Robinho Lazaró’s time in charge of Brazil started with a little disappointment as a tame performance saw them lose 1-0 to arch rivals Argentina in the Final of Copa América. The nation still believed in him so his next task was to lead them to World Cup 2034 in South Korea.
Captain Vinícius Junior retired from international football and Lazaró decided this was the time for more change. He replaced several of the Copa América squad, including his Santos striker Marcos Aurélio and midfielder Lucas Rosado and Real Madrid attacker Rodrygo, with promising new youngsters and instilled a new 3-5-2 approach.
World Cup Qualifying Resumes
Qualifying resumed with a quadruple-header in September and October 2032. Another clash with Argentina saw Santos stars Glaudestony Penchel and Marcelo Pereira earn a 2-2. Flamengo’s debutant striker Alisson scored in a comfortable 4-1 victory at Peru and Santos midfielder Charles and Gabriel Martinelli secured a 2-0 win in Colombia, which took Brazil top above them. And they wrapped up this stretch of games with a dominant 4-2 win at home to Chile.
A month later, Martinelli’s brace, both assisted by right wing-back Leonardo, inspired a 3-1 win in Bolivia before a rotated team lost 2-1 in Uruguay. Viní Jr., fresh from winning his 4th successive FIFA Best Men’s Player, agreed to reverse his retirement in March 2033 and returned to play up front in Lazaró’s new system. Charles scored twice in a 3-0 win over Paraguay then Jair and debutant Corinthians midfielder Jonas Moura earned an easy 2-0 win in Venezuela. And that confirmed qualification for the World Cup with 4 games spare. They wrapped up with another quadruple-header in which Lazaró rotated his options and beat Ecuador and Peru 2-0 but lost 3-2 at Argentina and drew 0-0 with Colombia to finish 2nd.
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World Cup 2034
Brazil got a decent World Cup group alongside Senegal, Saudi Arabia and Romania, in a draw that didn’t really throw up any overly exciting groups:
Brazil had several injury casualties, including Internacional striker Leonardo definitely missing the tournament and Endrick being a major doubt. They warmed up with easy wins over Sudan and Angola, and Lazaró went with his tried and tested players, throwing in Bibi and Palmeiras wonderkid Carioca as potential wildcard options. He chose a 26-man squad which included 7 of his Santos boys, of:
Goalkeepers: Matheus Donelli (33, Corinthians), Jair Scarioli (26, Flamengo), Luiz Turatto (29, Fortaleza)
Centre Backs: Márcio Antonio (25, Sao Paulo), Matheus Forcato (22, Man United), Geovane (21, Palmeiras), Glaudestony Penchel (24, Santos), Vladimir (22, Man City)
Full Backs: Paulo Henrique (23, Man United), Leonardo (24, Man United), Rodrigo Passos (25, Santos), Rafinha (25, Santos), Valdir Santos (23, PSG)
Midfielders: Bibi (20, Santos), Carioca (19, Palmeiras), Charles (25, Santos), Izaquiel Penchel (26, PSG), Marcelo Pereira (23, Santos), Lucas Rosado (25, Santos).
Attackers: Alisson (26, Flamengo), Marcos César (26, Sao Paulo), Endrick (28, Real Madrid), Gabriel Martinelli (33, PSG), Ruan (25, Newcastle), Rodney Teixeira (26, Liverpool), Viní Jr. (34, Real Madrid)
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Lazaró initially decided to stick with the 3-5-2 approach that he devised in qualifying, with various formations, including a 4-2-3-1, a narrow 4-4-2 and a wide 4-2-4, in his back pocket.
World Cup Group
Brazil’s World Cup bid began against Saudi Arabia and they missed a host of chances in a poor first half. But a tactical switch to the 4-4-2 worked nicely as Viní Jr. headed the opener. Endrick created quickfire goals for Carioca and Bibi, who laid on the 4th for Charles before Endrick and Martinelli wrapped up a big win. Lazaró moved to the 4-4-2 for the Romania game. Brazil took control with I Penchel and Carioca strikes just before halftime and the impressive Carioca made sure of victory with a 30-yard wonderstrike. That guaranteed qualification so Lazaró rotated the starting 11 for Senegal. They started terribly with a shocking set piece goal, but Charles’ brilliant finish pulled them level and late Teixeira goals eventually earned a deserved victory.
The group stage didn’t serve up any shocks. The biggest surprises were probably Ivory Coast topping their group ahead of Uruguay and Denmark and Croatia and South Africa topping a group above Mexico and Croatia.
World Cup Knockouts
The 2nd round served up a clash with Australia and Lazaró switched to a wider 4-2-4. They started well as Endrick won a penalty that Martinelli tucked away and scored twice before his strike partner Viní Jr. made it 4-0 thanks to some dubious goalkeeping after 35 minutes. Despite that dominant half, Brazil actually gave up more shots. And Australia got one back after a mass of subs, two of which Passos and Bibi combined for a 5th before Endrick wrapped up his hat trick and Bibi doubled his tally.
The first real surprise of the tournament saw Serbia defeat Italy on penalties, while Argentina only beat Croatia on penalties and France and England needed late goals to beat Mexico and Turkey. Elsewhere, Belgium beat hosts South Korea 3-1, Ukraine beat Romania 1-0, Denmark beat USA 2-1, Portugal beat Czechia 3-0, Colombia beat Uruguay 2-1, Germany beat Nigeria 3-0, Switzerland beat Cameroon 2-0, South Africa beat Algeria 3-0, Spain beat Paraguay 4-1 and Japan and Ecuador beat Ivory Coast and Sweden on penalties.
A familiar opponent followed as Brazil faced Ecuador in the final 16. Carioca was suspended so Charles came back into the team as Lazaró stuck with the 4-2-4. The midfielder was quickly involved as great interplay with Teixeira teed up Martinelli for the opener, but Ecuador obviously equalised with their first shot on target. Brazil completely dominated and Henrique’s looping cross was headed home at the backpost by Teixeira before Viní Jr. turned home Martinelli’s clever pass. The new Brazilian superstar Bibi came off the bench to win and score a penalty then slam home a brilliant 5th, making him the joint 2nd-top scorer in the tournament!
The clash of the round saw France beat England 1-0 and the biggest shock yet saw Belgium beat Argentina 2-1. Germany beat Colombia 3-1 after extra time, Denmark beat Serbia 1-0 after extra time, Switzerland beat Japan 3-2 and Spain beat South Africa 2-0.
Stepping into the business end of the World Cup, Brazil faced Portugal in the quarter finals. The game started cagily but Viní Jr. won a penalty that Martinelli slammed into the top corner. They were soon 2-0 up as Teixeira’s low cross was stabbed in by Endrick, out of sight as Carioca headed home from a corner and it was all over as Endrick curled a delicious 4th. Endrick went on to rattle in another for his hat trick and had one more ruled narrowly offside, but this made a real statement of Brazil’s intentions.
Elsewhere, it was penalties galore. The big tie of the round saw Spain edge past France after a 0-0 stalemate, Belgium beat Denmark after a 3-3 thriller, and Germany beat Switzerland after drawing 2-2.
The semi finals saw Brazil face Spain while Belgium took on Denmark. They were in a good place condition-wise, so Lazaró only brought in Charles for Carioca. Spain started the brighter without creating too much of note before Endrick should have put Brazil in front from Penchel’s brilliant through-ball but fired wide and Spain missed a similarly easy chance. But Brazil landed the first blow as Charles picked out Viní Jr. to calmly tick the ball into the top corner. Spain went down the other end and hit the bar and were immediately punished as Viní Jr. slammed home Teixeira’s low cross. But Spain got back into it from a corner just before the break.
The 2-goal lead was restored as Endrick’s corner tempted both the Penchels, and Glaudestony got the final touch, but Spain immediately responded through Bajcetic. It seemed like a thriller of a second half was in store but an injury to Martinelli and a mass of subs saw the game fade out, and Brazil eased to a 3-2 victory to reach the World Cup Final!
World Cup Final
Holders Germany crushed Belgium 4-1 in the other semi to setup a tasty-looking final, which was Brazil’s first since beating Germany to win the 2002 World Cup. Brazil were missing Martinelli, who strained his groin in the semi, and Charles was exhausted, so Bibi was handed a massive opportunity. And Lazaró lined up:
Scarioli; Leonardo, G Penchel, Vladimir, Henrique; I Penchel, Caroica; Teixeira, Bibi; Viní Jr., Endrick
Subs: César, Turatto, Geovane, Charles, Alisson, Pereira, Rafinha, Forcato, Antonio, Rosado, Passos, Santos, Donelli
The two sides played out a pretty tame first half, but Brazil should have been in front after an hour as a flowing passing move ended with Viní Jr. skewing his shot wide. Both sides were reduced to long-range efforts and it drifted to a 0-0. Lazaró tried to go for it but nothing happened and an even worse extra-time period took them to penalties.
Endrick stepped up first and saw his drilled penalty well saved, but Scarioli also dived low to his right to save Germany’s first. Vinií Jr. and Bibi converted, and Scarioli dived the other way to save Germany’s third. Vladimir drilled home to put the pressure on, but Germany converted. That saw Charles step up and, in the most poetic situation possible for Lazaró and all Santos fans, smashed the winning penalty into the top corner!
Brazil won their 6th World Cup and former Santos boy Izaquiel Penchel lofted the World Cup trophy for Brazil!!
Lazaró definitely wasn’t expecting this success going into the World Cup. But his players massively stepped up on the biggest stage, leading the way with 32 goals scored (6 more than Germany). Endrick won the Golden Boot with 7 goals, which was 1 more than 5 other players, and Carioca controversially beat Bibi to the Best Young Player award.
Lazaró took a few days out to enjoy the success with his players, especially the core group of 7 Santos players. But he soon sat the players down for a post-tournament debrief and informed them he would be tendering his resignation as Manager of Brazil to focus on his domestic commitments.
Lazaró stands down as Brazil manager after becoming World Champion, winning 31 of his 38 games in charge of his country, scoring 119 and conceding 34. But, having reached the ultimate high of international management, he felt it was time to dedicate his time back to Santos.
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