Guillermo Martinez equalises for Mexico in added time at the end (Aric Becker/AFP via Getty Images)
In the 93rd minute, 29-year-old Pumas striker Guillermo Martinez headed the second corner onto the post, reached his own rebound and fired it past Alisson to equalise. At 2-2, Mexico’s new workmanlike squad had pressed and transitioned their way to an improbable comeback.
It was improbable because almost nothing else they did worked. A midfield of Romo and Dinamo Moscow’s Luis Chavez could get very little going. Mexico’s usual pivot, West Ham’s Edson Alvarez, was dropped down to centre-back after a nightmare game against Uruguay. His creative rotations out of the back line into pockets of space in midfield were interesting but not very effective. Mexico were only really dangerous when they did not have the ball.
But a comeback was also unlikely because, in the end, Brazil are still Brazil.
Dorival Junior’s Selecao treated this friendly as a chance to break in some new players before the tournament. The 20-year-old Savio was especially bright in his first Brazil start, even though he lined up on the right, opposite his position for Girona. His sweeping dribbles across midfield as an inverted winger threw Mexico’s man-marking into disarray and set up the team’s first goal.
Savio caught the eye at College Station (Tim Warner/Getty Images)
In the 61st minute, 17-year-old phenom Endrick bounded onto the pitch wearing Brazil’s newest No 9 shirt.
Ronaldo’s number might have looked a little silly on a player so small his kit threatened to swallow him up, except for the fact the kid was an absolute terror. It took him all of a minute to slip behind the Mexican left-back Gerardo Arteaga (though, in fairness, everyone is constantly getting behind Arteaga) to flash his first shot across the face of goal.
The real fun started when Endrick was joined by his soon-to-be Real Madrid team-mate Vinicius Junior, playing something like the new centre-forward role that he tried out in this spring’s Champions League. Their chemistry as a strike partnership was instant.
Whenever either forward dropped off the front line to collect the ball, his first look was for a line-breaking pass to his partner running ahead of him and they’re gifted enough to connect at almost any speed or angle.
Vinicius Jr demonstrated his class and combined well with Endrick (Omar Vega/Getty Images)
Six minutes into added time, Vinicius Jr cut in from the wing against a double team and curled a long, hopeful cross into the box. He was looking for Endrick, of course, but no Mexico defender even bothered to mark Brazil’s No 9. The shortest player on the pitch rose for an uncontested header at the penalty spot and flicked it into the side of the net to win the game.
Amid the celebration, Endrick ripped off his shirt, threw it into the air, dusted it off and then held up the number backwards to show the crowd: this is his shirt now.
Endrick is unchallenged as he nods in the winner (Aric Becker/AFP via Getty Images)
Despite Mexico’s last-minute collapse, Lozano was upbeat. “We’re growing, learning, trying to make fewer mistakes. We didn’t make many mistakes, but unfortunately they led to goals,” the manager said. He praised his team’s defensive effort and called them “an uncomfortable team for any opponent to face”.
In a way, both sides came away with what they wanted.
Brazil got their new No 9, perhaps for years to come, and a budding strike partnership that will carry over to one of the world’s best clubs. Nothing else in this second-string friendly mattered nearly as much to them as Endrick and Vinicius Jr’s potential to carry a Neymar-less attack.
As for Mexico, they didn’t get a result, but they got a glimmer of what their football could become. When fans poured out of the stadium into the sweltering Texas night, their chants weren’t embarrassed at all.
(Top photo: Tim Warner/Getty Images)
Source link : https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5551482/2024/06/09/brazil-mexico-copa-endrick-vinicius/
Author :
Publish date : 2024-06-09 07:02:32
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
