Vinicius Jr has been discussed more in absentia than when he was in India last year for the BRICS Cup. But, at the ongoing FIFA U-17 World Cup, the Selecao’s attacking trident of Lincoln, Paulinho and Brenner has ensured that such talk is confined just to the press room.
As coach Carlos Amadeu put it, “Brazil does not miss players who aren’t here.”
Vinicius’ stock was built on the back of his multi-million dollar transfer to Real Madrid. But Lincoln is different. He is a classic No. 9, similar to the original Ronaldo. It is a position the Brazil senior side struggled to fill for almost a decade. Only now does it have a world-class option in Gabriel Jesus.
Lincoln has a long way to go but it is easy to see why there is so much buzz.
“He is devilish!” Brazilian legend Zico recently said of Lincoln. “He has all the ability to be the future No. 9 for my Flamengo.” Zico is arguably the greatest ever footballer to play for Flamengo and his word does carry immense weight.
On the other hand, Paulinho and Brenner are modern-day shuttlers — as adept at ripping apart defences as they are at taking up extremely intelligent positions. Paulinho’s winner against Spain in the first match and his assist that set up Lincoln against Niger threw much light on these qualities of his. “We are very synchronised in our movements,” said Lincoln. “We talk a lot before the matches. Paulinho and Brenner are very special players and are helping me a lot to score. With them around, everything becomes easy. We wish to develop it further.”
One of football’s main discussion points of late has been whether Brazilian football, known for its elegance and flair, is being forced to conform to technical rigidities and principles alien to it. But, as these three have shown, they can all well co-exist.
Paulinho does believe that “strikers are the first defenders and the defenders are the first playmakers.” But the samba style is something he swears by.
“For everything you need to work as a team,” he said. “We have been doing this for two years. Like with Lincoln, there is an excellent partnership. We know exactly where the other player is and in which direction he is going to move.”
So far, this has brought Brazil all six of its goals — three from Lincoln, two from Paulinho and one from Brenner — and signs are that there will be more.
During the course of that time there will be more questions on Vinicius and more dead bats from Amadeu in return. But one thing is for sure: even if Brazil fails, it will not be because of Vinicius’ absence.
