Under-20: Brazil come from behind to beat Paraguay 3-1 again
Under-20: Brazil come from behind to beat Paraguay 3-1 again Showing great resilience, the Brazil Under-20 national team came from behind against Paraguay to win again 3-1 this Tuesday (31). Despite the identical scoreline to the first friendly, the match played at Canindé was very different: Brazil fell behind in the opening minutes but won with goals from Luca Meirelles, Erick Belé and Isaque, all from the penalty spot, giving new head coach Paulo Victor a 100% record. Brazil’s Under-20 side started Tuesday’s match with three changes from the lineup that began last Saturday: Ryan, Gabriel Carvalho and Lucca replaced Igor Felisberto, Erick Belé and Isaque.
But the game started very similarly to the first friendly: Paraguay trying to speed things up with long balls, making it hard for Brazil to keep possession, and plenty of intense challenges. The match at Canindé began with intense battles Credits: Staff Images / CBF Paraguay’s pressure paid off: in an attempt to play out from the back, goalkeeper João Pedro’s pass went straight to forward Rodrigo Vera. The Paraguayan, all alone, controlled it and finished to open the scoring after three minutes.
Brazil tried to respond quickly to the goal, but struggled against the opposition’s tight marking and found it hard to string together quality passes to build attacks. The solution was to press Paraguay high and force their way closer to the box. Bruninho won the penalty that led to Brazil’s equalizer Credits: Staff Images / CBF The right side had been Brazil’s most productive route.
And when Bruninho burst into the box at speed, goalkeeper Armoa had no option but to bring him down. Penalty awarded and calmly converted by No. 9 Luca Meirelles, leveling the match in first-half stoppage time.
Brazil came back from the break with a different intensity. And Meirelles had the first chance of the second half, breaking through on the right and firing a shot across goal. This time, Armoa pulled off a miracle save and tipped it out for a corner.