The Brazil football team are set for their maiden visit to India, when both the teams play a FIFA friendly for the first-ever time in history on October 3 at the Saltlake Stadium in Kolkata. While many former Brazilian footballers like Pele, Ronaldinho, Cafu, Roberto Carlos among the few have set their foot on this part of the world, but this will be the first time the Brazil first team will be playing India officially.
With Barcelona’s being pulled out of the India game at the last moment due to an injury, the Brazilian fans in India would be hoping to get a glimpse of the likes of Junior, Marquinhos, Endrick and many more. Interestingly, this is not the first time for Vinicius on Indian soil.
The Real Madrid forward has played in India back in 2016, when he came with the Brazil U-17 squad for the BRICS U-17 Football Cup, held in Goa, during the 8th BRICS summit in the country. was with the youth academy of Brazilian club Flamengo at that time.
In 2017, Vinicius completed his dream transfer to Real Madrid for 46 million euros.
During his time in Goa, Vinicius played against the likes of hosts India, China, Russia and South Africa as Brazil won all the games en route to the title. He scored four goals during the tournament, including one against India. However, Vinicius wasn’t allowed to return to India with the Brazilian team a year later at the FIFA U-17 World Cup by .
Brazil started the tournament with identical 2-0 wins over China and Russia. Vinicius got his first goal in the tournament with a 78th minute strike against Russia. In their third match of the tournament, Vinicius was on the scoresheet again, against South Africa as Brazil won 3-0.
The match against India proved tough for Brazil. After Brenner gave the Brazilians the lead in the second minute, Komal Thatal equalised in the 19th minute with a beauty – a curled shot taken from the edge of the box. In the process, Thatal became the first Indian to score against Brazil.
However, Brazil came back strongly in the game. Santos regained Brazil’s lead on 30 minutes, before put the icing on the cake eight minutes from final whistle. It was also the first time Brazil conceded a goal in the tournament. In the final, Vinicius netted one as Brazil thumped South Africa 5-1 to lift the coveted trophy.
But on October 3, things will be different for Brazil and Vinicius. Ranked 138th in the FIFA Rankings, India have already stunned by holding 44th ranked Panama last month in Bengaluru. Although there is a huge gap of 133 places between Brazil and India, the Blue Tigers would give everything on the pitch to snatch a draw if not a win.
