Richarlison’s moment of magic gets the party started for Brazil in Qatar

Their opening night here at the Lusail Stadium was no rude awakening. Brazil’s 2022 debut was on the very turf where Argentina were humbled two days earlier, but this was the opposite script, with a catwalk model of a goal to sit back and admire.

Brazil, favourites for this World Cup? In the dying minutes, when Casemiro curled a side-footed shot against the crossbar, so nearly converting two goals into three, it did indeed all feel rather beautiful. Yet it wasn’t a straightforward, towering performance; it wasn’t a thumping the likes of which Spain gave to Costa Rica or England did Iran. Not against Serbia, whose centre backs were the best players on the pitch in the first half, who were really robust, well organised and not remotely fazed by the task. When they came off at half-time with the scoreline untouched, they seemed inspired by it and you wondered if Brazil had something sharper and smarter in them than bags of lovely possession.

Indeed, when Brazil might have doubted themselves, they actually got better. And with Richarlison’s second goal, they did look exactly how you may dream they would. They looked like Brazil.

The opportunity, here, shone on Neymar, two World Cups gone and a chance, finally, to burnish his reputation, but it went far beyond that. It went to Tite, the coaching sage, who had decided, it seemed, that the way to win this one was to attack. Thus his four-man forward line – Neymar, Vinicius Jr, Raphinha, Richarlison – that would become a quintet with Lucas Paqueta moving up to join the fun.

Neymar was indeed crucial to the first goal. The real Neymar headline, though, was his work rate. This is no show-pony outing for him, he is one of the troops, and he looks good this way. And Vinicius Jr – the next month could be delicious for him.

If nothing else, Brazil came here intending to adopt a state of mind.

No pressure, no anxiety, no one talking about the fact that it’s now been two full decades since they won this tournament. No, they arrived with joy in their souls and dancing in their feet.

When their team bus arrived at the stadium, they conducted a dance before opening the doors to disembark. TV pictures then showed Neymar and Raphinha walking into the dressing room and cutting some more impromptu dance shapes.

So much for the psychology. The best pair of feet here belonged to Vinicius Jr. He is one young man who took no time to declare that he belongs on the world stage.

He and Raphinha spent much of the evening hugging the touchlines, but every time that he cut in, the threat rose, the danger escalated and the percussion in the vast yellow beat louder and happier.

It took Vinicius Jr no time to warm to the task. His teammates required 25 minutes to find their rhythm and assert themselves on the game. From there, though, we had a pattern: Brazil with the possession and attempting to weave their way through to goal, with Serbia bursting forward on the counter-attack.

Yet though they lacked possession, Serbia didn’t look outclassed. They were very much equal to the task. Their best players, their centre backs, Nikola Milenkovic and Milos Veljkovic, were given some protection by Nemanja Gudelj in front of them. If Brazil were struggling for the last touch, it was because those three read the attacks so well.

Brazil started their attack on goal with some long-range efforts from Neymar and Casemiro. Then they got down to the business of prising open the defence: Thiago Silva put Vinicius Jr through into the box but Vanja Milinkovic-Savic was quick off his line to cut out the pass. Casemiro then found Raphinha with a long diagonal pass which he headed back into the box, testing the calm of the Serbian defence.

Only once, in the first half, did Brazil really open up the Serbia defence and it should have been a move finished by Raphinha. It was a move of his own creation too: his pass to Paqueta was played straight back to him, 12 yards out with a clear sight of goal, but the shot could not match the excellence of the move that preceded it. Raphinha hit it meekly, requiring an easy save from Milinkovic-Savic.

Straight after half-time, though, the chance to make amends presented itself. Serbia defensive errors are rare and valuable commodities and here was one, a mix-up on the edge of the area from which Raphinha was able to steal possession. Again the goal presented itself; again the goalkeeper was out fast to block the danger.

The pressure, however, would only continue to mount. As the game wore on, Brazil found more openings. Neymar should have made it 1-0 when he got under a low cross but blasted it high and wide. That was a really good chance.

Then Alex Sandro hit the post with a shot from outside the area. Then, finally, the goal arrived: created by Neymar, running at defenders into the box and releasing Vinicius Jr to shoot. The shot was low and curling and all that Milinkovic-Savic could manage was to parry it. Richarlison had to react fast but the tension, now, was finally lifted.

If that was comparatively prosaic, Richarlison’s second was a beauty. The ball in from Vinicius Jr he had to control, flicking it up over his shoulder. Then came the turn, the spin into a bicycle kick and the clean contact with his right foot, out of reach of the goalkeeper, the contest finally settled.

– The Times

Originally published as Richarlison’s moment of magic gets the party started for Brazil in Qatar