Facing a hostile environment in the almost full 50,000-seat Pierre Mauroy stadium in Lille, France, the Brazilian team drew 1-1 with Tunisia, this Tuesday (18), in the last friendly of the year.
Unlike what happened last week, when the team coached by Italian Carlo Ancelotti authoritatively defeated Senegal 2-0 in London, this time Brazil alternated between good and bad moments.
The national formation thus continued its seesaw movement. In the previous friendly window, they had dominated South Korea and upset Japan.
Pushed by the fans, the overwhelming majority made up of the large Tunisian community in France – around 1 million migrants and descendants –, the African team, 43rd in the FIFA (International Football Federation) ranking, opened the scoring in the 22nd minute. The thermometers showed 6ºC.
In a quick attack, center forward Hazem Mastouri, from Dinamo Makhachkala, in Russia, came face to face with goalkeeper Bento and finished with precision.
With many red flares and even some bombs –Ancelotti even complained about an object thrown onto the field–, the fans helped put pressure on the Brazilian team, which until then was insecure and missed passes.
As has happened in matches involving teams from Arab countries, some fans waved Palestinian flags. The Tunisians sang a shy chorus of “free Palestine” shortly before Mastouri’s goal.
Roma’s right-back Wesley received a yellow card after just eight minutes and became the weak link in the Brazilian defense. When the Tunisian scored the goal, he made a harsh tackle and could have received a second yellow card, but the referee, Frenchman Jérôme Brisard, contented himself with a conversation.
The unfavorable score woke up the Brazilian team, which began to dominate the game. But the draw only came thanks to the video referee, who saw a penalty on a corner kick.
With the confidence of a veteran, despite being 18 years and six months old, Estêvão, highly praised the day before by Ancelotti, took the penalty and equalized.
At half-time Ancelotti replaced Wesley with Danilo, from Flamengo.
12 minutes into the second half, Éder Militão felt an injury and was replaced by Fabrício Bruno. Ancelotti also replaced the midfielder duo, formed by Casemiro and Bruno Guimarães, with Fabinho and Lucas Paquetá.
Mixing absolute starters and Ancelotti’s experiences, the Brazilian team once again gave way to Tunisia.
The chance of victory was at the feet of Lucas Paquetá, in the 32nd minute. But the West Ham midfielder fired over the penalty conceded by Vitor Roque. Goalkeeper Aymen Dahmen knelt in the penalty area to thank Allah.
In the last play of the game, Estêvão hit the foot of Dahmen’s post with a low shot.
TECHNICAL SHEET
Brazil 1 x 1 Tunisia (friendly)
Local: Decathlon Stadium, em Lille (FRA)
Arbitrator: Jérome Brisard (FRA)
Goals: Mastouri (TUN – 23’/1st) and Estêvão (BRA – 44’/1st)
Yellow cards: Wesley (BRA) and Abdi (TUN)
Brazil: Benedict; Wesley (Danilo), Militão (Fabrício Bruno), Marquinhos and Caio Henrique; Casemiro (Fabinho) and Bruno Guimarães (Paquetá); Estêvão, Matheus Cunha (Vitor Roque), Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo
Technical: Carlo Ancelotti
Tunisia: Dahmen; Meriah, Bronn and Talbi; Valery, Sassi, Skhiri, Hannibal (Chaouat) and Abdi (Ben Ouanes); Saad (Achouri) and Mastouri (Gharbi)
Technical: The Trabels themselves
