Neymar and Bruno Guimaraes tale is a cautionary one | OneFootball

At around 6pm on Thursday night, Tite named his team, Neymar the biggest of all names in this elite team Brazil can put out on the pitch, rightfully making them favourites for this Qatar World Cup.

Bruno Guimaraes named on the bench.

I saw some ridiculous headlines as the local (north east) newspapers tried to get the attention / clicks.

Apparently Newcastle United fans were ‘shocked’, or something even worse, that the NUFC midfielder wasn’t starting.

Really?

Considering Bruno has only ever started two games for Brazil in his entire career, I would have thought ‘shocked’ (or even more extreme) would only have applied if Guimaraes had started this Serbia match, especially as they were up against probably their toughest opponents in the group.

So much competition for places in that central midfield for Brazil, Casemiro has 66 appearances and Paqueta 36, whilst Bruno Guimaraes has a total of 187 minutes so far for his national side.

Don’t worry, his time will come. I think Bruno will definitely get time on the pitch in the next week against Switzerland and/or Cameroon, then who knows the rest of the competition?

What I do know though is that if Bruno Guimaraes keeps up his level of form for Newcastle United, then post-World Cup he will for sure be increasingly a part of the Brazil first team, not just the squad.

The thing is anyway, I don’t understand why any Newcastle fan has any desperation for Bruno to have started last night?

Brazil were up against tough opposition, not just in terms of quality, but most definitely in a physical sense.

Neymar ended up being forced off in the second half with an ankle problem, Friday morning bringing widespread reports that he will be getting scanned today and the potential for everything from missing the next match to missing the rest of the tournament.

Who knows the truth of that BUT what I do know is that for all Newcastle United fans, the massive priority is that Bruno comes through this World Cup and out the other end, fit and ready to play for NUFC.

Yes, we all want our players to be happy and international recognition is all part of that, BUT I am happy for our playmaker to be eased into the Qatar World Cup and gradually step up his minutes and influence on the pitch.

By the way, I heard some hysterical stuff last night about Brazil supposedly a disappointment because they didn’t totally blow Serbia away. Martin Keown and whoever the commentator was, they were an absolute joke. Serbia really tough first group opponents and by the end a 2-0 win that could easily have been 5-0 or 6-0, the stats show Serbia didn’t have a shot on target the whole game, whilst Brazil scored two, had another six on target, hit post and bar, had 22 shots in total.

To me they absolutely showed why they are favourites and they are the only team who can put out two totally different sets of midfielders and attackers, that are both excellent.

On more important matters, tonight I will be back to worrying about Kieran Trippier as England take on USA. Along with Bruno (and Botman), the right-back has been Newcastle’s best player(s) this season, an injury to him would be devastating. I’m quite happy as well that Harry Kane sounds as though he will be ok to start, keep Callum Wilson to cameos off the bench for the time being, his time can come in the final! As for Nick Pope, as the best keeper in the Premier League this season, very unlucky to be number two for England BUT more important things to worry about from Boxing Day onwards!

As Newcastle fans, we were also supposed to be (according to local media) amazed that Fabian Schar didn’t start in Switzerland’s win over Cameroon yesterday.

Well, seen as Elvedi and Akanji have been the first choice central defenders for the past year or so, not exactly a surprise for anybody with any knowledge of the situation. Another key part of what has happened at Newcastle United in 2022, I do though think for sure that Schar will also get minutes in the games to come, I think he will start at least one of the Brazil or Cameroon games, especially as both central defenders were booked yesterday.

The TV schedule for all 48 Qatar World Cup group games, games highlighted with Newcastle United players potential involvement:

20 November, 16:00: Qatar 0 Ecuador 2

21 November, 13:00: England 6 Iran 2

21 November, 10:00: Senegal 0 Netherlands 2

21 November, 19:00: USA 1 Wales 1

22 November, 10:00: Argentina 1 Saudi Arabia 2

22 November, 13:00: Denmark 0 Tunisia 0

22 November, 16:00: Mexico 0 Poland 0

Tuesday 22 November, 19:00: France 4 Australia 1

23 November, 10:00: Morocco 0 Croatia 0

23 November, 13:00: Germany 1 Japan 2

23 November, 16:00: Spain 7 Costa Rica 0

23 November, 19:00: Belgium 1 Canada 0

Thursday 24 November, 10:00: Switzerland 1 Cameroon 0

24 November, 13:00: Uruguay 0 South Korea 0

24 November, 16:00: Portugal 3 Ghana 2

Thursday 24 November, 19:00: Brazil 2 Serbia 0

25 November, 10:00: Wales v Iran – BBC

25 November, 13:00: Qatar v Senegal – BBC

25 November, 16:00: Netherlands v Ecuador – ITV

Friday 25 November, 19:00: England v USA – ITV (Nick Pope, Kieran Trippier, Callum Wilson)

Saturday 26 November, 10:00: Tunisia v Australia – BBC (Garang Kuol)

26 November, 13:00: Poland v Saudi Arabia – ITV

26 November, 16:00: France v Denmark – ITV

26 November, 19:00: Argentina v Mexico – ITV

27 November, 10:00: Japan v Costa Rica – ITV

27 November, 13:00: Belgium v Morocco – BBC

27 November, 16:00: Croatia v Canada – BBC

27 November, 19:00: Spain v Germany – BBC

28 November, 10:00: Cameroon v Serbia – ITV

28 November, 13:00: South Korea v Ghana – BBC

Monday 28 November, 16:00: Brazil v Switzerland – ITV (Bruno Guimaraes, Fabian Schar)

28 November, 19:00: Portugal v Uruguay – ITV

29 November, 15:00: Ecuador v Senegal – ITV

29 November, 15:00: Netherlands v Qatar – ITV

29 November, 19:00: Iran v USA – BBC

Tuesday 29 November, 19:00: England v Wales – BBC (Nick Pope, Kieran Trippier, Callum Wilson)

30 November, 15:00: Tunisia v France – BBC

Wednesday 30 November, 15:00: Australia v Denmark – BBC (Garang Kuol)

30 November, 19:00: Poland v Argentina – BBC

30 November, 19:00: Saudi Arabia v Mexico – BBC

1 December, 16:00: Canada v Morocco – BBC

1 December, 16:00: Croatia v Belgium – BBC

1 December, 19:00: Japan v Spain – ITV

1 December, 19:00: Costa Rica v Germany – ITV

2 December, 16:00: Ghana v Uruguay – BBC

2 December, 16:00: South Korea v Portugal – BBC