Vinicius Jr’s underwhelming Brazil run continued, and the Selecao needed a wonder goal from a defensive midfielder to snatch a point as they settled for a 1-1 home draw with a well-drilled Uruguay side Tuesday night. Federico Valverde’s opener was canceled out by a Gerson thunderbolt, leading to a tie that neither side will be happy with.
Brazil poked, pried and prodded throughout the first half, but could never carve out a clear opening. Vinicius, as ever, was their most apparent threat, but found himself constantly nullified by the two – or even three – defenders routinely thrown his way. Igor Jesus, Dorival’s preferred option at centre-forward, never made his mark, either.
And Uruguay capitalised, with Valverde curling home a wonderful strike from outside the box after 55 minutes to make it 1-0. The Selecao equaliser was an impressive thing, Gerson volleying into the bottom corner to level things on the hour. Brazil pushed more after grabbing the goal, but nothing concrete came of it.
Vinicius did his bit, dipping and weaving through defenders, but every cut-back from an impossible angle landed at a grateful Uruguayan boot. By the end of it all, Brazil were once again walking off home turf frustrated, and puzzled as to why such a high powered attack simply cannot click.
GOAL rates Brazil’s players from Fonte Nova Arena…