![\"Brazil](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/487566b320d9374d9b0549e2036798d579a32d7a\/1069_357_5428_4343\/master\/5428.jpg?width=460&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=8039a83f195231eeca6127d416e95d82\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf Vin\u00edcius is now Brazil\u2019s undisputed star, the 25-year-old has also yet to really make the team his own. He has turned in frustrating and often fruitless performances at major international tournaments, while scoring a mere nine goals in 49 appearances entering this, his second World Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has yet to wrest top billing from Neymar, whose jersey was worn by huge swaths of the Brazilian fans in their draw with Morocco on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neymar, visibly hobbled, ambled by the adoring Brazilian crowds before the match, confirming that he is still here, that he still matters. He sported a backwards hat, like the teenager who once dazzled us before injuries sapped his powers over the last decade. He got what he wanted: loud cheers, even though he wasn\u2019t even in the matchday squad. Neymar, and the No 10, were there but they also were not. He attempted a bit of coaching from the sidelines during the game, trying to exert influence over a team he can help in no other way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So if ever there was a time for Vin\u00edcius to announce, or indeed confirm, that he was taking charge, this was it: the only group-stage match of this World Cup featuring two of Fifa\u2019s top-10 teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He did just that, under the watchful eye of Brazil legends Ronaldo, Kak\u00e1 and Roberto Carlos. And he did it for his coach, Ancelotti, who oversaw Vin\u00edcius\u2019s maturation at Real Madrid, who coaxed him from prodigy to superstar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vin\u00edcius was man of the match \u2013 admittedly a tad generously, given the performance of Morocco\u2019s marvelously efficient 18-year-old playmaker Ayyoub Bouaddi. And it was Vin\u00edcius\u2019s 32nd-minute equalizer that roused Brazil from their early slumber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several times in the first half, Brazil\u2019s players felt compelled to wave their arms upwards at their own fans, who far outnumbered their Moroccan counterparts, demanding more support. They may as well have asked the same of themselves, stunned as they seemed that the semi-finalists at the last World Cup \u2013 a stage the Brazilians have not reached on foreign soil in nearly a quarter-century \u2013 played right through them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe team was a bit anxious and at the beginning nerves were all over the place,\u201d Ancelotti confessed after the match. \u201cIn the second half we did a lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet out wide for a side still finding itself, Vin\u00edcius was a relentless danger. In the 14th minute, he hurtled up the last strip of grass in direct sunlight, beat his club \u2013 and now international \u2013 rival Achraf Hakimi, and shuffled into the shadows, unleashing a cross that Igor Thiago couldn\u2019t quite get his head on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later, Vin\u00edcius found a pocket of space in the Moroccan box, where Bruno Guimar\u00e3es gave him a clever ball. He cut inside to improve an acute angle, turning Neil El Aynaoui inside out, and blasted his finish past Yassine Bounou. The goal canceled out Ismael Saibari\u2019s delightful 21st-minute dink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was the last goal of the game, from a chance that carried no more than 0.1 expected goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI believe I can improve a lot, I managed to score a goal, but I didn\u2019t have 100% of my best technical part,\u201d Vin\u00edcius said after the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From there, Brazil settled down and Morocco set up in a deep block. Most of whatever threat Brazil still posed emanated from Vin\u00edcius\u2019s left flank. He danced his way into space but nobody had joined him in the attack to connect with his cross \u2013 something which may well become a theme in Ancelotti\u2019s striker-less system. Then Vin\u00edcius loped into the space behind Hakimi after being sprung again, finding Raphinha, whose finish was feckless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re up against Vin\u00edcius, it\u2019s hard to defend,\u201d Morocco manager Mohamed Ouahbi lamented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was hardly perfect. Vin\u00edcius gave the ball away a lot, tried a fair few things that didn\u2019t come off. But on the night, he was there for his nation. When Brazil needed a spark, not to mention a goal, they got it from the Real Madrid star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For now, that will suit the five-time champions just fine. And there was something fitting about a man called Vin\u00ed doing the business in North Jersey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior is not wearing the famous Brazil No 10 at this World Cup. For now, the hallowed shirt of Pel\u00e9, Zico, Rivellino, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and all the rest belongs to Neymar. Or at least it belongs to a man faintly resembling Neymar. Now 34, he showed just enough at Santos to make Carlo Ancelotti\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":49766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3295],"tags":[5522,5304,2422,1725,10387,6096,8924,8908,5262,12326,4066,8123,9026,5500,4918,1444,11111,11525,10954,7970,12791,8126,5457,161,7968,7964,1565,13256,196,2103,2219,194,9230,8160,1364,5470,7419,6348,5889,36,5248,7208,594],"class_list":["post-49765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-sport","tag-arms","tag-attack","tag-brazil","tag-brazilian","tag-campaign","tag-carlo-ancelotti","tag-chance","tag-coach","tag-cut","tag-decade","tag-el","tag-eye","tag-fans","tag-fifa","tag-gabriel-jesus","tag-hell","tag-injured","tag-injuries","tag-international","tag-jesus","tag-manager","tag-match","tag-morocco","tag-neymar","tag-nine","tag-north","tag-pedro","tag-players","tag-real-madrid","tag-richarlison","tag-roberto","tag-ronaldo","tag-santos","tag-saudi","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-space","tag-the-game","tag-us","tag-vinicius-junior","tag-world","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-2026","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49767,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49765\/revisions\/49767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}