Flamengo defender saves 2 goals as Brazil beat Paraguay in friendly | OneFootball

João Victor captained the Brazil National Team this Saturday (28)

It’s a FIFA window for the professionals, but also for the youth players. This Saturday (28), the Brazil Under-20 National Team took the field and beat Paraguay 3-1 in a friendly played in São José dos Campos, São Paulo. A Flamengo center back, João Victor Souza started, captained the team, played the full 90 minutes, and prevented two certain goals from the opposition.

João started the match nervously and, just four minutes in, committed a hard foul in midfield to stop a counterattack. As a result, referee Flávio Rodrigues de Souza from São Paulo showed the yellow card to the Flamengo player, who then had to play the remaining 86 minutes on a booking.

HOW DID THE MATCH GO?

Brazil were far superior to Paraguay in the first half. In the 11th minute, Bruninho, Athletico-PR’s rising star, received the ball on the right, cut onto his left foot, and unleashed a rocket—an absolute stunner to open the scoring. In the 31st minute, another beauty from Brazil: Erick Belé of Palmeiras doubled the lead after a brilliant individual run through the middle.

At the end of the half, Paraguay benefited from a refereeing mistake to pull one back. After a cross into the box, the referee saw a handball by fullback Kauã Prates, but the ball had actually hit the player’s ribs. Since there was no VAR, the penalty stood. Eduardo Delmas converted from the spot.

João Victor saved Brazil in the ninth minute of the second half. After a poor clearance by Brazilian goalkeeper João Pedro, the goal was left empty and Paraguay managed to get a shot away. But the Flamengo center back threw himself at the ball and kept out the equalizer. In the 12th minute, it was a similar story: the keeper left the goal open again after a mistake playing out from the back, the opponent shot, and the Ninho graduate cleared it off the line.

As the saying goes, if you don’t take your chances, you’ll concede. On a quick counterattack, the ball fell to Bruninho inside the box. With great composure, the winger dribbled past two Paraguayans and wrong-footed the opposing goalkeeper, delighting the fans in attendance at the stadium.

BUT WHERE IS DOUGLAS TELLES?

Another Flamengo player called up to the under-20 team, Douglas Telles was not even on the bench. The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) did not announce the reason for the red-and-black forward’s absence from the match played in São José dos Campos.

Now, the Flamengo forward hopes for an opportunity in Tuesday’s (31) friendly against the same Paraguay side at Canindé Stadium, in the city of São Paulo, at 4 p.m. (Brasília time). Coluna do Fla will, of course, bring all the information about the clash, with special attention to the performances of the Flamengo players.

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