Brazil and the mission to win

After his injury, Neymar came to Russia with the mission of winning the 2018 World Cup. In the match against Switzerland, the Brazilian number 10 attempted 28 dribbles and was only successful half of them.

Spaghetti

In addition to the “King of Football” Pele, recently the legendary Cantona also expressed doubts about Neymar’s talent. He decided to use spaghetti to “troll” Neymar’s new hairstyle at this tournament. The image on Cantona’s personal page quickly attracted attention, receiving more than 100,000 likes and 3,000 comments after more than 10 hours.

The former MU striker has never had a good impression of the Brazilian star. He himself spoke out about the future contract between Neymar and PSG, saying it would be very difficult to succeed.

Cantona used spaghetti noodles to mock Neymar with his new hairstyle at the 2018 World Cup. Photo: AFP

Neymar will definitely play in the next match against Costa Rica. But if he continues to play like in the first match, it will be difficult for this number 10 to play the full 90 minutes. The referee was wrong in the situation where Switzerland scored the equalizer 1-1, Zuber pushed the center-back Miranda before scoring. But the Brazilian audience still has the right to blame coach Tite for instructing the players to play low after scoring the opening goal.

In particular, in addition to Neymar playing quite selfishly, Gabriel Jesus also showed a lack of sensitivity as a striker in the 4-3-3 tactical formation. Public opinion believes that a change is needed in the attack, when most likely, Firmino will play from the start, replacing Gabriel Jesus.

Mission must win

As the number 1 candidate for the championship, of course Selecao will not take chances in the final match with Serbia, their mission is to win, even win big against Costa Rica.

Coach Tite will not change the 4-3-3 formation that has brought them victory after victory over the past two years. He still has many excellent players in his hands to replace the players who have disappointed him, even Neymar, whose confidence has limits.

If Neymar "draws", it is very easy for him to be "cut down" by the Costa Rican player. Photo: AFP

Coach Tite still has Douglas Costa, a striker who can play as a center forward or right winger. Douglas Costa is strong in attack but weak in defense and according to Tite, Brazil does not need to play "all-in" yet so this player has not been put on the field yet.

When the Swiss defense was stuck, coach Tite brought on Fernandinho and Renato Augusto to replace Casemiro and Paulinho, showing that he considered Brazil's problem to be their midfielders. Paulinho was said to not be able to support Neymar in time, while Real's central midfielder Casemiro was not able to create pressure in the Swiss 16.5m area.

Brazilian football experts pointed out another problem in the match against Switzerland, the Brazilian players shot 16 times but only 6 times the ball hit the goal, this unusually low rate made them only have 1 draw.

Surprisingly, not only Neymar's dribbling but also his free kicks were harmless compared to usual, mostly hitting the wall. The players in yellow and green had to adjust their aim, this could not be repeated in the match against Costa Rica, and any change needed to start from its leader.

Neymar needs to play more simply, if he does not want to be substituted early. Costa Rica, the team that lost 0-1 to Serbia, will not want to leave Russia early, so they will definitely find a way to lock down this number 10.