Richarlison, Tite’s chosen one who paid with goals: from the injury that almost left him without the World Cup to the training in which he anticipated his pirouette

Neymar, Vinicius Jr., Gabriel Jesus, Rodrygo, Antony, Pedro, Gabriel Martinelli. Tite has many possibilities for plotting the offense of a leading candidate to keep the trophy in Qatar. From such an array of resources, the Brazilian coach has chosen to place his trust richarison occupy the center of attack. And the Tottenham player repaid that grit with two goals conceded Serbian at the premiere of green yellow in the World Cup.

A number nine definition, who collects the ball in the small area and pushes it into the net after a shot by Vinicius blocked by goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, and an acrobatic prodigy that already promises to be the best goal of the first date of the tournament. the footballer born 25 years ago in Nova Venecia, a municipality of 50,000 inhabitants located in the northwest of the state of Espírito Santo, in the hero of the night at the Lusail stadium.

The presence of pombo (Pigeon) in the Brazilian attack is no longer a surprise, given that he has long been one of the favorites of Tite, the coach who made him debut for the national team on 8 September 2018, in a 2-0 victory over the United States in a friendly played in New Jersey. That day he came on for Roberto Firmino with 15 minutes to go. “He impressed us from the first minute on the pitch,” said the DT. Since then he has played 39 games and, with his brace against Serbia, scored 19 goals, as well as giving away 7 assists.

If there was anything that cast doubt on the striker’s trip to Qatar, it wasn’t his performance, but a calf injury in his left leg suffered on October 15 in a duel between Tottenham, a club he arrived at from Everton in July in exchange for 60 million euros, and his former Premier League club. So shortly after the World Cup started, hearts stopped at that moment. Seeing him leave on crutches and cry didn’t restore calm, quite the contrary. However, the signal for relief came a few hours later. “Thank God it was just a big scare. Two weeks and I’ll be back,” warned the protagonist.

Three weeks later, he received confirmation in London that he would play a World Cup for the first time. Joy flooded him, as can be seen in a video released by the Brazilian Football Confederation. 9,000 kilometers away, his loved ones also celebrated him: brothers, cousins, nephews, uncles and friends gathered at his grandmother Sebastiana’s house in Nova Venecia, to hear Tite pronounce the name of the city’s prodigal son. The call-up made him the fourth player born in Espírito Santo to play in a World Cup after Fontana (1970), Carlos Germano (1998) and Maxwell (2014).

The Tottenham player and company arrived in Qatar marked favorites to lift the trophy. Faced with this, they acted differently. Neymar published a photo on his Instagram account a few days ago in which he had added one star to the five that include the official clothing (one for each World Cup won), which was interpreted by some as an act of pedantry. “We are not arrogant, we are dreamers. We dream of that sixth star and we want to get it,” Richarlison defended him.

When analyzing the condition of candidates that is attributed to them, pombo he hasn’t dodged the bulge, though he’s opted for restraint. “There are many good teams, but we are Brazil. We have a lot of history, we have never lost a World Cup and we will go to Qatar to honor the shirt,” she said on Saturday.

Three days earlier, in a training session for the Brazilian team in Turin (where he did the last part of his conditioning before the trip to Qatar), Richarlison had surprised him in a definition workout with pure plasticity scissors. But it’s one thing to do it in a relaxed preparation session and quite another to achieve it in a World Cup match. The nine Tite trusted gave it a try against Serbia on Thursday. And he understood it.