Neymar’s penalty helps Brazil to move on from ‘pain’ of World Cup disappointment
Brazilian coach Tite said his players are getting over the pain of their World Cup exit after securing a convincing 2-0 win against United States.
The Brazilians were knocked out at the quarter-final stage in Russia by Belgium, with striker Neymar only finding the net twice in five matches. But the forward rolled home a penalty on Friday just before the break after Roberto Firmino had given Brazil the lead on 11 minutes at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Tite was quoted as saying: “It was above my expectation, it did not have brilliance at all times, but the offensive opportunities are there. We are getting back on top of a pain and frustration of elimination.”
Looking forward to the side’s next friendly against El Salvador on Tuesday, he said: “In the second game, there will be a greater opportunity for other athletes to start. Opportunity of some, responsibility to perform for others.”
The pace of the game slowed down at the hour mark – with Brazil making use of all the permitted six substitutes to bring on Willian and give debuts to Richarlison and Lucas Paqueta.
And Brazil held firm despite the US trying in vain to find space in their opponent’s half and saw out a comfortable win at the ground which will host the 2026 World Cup final.
Dave Sarachan, who took over as manager of the United States after the side missed out on World Cup qualification, said there were “hit and miss moments” for his youthful side.
He said: “I thought our coordination of trying to step out wasn’t very good in the first half; I thought the second half was an improvement.
“But overall this was a great game for us to play, in these types of games playing a team like Brazil who’s arguably as good as any team on the planet, it challenges you in ways that can only improve this group moving forward.”
Meanwhile, Argentina’s newlook side played with “great intensity” in a convincing 3-0 win over Guatemala, interim manager Lionel Scaloni said.
The Argentines took on the Central American side in a friendly in Los Angeles, their first outing since a 4-3 defeat to France in the second round of this summer’s World Cup.
The Argentina National Team page used the hashtag #NewChallenge to refer to the game with 13 of the 27-man squad being uncapped going into the game.
Debutant Gonzalo Martinez got the opener from the penalty spot after 27 minutes and the lead was doubled eight minutes later when Guatemala failed to properly clear a corner and a Giovani Lo Celso shot from outside the area whistled past Paulo Motta into the net.
Exequiel Palacios fed Giovanni Simeone the ball in the box for Argentina’s third just before half-time.
Scaloni said: “They understood very well what it is to play with this shirt, and we are proud that several of these guys have been able to play for the first time with the team.
“We did what we wanted in the first half, we gave the match a great intensity.