“Water so clear you can see to the bottom, hundred thousand dollar cars e’ybody got ‘em. Ain’t no surprise in the club to see Sly Stallone, Miami my second home.” So said Will Smith, and the actor-rapper’s observations ring true to this day. Miami is still a city where the stars come out to play. On this night however, and unfortunately from a Scottish perspective, Vinícius Júnior came to play his way through their defence.
Just as thousands of Scots colonised Boston, so it appeared that the entire upper middle class of São Paulo had come to Florida for this big game. Brazilian celebrities had followed too, the most obvious being Ronaldinho who not only officially signed for a third division Italian side while in the city, but was afforded a VVIP spot just outside the players’ tunnel where he could greet the players, and manager Carlo Ancelotti, as they made their way out.
The result was an atmosphere inside Miami Stadium equivalent to a Brazil home game, with three of the four stands wall-to-wall yellow. They may not have made as much noise as the Tartan Army, but they didn’t spend all that money for a ticket without having some investment in the outcome. Yes, there was the requirement for a result that would secure qualification and perhaps first place in the group, but people were here to see the stars show out, and show out they certainly did.
First among equals in this Brazil side is Vinícius, who came into this match with three goals and two man of the match awards in the World Cup already. The ball was at his feet within seconds of the whistle first being blown. To be fair to Scotland’s Nathan Patterson it was only for a brief moment, as the Everton man slid in to win it, but it didn’t matter much and rarely happened again. It turned out the Real Madrid star didn’t need to beat his man every time to make his influence felt on the game. For the opening goal he didn’t have to do anything much at all.
After Rayan had punished a clodhopping touch from Scott McKenna and squared to Vinícius to give Brazil the lead in just the seventh minute, any pressure that may have been on Ancelotti’s previously stuttering side was lifted. Vinícius responded like a mastiff let off the leash. He went left, he went right. In the 22nd minute he popped up in the centre to rob Jack Hendry and burst through to score only to be denied by the sort of VAR call usually reserved for England defenders. He earned a deserved brace before half-time, reading the arc of a Bruno Guimarães cross perfectly to head home at the back post after both Angus Gunn and Patterson had got it all wrong.
Vinícius wasn’t playing alone and in the second half other stars made their mark too. Matheus Cunha began Brazil’s opening fixture against Morocco on the bench, but has started as the No 9 since and showed here he has the confidence and ability to own that position. Two goals against Haiti were complemented by a clinical third in this match, a sidefoot effort that bent around two defenders, and Gunn at full stretch, to nestle in the net. A surfing celebration duly followed and those pearly white teeth were gleaming for the cameras. Whatever star power is, this guy has it.
He may be playing in a less glamorous position perhaps, but you could say the same thing about Guimarães. The Newcastle captain’s bewitching cross for the second goal was followed by an assist for the third that was just as silky, a shimmy outside the box that sent Patterson to the ground before he slipped in Cunha with a perfectly weighted pass, the sort of thing you expect from a No 10, not one half of a midfield pivot.
Maybe it’s an English bias that means the Premier League players in this Brazil side stood out. For the fans in the stand it was someone else they were waiting for. Neymar emerged from the bench with 14 minutes to go, his first action of this World Cup after his shock recall. He didn’t do very much, but his every touch was still greeted with olés (the Scottish fans had done the same for their players during the halcyon period of minutes one to six). In the 90th minute he got a free-kick, played it short so he could get it back, drifted in to the top of the D and got a shot off that Gunn claimed with relative ease. It was enough to stir echoes of the memories he used to generate regularly in prestigious contests like these.
The value of a team is greater than the sum of its parts, so we are often told, and there are enough examples to be confident the maxim is correct. But Brazil’s fans want stars too, and the World Cup, this World Cup especially, is reminding us of the power they can have to influence matches and their outcome. Vinícius has shown up for Brazil and duly collected a third player of the match award at the end of this game. Other players, perhaps protected by his shadow, are now delivering too. Scotland, for whom none of their hopes have delivered – be it Scott McTominay, John McGinn or Andy Robertson – can only look on in envy.
