the group phase. In most of Brazil’s warmup matches, the game had already been decided by half-time. But in the World Cup, against more organised, better motivated opponents, they have yet to score a single goal in the first half. Can Brazil coach Tite find a blend to get his side off to a quicker start?
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He will be helped, of course, if Neymar is fit and ready to return from his ankle injury. The notion that Brazil might be better off without him belongs to fantasy land. And having Neymar back in the team might also help a structural issue that has been brooding for a while. During last year’s Copa America, the best aspect of the Brazil attack was the partnership between Neymar and Lucas Paqueta. Operating close together, they combined well, with the passing of Paqueta opening up space for Neymar to run through his repertoire.
And then in the months following the Copa, Brazil’s new generation of wingers emerged. Amid a move to Barcelona, Raphinha on the right took to international football with astounding ease. On the left Vinicius Junior found it harder to show his stuff, but he had become a global star with Real Madrid, and his time would surely come. Indeed, his World Cup group stage performances against Serbia and Switzerland have been his best games for his country.
Would the team, then, have two wingers, Neymar as a false No. 9 and Lucas Paqueta as an attacking midfielder? It was an option — but one that lost strength as a consequence of that June match against South Korea and subsequent one against Japan, because it was then that Richarlison started to make himself impossible to drop as a genuine penalty-area centre-forward.
