“You can make a world-class team with the subs on the Brazil bench!”
The remark by a football commentator at the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar perfectly sums up the Brazilian team. For a team as insanely talented as Brazil, the absence of a player surely must not hurt.
Unless, it's their talisman – Neymar.
The 30-year-old striker suffered an ankle injury in the 2-0 win over Serbia on Thursday and has been ruled out of the group stage. It brought back memories of the horrific back injury he suffered in the 2014 edition, which ruled him out of the tournament. An emotionally-defeated Neymar-less team was routed 1-7 by the Germans in the semifinal.
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In 2018, too, he came into the World Cup after recovering from an injury, and many football pundits believed that he was not at his best. Brazil fell 1-2 to Belgium in the quarterfinal, with Thibaut Courtois standing between the Selecao and victory.
It has been only one match – the hard-fought 1-0 win over Switzerland yesterday - for the Selecao in Qatar without him, but there is already a Neymar-shaped vacuum in the midfield.
In the match against the Swiss, Brazil coach Tite replaced Neymar with midfielder Fred, freeing up Lucas Paquetá to play closer to the attack. Éder Militão, who plays as a central defender at Real Madrid, came in for Danilo in the right-back position, instead of veteran Dani Alves.
But Paquetá was found wanting in the role of a creator, something Neymar excels in. Not only does he find impossible spaces and angles to feed the strikers upfront, but also draws the attention of (and fouls from) the opposition players with his darting runs. Paquetá's below-par performance left the strikers Vinicius Jr, Richarlison and Rafinha high and dry. The result was a lethargic and conservative first half for Brazil, which seemed lost for ideas in the midfield. Casemeiro, once again, put in a splendid performance, adding weight to the defence, winning balls and going forward whenever possible. Fred, on the other hand, was full of energy as he usually is, but did little else.
Tite began the second half with Rodrygo. He also brought in Bruno Guimaraes later. And Antony. And Gabriel Jesus. But it still took a moment of brilliance from veteran Casemeiro in the 83rd minute for Brazil to seal the win. Sure, Rodrygo provided the beautiful one-touch assist, and almost scored a goal of his own, but the centrepiece called Neymar was sorely missed.
Brazil are into the last 16, and the match against Cameroon would see the youngsters getting more chances to show off their talent that has been shouted off from the rooftops. But, once the business end of the tournament begins, and if Neymar fails to regain match-fitness by then, Tite will have a real worry.
