Stats highlight Bruno Guimarães and Casemiro as key pillars for Brazil | OneFootball

Bruno Guimarães and Casemiro can already be considered Brazil’s starting midfield duo under coach Carlo Ancelotti. The Newcastle and Manchester United players, respectively, stood out in the rout of South Korea on Friday, posting numbers that highlight their importance to the Seleção.

Bruno Guimarães led all players in ground duels won against South Korea. The midfielder came out on top in five of the nine battles he contested over the 90 minutes, according to SofaScore, and also made three interceptions.

Casemiro, meanwhile, completed the most accurate passes in the friendly in Seoul. The Manchester United player and Real Madrid idol completed 98 of the 109 passes he attempted (90% accuracy).

Bruno Guimarães and Casemiro also left the field with assists. The former played a beautiful through ball to put Estêvão one-on-one with the goalkeeper to open the scoring. The latter teed up Rodrygo to find the net and make it 2–0 for Brazil in the first half.

Precisely because of their defensive and offensive importance, Bruno Guimarães and Casemiro are well on their way to forming Brazil’s starting midfield pair at the World Cup. Unless something highly unexpected happens, Carlo Ancelotti is unlikely to make major changes in that area.

Although fully satisfied with Bruno Guimarães’ and Casemiro’s performances, the Brazil coach is expected to use next Tuesday’s friendly against Japan, in Tokyo, to run tests and assess some call-ups. Therefore, there is a possibility that Bruno Guimarães and Casemiro will make way for other players in the position, such as André, João Gomes, Paquetá, and Joelinton.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.