Coutinho was on target as Brazil consolidated their position atop the CONMEBOL standings with a convincing 3-0 victory over Argentina in Belo Horizonte on Thursday.
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Philippe Coutinho, Neymar and Paulinho all scored and Brazil hammered Lionel Messi and Argentina 3-0 in a FIFA World Cup qualifier on Thursday.
“In this situation, the minimum is you get down and everything turns out to be more hard”.
Brazil were dominant in a rampant second half and could have scored more with Neymar and substitute Robero Firmino both coming close. We need to be united. Neymar was injured when Brazil experienced their worst defeat ever.
Seven members of the Brazil squad were in the Mineirao stadium that fateful July day in 2014, two (Marcelo and Fernandinho) starting the match and another two (Paulinho and Willian) finishing it.
Argentina captain Messi said: “We’re down but we’re still alive”.
“So we are going to look to have a good game and continue our growth within the competition no matter who is on the other team”.
Assessing Brazil’s strengths, Tite said Neymar was great because he was playing box to box with the same quality. “If you’re not mentally strong, the legs won’t respond”. “That is not the case”. I think that, until the first goal, it was very balanced, but after the second they killed the game off. “We have a lot of merit not only in offence, but also defending”, Brazil midfielder Renato Augusto said. Brazil vs Argentina had many elements to make it a special encounter.
This is as big as it gets in World Cup qualifiers and a must watch for anyone looking to keep up with the game at the national team level.
5th place would earn them a play-off match with a side from Oceania.
Tite’s side return to action on Tuesday as they travel to face Peru, hoping to extend their lead at the top of the South American section of the 2018 World Cup qualification.
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However, the team of Edgardo Bauza will be ignoring the statistics and counting on their superstars, Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero, to reverse this sorry trend. Argentina, on the other hand, is still searching for a way to climb up the ladder. – a prospect that’s looking distinctly hard for the Lionel Messi led Albiceleste.
