Brazil’s key player could be Neymar who has been on fire in Ligue 1 for PSG this season as he has scored nine times and assisted seven in 11 games.
The tricky winger has made 121 caps for the country and has scored 75 goals.
Over the past 12 years, the 30-year-old forward has been crucial to Brazil and managed to get eight goals and eight assists in 10 games in the World Cup qualifying. He is found predominantly down the left flank before cutting inside and scoring goals.
Brazil have been mainly playing with the 4-2-3-1 formation in the qualifiers with three attacking midfielders who are Coutinho, Raphinha as well as Neymar and attacking full backs who are Danilo and Alex Telles. One of the country’s strengths has been their attacking side of the game as they scored 40 goals overall in the qualifiers in 17 games and were solid at the back as they conceded just five goals.
Brazil also has two very good options in goal as they currently have Liverpool’s Allisson and Manchester City’s Ederson. Allison had an average of just 0.3 goals conceded per game and Ederson has conceded 0.2 per game, and both are also very good as a sweeper keeper and distributing the ball which fits perfectly with their attacking style of play.
However, Brazil do have weaknesses as well and have one of the older squads going to the World Cup with an average age of 27.2 years including 38-year-old Thiago Silva and Danilo who is 31 now.
This could be an issue for Brazil because other countries might look to exploit their lack of pace in their defence and as Brazil play open attacking football they could be caught out by the through balls through the middle.
And as good as having many attacking options may be, it can also bring problems because players can end up being played out of position and not in their effective areas as the manager tries to fit everyone in and unsure what his best system is.
For example, Jesus sometimes played up front, out wide and behind the main striker in the qualifiers. This meant he didn’t score any goals despite playing 11 times.
But overall, Brazil’s forwards are far superior to many other countries as seven of them play for one of the so called top European clubs including the likes of Real Madrid and Liverpool.
This squad quality will make them a team to fear in Qatar.
Evan Seaman 