Brazil stumbles in its first exam without Neymar. With the classification and the group leadership assured, Canarinha gave up a 1-1 draw against Ecuador this Sunday, which will finally be in the quarterfinals of the Copa América thanks to the defeat of Venezuela against Peru.
The hosts, who will face Uruguay or Chile in the next round, dominated in the first half and took the lead with a brilliant header from Madrid’s Éder Militao in the 37th minute at the Goiania Olympic Stadium.
With Neymar on the bench throughout the game, Tite’s box deflated in the second half and allowed the Tricolor to add a gold point that Ángel Mena rescued from Enner Valencia’s pass with his head, in the 53rd minute.
Playing the qualification against a streak of hosts was a sin that ended up being a salvation for Ecuador, who incidentally cut a sequence of ten consecutive victories for Brazil, better by Tite’s personal score.
Gustavo Alfaro’s team will be in the quarterfinals without having achieved a single victory in this group B. They lost to Colombia (1-0) and drew with Venezuela (2-2), Peru (2-2) and Brazil (1-1) . Everything indicates that Argentina will be measured in the next round.
Brazil, for its part, has gone from more to less in this first phase, although it continues to be the rival to beat after defeating Venezuela (3-0), Peru (4-0) and Colombia (2-1) and drawing with Ecuador with nothing at stake (1-1).
Ecuador’s slogan for this life-or-death duel was to lock in behind and be as vertical as possible in the attack. Little else can be done against a Brazil that until today had been intractable in this Copa América.
For Tite, the game was one more experiment with a clear objective: to observe the offensive dynamics of the team without Neymar.
In the first minutes, La Tri marked territory with two lukewarm shots from Valencia and Estupiñán.
Valencia tried again from far away and almost did not surprise Alisson, who even stumbled as he backed away from the goal. And from there it went out and left Brazil to write the rest of the script for the first half.
With Neymar out of the game, Paquetá tried to act as a leader and braided good plays with Gabigol, who missed a luxury pass from the Olympique de Lyon midfielder that left him alone against Galíndez.
Everton ‘Cebolinha’ and Renán Lodi also found fertile ground on the left wing. Brazil was much superior, with a possession that touched 80%, but the truth is that, in general, they lacked some fluidity at the time of finalizing plays.
In the end it was a stopped ball from the right flank that unblocked the match in favor of the homeowners. Everton ‘Cebolinha’ focused a foul into the area, where Militao rose between three Ecuadorian players to head crossed and inaugurate the scoring.
The Real Madrid defender celebrated his first goal with the senior team with a dance along with Douglas Luiz and Lucas Paquetá.
In the second half, Ecuador came out with another face and without scratching too much they found a life jacket in Mena’s boots, who had come out in the first half to replace Caicedo.
The tie originated in a strange sequence of clearances at the exit of a corner that ended up combing Valencia so that Mena shot with everything in the area.
Brazil was missing in action. He forgot to attack and lost the helm. Tite noticed it and brought Casemiro and Vinicius Júnior in, looking for a reaction.
The Real Madrid winger revealed his problems with the goal also in the national team. Paquetá put a temperate service inside the area, but his ex-Flamengo teammate, with everything in his favor, did not hit between the three suits.
In Ecuador, everything began and ended in Enner Valencia, fireproof tonight. The two Preciado, Ayrton and Ángelo, were also a danger for Canarinha during the second half.
With fifteen minutes to go, Estupiñán launched a long free kick that forced Alisson to stretch. La Tri sought a historic victory, although in the end they had to settle for a point that tastes of glory and puts some doubts on the all-powerful Brazilian team.