Brazil beat Serbia thanks to Richarlison

And then, after just over an hour of play, it happened to the Serbs. Neymar grabs the ball, sends two opponents in a confined space with a crisp hip shake, Vinicius Junior shoots, Richarlison uses the rebound, and Raphinha would have been ready next to him.

Neymar, Vinicius Junior, Richarlison, Raphinha: The Brazilian national coach Tite ended a passionate debate at home on Thursday evening in the interests of most fans – and set up four attackers. And because he also chose the more offensive variant as Casemiro’s partner with Lucas Paqueta in central midfield, one could almost get the impression that Tite betrayed his ideals at least a little that day. He is considered a conservative coach who is reluctant to put the free spirit Neymar behind a three-man striker.

Neymar overdoes it with dribbling and feinting

However, the Brazilians traveled to Qatar full of confidence. And with them a great many supporters. Of the slightly more than 88,000 spectators at the sold-out and atmospheric Lusail Iconic Stadium, at least half are wearing the record world champion’s iconic yellow jersey, although not all of them have to be from Brazil.

It’s colorful in the stadium, it’s noisy, and when the match ends at midnight local time, the wearers of the yellow jerseys go home elated. A clearly superior Brazil beat Serbia 2-0, but the road to victory proved to be more difficult than expected until Richarlison’s goal.

The robust Serbs defended themselves passionately for a long time. They cleverly narrow the spaces, move them together, appear in solidarity. If you think it’s necessary, and you do this regularly, you don’t shy away from hitting it hard in a duel.

Unsurprisingly, Neymar felt this first and foremost. The Brazilian artist, even less surprisingly, is often to blame for the hard tackles he takes as he strokes the ball maddeningly slowly and gets lost in mindless dribbles.

It’s a bit like four and a half years ago in Russia, when the brave Swiss wrested a 1-1 draw from the Brazilians in the World Cup preliminary round. Also because they kept stopping Neymar with fouls and accepted warnings for it. Because Valon Behrami made an outstanding, authoritarian appearance in central midfield. And because Neymar played too selfishly.

The Serbs don’t have a Behrami

Neymar also showed signs of arrogance against Serbia on Thursday evening. In the end, however, it is he who initiates the 1-0 with a fine feint, whereby Vinicius Junior almost has to take the ball off his foot when he shoots at goal. The Brazilians are free after the opening goal, Richarlison soon makes it 2-0 with a spectacular side kick after an outside cross from Vinicius Junior, in the end it could be 4-0 or 5-0.

That would have been in the mind of the Swiss, who will meet Brazil on Monday. The Swiss national coach Murat Yakin follows the duel between the two group opponents in the stadium on Thursday evening, presumably not in a yellow shirt. He will have to find tactical solutions and a new Behrami to be able to disrupt and annoy the Brazilians.

The overwhelmed Serbs don’t have a Behrami against Brazil, but they contain the damage. They will be without Filip Kostic with a thigh injury, while two other key players, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahovic, are both injured. The two strikers are likely to be more in focus against Cameroon and Switzerland than against Brazil.

Neymar, on the other hand, was substituted off in the 79th minute after another hard foul on him. He was limping, in pain, and with tears in his eyes. The Brazilians tremble for their superstar. They only hint against Serbia in the final stages why they are considered the top favorites to win the title. And they will have to improve if they want to play the World Cup final at the Lusail Iconic Stadium on December 18th.