Brazil drew goalless against Costa Rica in the debut of the Copa América 2024 at SoFi Stadium, on the outskirts of Los Angeles. The Dorival Júnior team had a hard time breaking the defensive wall created by the Ticos, it lacked creativity in attack and could not make a difference with the potential of his individuality.
In the first half, Brazil maintained a monopoly on the ball, while the Central Americans dedicated themselves to defending with all their players. At 11 minutes the first clear came through a collective play between Lucas Paquetá and Rodrygo, which allowed the number 10 to enter the area and take a shot that narrowly missed the right post of goalkeeper Patrick Sequeira.
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Vinicius’ overflows on the left, Raphinha’s projections on the right and Paquetá’s mid-range shots were the main weapons of the five-time world champions in the first half hour of play.
However, the biggest dangerous play came from a free kick: Raphinha sent in a cross from the side, Rodrygo won at the near post and Marquinhos put it in the net. A long deliberation by the VAR put the celebration in suspense and finally the Mexican referee César Arturo Ramos, after a review by his assistants, disallowed the goal in the biggest controversy of the night.
In the second half, the Seleção maintained dominance without creating too much danger to the rival goal. Until at 18 minutes Paquetá appeared and a long-distance shot that broke the post. A good resource against an opponent who came out to hold on to a tie with an ultra-defensive tactic that turned Alisson Becker, without work all night, into a luxury spectator.
Without managing to break zero, Dorival Júnior looked for answers in the bank with the income of Savinho and Endrick instead of Raphinha and Vinicius. The one from Girona came in sharply: in the first he overflowed and took out a center that, in an unusual way, Haxzel Quirós almost put inside his own goal.
Sin goles en el estreno 🚫 pic.twitter.com/M2ZMDiMANC
— CONMEBOL Copa América™️ (@CopaAmerica) June 25, 2024
Guilherme Arana, one of the new additions to the starting eleven, had his own in the 78th minute with a shot on the line of the area that was taken very well by Sequeira, the best of those led by the Argentine Gustavo Alfaro. The attack was born from a good overflow by Paquetá, the Canarinha figure.
Six minutes from the end, Gabriel Martinelli came on for João Gomes with the idea of adding more people in attack. But that formula didn’t work either and the match ended goalless.
Colombia victory
Earlier in the day, Colombia beat Paraguay 2-1 in the same Group D in which Brazil and Costa Rica are. The goals were from Daniel Múñoz and Jefferson Lema, while the discount was the work of Julio Enciso.
Para todo Colombia, don @jamesdrodriguez 🇨🇴@MichelobUltraCO | #SuperiorPOTM pic.twitter.com/BN9dUYWHOd
— CONMEBOL Copa América™️ (@CopaAmerica) June 25, 2024
Those led by Néstor Lorenzo were more effective and had James Rodríguez who kept the exquisiteness of his left foot intact, despite not having any minutes in São Paulo. Paraguay, Brazil’s next rival on June 28 at 10 p.m. (Brasília time), showed that it is still rebuilding after the arrival of Daniel Garnero as coach.
