Dominance on the left side in the penalty area, cutting inside and precise shot, with short movement, gaining enough fractions of a second to beat the goalkeeper. Speedy sprint and easy disarming of the opposing full-back. Two scenes of Vinicius Junior against Morocco. For fans who don’t follow Real Madrid’s games, it’s good to get used to these ups and downs in the same match as the most famous athlete on the national team’s pitch.
Vinicius is a player who has a risky style of play, looking to dribble, sprinting with the ball. The risk can be compensated, but it can also cause complications for your team and the patience of the fans. Against Morocco, he was unsuccessful in all eight dribbling attempts, Opta Analyst statistics showed.
In the 2025/26 Champions League, Vinicius attempted 55 dribbles. He got half right, 49%. Is it a good or bad performance? In the same tournament, Kvaratskhelia, the Georgian from PSG, voted the best player in the competition, had a 56% success rate, but attempted fewer dribbles. Doué, the other fast striker on the champion team, was below Vinicius’s performance, with 44% (data compiled by Fotmob).
In other words, in the category of fast players and dribblers, Vinicius Junior is in a privileged position, at the level of the best in the world.
Boldness is increasingly necessary in today’s football, where teams easily defend themselves with nine players posted in two lines at the height of the penalty area and in the middle.
But in competitive games, such as the World Cup, boldness is worth it if it is converted in crucial moments and if the Brazilian defense manages to mitigate the fatal loss of the ball. Against Morocco, he saved the team from defeat.
Was the debut that bad?
Until Vinicius Junior’s goal, the Brazilian team was really stunned, they had taken 11 shots, including the opening goal, and had only two shots.
But the cold data at the end of the match showed an even confrontation, not just on the scoreboard. Brazil took 12 shots on goal, just two less than Morocco. If only those who scored the opponent’s goal are considered, Brazil had five, two more than their rival.
In terms of ball possession, which was a struggle only in the first half, Brazil finished slightly better (51.4%).
And amidst so much pessimism, the positive performance of a Brazilian player went under the radar. Left-back Douglas Santos, who had the thankless job of stopping the side in which Hakimi, one of the best full-backs in the world, was attacking, was one of the players who won the most duels during the match — five. He can be an important piece against opponents with strong offensive power.
It was little if we think about the tradition of Brazil. But the final result is consistent with the current situation of the two teams, which are close in the FIFA rankings (sixth and seventh places).
Couldn’t having this scare on your debut (in one of the duels with the most evenly matched teams in the entire first phase of the World Cup) bring a positive sense of urgency to improve the team?
What will be inconceivable will be any Brazilian stumble against Haiti, which has only a 7% chance of passing the stage and a 0.00% chance of winning the title, according to the prediction of Opta’s supercomputer.
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