How Vinícius Júnior became central to Brazil’s World Cup dream

{"text":[[{"start":7.7,"text":"Going to a Brazil game at this tournament can feel like attending an ancestor-worship ceremony. Spectators wear canary-yellow Pelé shirts, wave banners celebrating their country’s pentacampeão of five World Cups, and cheer Brazilian legends shown on the video screen watching from their VIP seats. "}],[{"start":24.599999999999998,"text":"The Seleção is overshadowed by its past. Only when the ball reaches Brazil’s forward Vinícius Júnior, scorer of four of their seven goals so far, are fans jolted into the present. "}],[{"start":37.3,"text":"This team is built around “Vini”. Even Brazil’s ability to overcome Japan in Houston on Monday depends largely on their one essential player."}],[{"start":47.199999999999996,"text":"The poor boy who grew up across the bay from Rio joined Real Madrid at 18, and after some difficult years, matured into excellence, mentored by Madrid’s then coach, the Italian Carlo Ancelotti. Shaped in Europe, Vini isn’t a player in Brazil’s futebol-arte tradition, like Neymar, but more direct: a winger who cuts in from the left to shoot with his right."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":70.85,"text":"Vini does this while facing more racism than possibly any other footballer. Bizarrely, he is often blamed for the abuse he receives from crowds in Spain and beyond, with suggestions that his corner-flag dances after goals somehow “provoke” it. But Brazil and Ancelotti — who has switched from Madrid to coach the country — have always backed him. "}],[{"start":91.44999999999999,"text":"After Vini was abused at Valencia, the lights of Rio’s Christ the Redeemer statue were switched off in solidarity. Brazil’s parliament recently considered a “Vinícius Law” that would let referees suspend games in case of racist abuse. "}],[{"start":107.94999999999999,"text":"This spring, after Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni covered his mouth with his shirt to insult Vini, Fifa passed its own de facto “Vinícius Law”: any player emulating Prestianni will be sent off. The reasoning is that when a player addresses an opponent with their mouth covered, nobody can know whether what they said was racist or homophobic. Paraguay’s Miguel Almirón was sent off under the law against Turkey this month."}],[{"start":137,"text":"Going into this tournament, Vini was a peripheral figure for Brazil, with just nine goals in 49 internationals. For nearly a decade, the Seleção had been built around Neymar, a playmaker who wanted the ball to feet, left defensive work to others, and constructed slow and intricate attacks that reduced space for Vini’s pace."}],[{"start":158.95,"text":"But Ancelotti has built this new team around his beloved protégé. The tactically flexible coach always structures his teams to accentuate the strengths of his stars. Now, with fragile 34-year-old Neymar just back from injury, and Raphinha limping off in Brazil’s first game, Brazil has only one fit gold-standard forward."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":179.29999999999998,"text":"Vini’s speed is most dangerous when he has space to sprint into. And so Ancelotti’s team, unusually for Brazil, aims to counterattack. Seen from above, it can look like a still-life painting. Brazil sets up a nine-man screen, lets even small-time opponents such as Haiti or Scotland have the ball, and dares them to build an attack. The instant a pass is mis-hit, Matheus Cunha and Rayan lead a press and feed Vini. "}],[{"start":207.49999999999997,"text":"Ancelotti has freed him from defensive duties, and urged him to move from his favourite berth on the left to the centre, preying in the gap between opposing full-back and central defence. Ancelotti told him, “As a winger, you need three or four dribbles and seven or eight touches to score. But in the centre, one well-timed movement is enough.” This fits the trend of teams using their star as chief goalscorer. After netting against Haiti, Vini chuckled: “Whenever the coach asks me to and I have to play there [in the centre], I score goals. I ought to listen to him more.”"}],[{"start":237.39999999999998,"text":"In Brazil’s last group game, a 3-0 romp against Scotland, he scored twice. His 3.06 “expected goals” — a statistical metric that measures the probability that a specific situation will result in a goal — was the highest ever for a player in a World Cup, according to data provider Opta. "}],[{"start":256.04999999999995,"text":"Such is his power and balance that when the desperate Scottish defender Jack Hendry rugby tackled him around the waist, Vini barely noticed, ran on and scored (though the goal was disallowed). He says he is now at his best “physically, technically and mentally”, adding: “I always dreamed of being at 100 per cent in the best competition in the world.” Few great players ever enjoy that experience, let alone in a tactical scheme optimised for their qualities."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":283.94999999999993,"text":"Neymar, a late substitute against Scotland, says: “Right now, Vini is our main player.” Indeed, the current system couldn’t work with Neymar. He will probably feature only as an emergency sub if Brazil are chasing a goal against a packed defence."}],[{"start":300.6499999999999,"text":"This team has flaws. Defensive midfielder Casemiro and right back Danilo are both 34 and slowing. Left-back Douglas Santos, 32, who has spent the last seven years at Zenit St Petersburg, was ignored by Brazil and provisionally selected for Russia until his home country suddenly took him to the World Cup. "}],[{"start":321.24999999999994,"text":"Vini, 26 next month, was the youngest starter in Brazil’s opener against Haiti, though Rayan, 19, has since joined him. Brazil won’t meet another team as weak as Haiti or Scotland. But one day, Brazilian fans at a future World Cup might be wearing Vini tribute shirts."}],[{"start":346.3999999999999,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1783084911_5916.mp3"}