In the first friendly match prior to the 2024 Copa América, Dorival Júnior’s Brazilian National Team faced a complicated match against Mexico in the hot city of Texas.
At the impressive Kyle Field, an American football stadium that was modified to host this friendly, the Seleção started off on the right foot, solidly winning 2-3 against a Mexican team that played practically at home on American soil.
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Endrick gave the victory to Brazil in a special evening for the CBF
This Saturday, the CBF celebrated the 110th anniversary of its foundation with a beautiful gesture that could be seen reflected on the jersey of the starting goalkeeper, Alisson Becker, who took the field wearing the number 110.
With an atypical starting lineup and full of substitutes, Brazil presented a very vertical and offensive scheme, dominating at times during the beginning of the first half.
The offensive onslaught served to score the temporary 0-1 thanks to Andreas Pereira, who took advantage of a great pass from Savinho to enter the area dribbling past three Mexican players and finishing with a cross shot, deceiving the goalkeeper.
During this first half, both Mexico and Brazil had opportunities to move the scoreboard, but eventually the referee blew the whistle to close the first half with the 0-1 in favor of Dorival’s men.
The second half also started strong for the Seleção, as after a couple of good offensive attempts, Martinelli scored the 0-2 after a masterful individual play by Yan Couto, who infiltrated the area and practically served the goal to Martinelli, who only had to finish at will to beat the Mexican goalkeeper.
Around the 10th minute, Endrick came into the game replacing Evanilson and, a few minutes later, the referee stopped the match after hearing some discriminatory chants in the stands and the match only resumed when this chant was stopped.
To give emotion to the duel, Mexico would not be left without responding and, after a mistake by the Brazilian defense, Vega took advantage to send a cross that was able to beat both Militão and Yan Couto, who could not mark a Quiñones who practically shot at an empty goal to close the gap and make it 1-2 on the scoreboard.
In the last five minutes, the game was briefly interrupted after a massive invasion of fans.
Towards the end of the match, Mexico would surprise by equalizing the match after a mistake by Alisson, who left a rebound after a header shot, which was taken advantage of by Martínez, who crossed the shot and beat the Liverpool goalkeeper.
However, as is often the case, it is in these moments of adversity that the great stars shine, and Endrick did not miss the opportunity to score again in the Dorival era, taking advantage of a masterful cross from Vinicius Jr. to score the definitive 2-3 with a header.
After scoring the winning goal, Endrick was chosen as the MVP of the match.
Mexico 2-3 Brazil: Lineups and events
- Initial lineup of Mexico: J. González | I. Reyes, E. Álvarez, J. Vásquez, G. Arteaga | L. Chávez, L. Romo, C. Rodríguez | C. Antuna, S. Giménez and J. Quiñones
Goals: J. Quiñones (73′) and Martínez Ayala (90+2′)
- Initial lineup of Brazil: Alisson Becker | G. Arana, G. Bremer, Éder Militão, Yan Couto | A. Pereira, Douglas Luiz, Ederson | G. Martinelli, Evanilson and Savinho
Goals: Andreas Pereira (5′), Martinelli (54′) and Endrick (90+6′)
What’s next for Brazil?
After this victory/draw, Brazil will face one more match before taking on the Copa América and will face the host nation, the United States, next Wednesday, June 12, at the Camping World Stadium. The match will be played at 8:00 PM Brasilia time.
- United States vs Brazil – Wednesday, 06/12/2024
Remembering Zagallo
Sambafoot Series launched a new documentary about the football legend Zagallo. Known as ‘Velho Lobo‘ and as superstitious as it gets, Zagallo helped shape what Brazilian football is nowadays — as a player and as a coach.
Watch the full series, available on Sambafoot’s Youtube channel.
