The Brazilian National Team was off to a good start in the beginning of its series of friendly matches in preparation of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. Facing Japan on Friday (10) morning at the Pierre-Mauroy Stadium in Lille, France, the “Canarinho” squad prevailed 3-1. Neymar, Marcelo and Gabriel Jesus scored the Brazilian side’s goals, while Makino shook the net for the Japanese.
Brazil will set foot again on a football pitch next Tuesday (14) for another friendly. This time, the opponent will be England and the match will be played at Wembley Stadium in London, the capital city of the host country. The match kicks off at 6 p.m. (Brasília local time).
The match
The match began with the Brazilian team attacking right from the start. In the sixth minute of play, following a solid exchange of passes between Fernandinho, Marcelo and Gabriel Jesus, Japan's defense cleared the ball past the goal line, the corner kick was taken and play resumed. The referee requested the use of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) and awarded a penalty committed by Yoshida on Fernandinho inside the penalty area. Neymar stepped forward to take the kick and placed the ball at the goalkeeper’s opposing side, opening the score. At the 15th minute, another penalty in favor of Brazil. The star number 10 player took the kick again, however, this time goalkeeper Kawashima managed to block it. Neverthless, it was all the same since, during the following play, Marcelo took advantage of a rebound after a corner kick in the entrance of the penalty area and sent a stunning shot into the far corner of the net: a beautiful goal. At 35 minutes, Willian received the ball at the right hand side and passed it to Danilo. The right-back shot the ball across the penalty area, which Gabriel managed to push into the net.
In the second half, coach Tite decided to try out some players and made changes to the team. Even the goalkeeper was substituted, with Alisson being replaced by Cássio, who made his debut wearing the national colours. The Brazilian team slowed down its pace somewhat and goal-scoring opportunities decreased, though ball possession remained over 60%. At the 17-minute mark, Japan scored after Makino rose higher than the Brazilian defenders after a corner kick and pushed a header into the net. Five minutes later, Neymar came close to scoring again after sending a foul kick over the goal. In the final minutes of the friendly match, Brazil exchanged shorter passes in an attempt to find spaces in the opponent's defense and easily secured its triumph.
Brazil: Alisson (Cássio); Danilo, Thiago Silva, Jemerson and Marcelo (Alex Sandro); Casemiro, Fernandinho e Giuliano (Renato Augusto); Willian (Taison), Gabriel Jesus (Diego Souza) and Neymar (Douglas Costa).