Is scoring someone’s strong point in the Brazilian team? – 11/29/2023 – The World Is a Ball
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Holder of the Brazilian team at the 2018 World Cup, in Russia, and called up for the 2022, in Qatar, Gabriel Jesus said after last week’s 1-0 defeat to Argentina, at Maracanã, that he believes the goal “will not be my strong point.”
Coming from a striker, who currently plays for his club, the English Arsenal, as a center forward, the statement brought a high dose of incomprehension.
After all, every self-respecting striker, especially one who plays centrally, should consider scoring a goal to be his greatest quality.
If someone doesn’t see it that way, perhaps it’s time to rethink the position they play in and make room on the team for someone else – who is certain that their strongest point is scoring the opponent’s net.
After all, Brazil, which is doing poorly in the Qualifiers under the guidance of interim coach Fernando Diniz, is in dire need of goals. In the five most recent games, he scored just three, a terrible average of 0.6 per game.
Diniz called up no less than nine attackers for the team’s last two appearances. Currently, do any of them have goalscoring as their strong point?
The answer largely depends on the demands of those who follow football. What is enough? One goal per match (whose regulatory time is 90 minutes)?
Maybe it’s asking too much, as it’s unusual for a striker to perform like this.
He has to be in a stupendous phase or be an ace like the Norwegian Erling Haaland, 23, from Manchester City, who this season (2023/24) records an average of one goal every 85 minutes (club plus national team).
Gabriel Jesus, in the current season, scored four goals in 929 minutes – he missed some games due to knee and thigh injuries. In other words, it took him 232 minutes, or close to two and a half games, to overcome the opposing goalkeeper.
This leaves him in an advantageous position compared to three of those recently called up by Diniz (Pepê, Raphinha and Martinelli) and at a disadvantage compared to five (João Pedro, Paulinho, Rodrygo, Endrick and Vini Jr).
Below, the numbers for each one, in goals per minute, considering the 2023 season in Brazil and the 2023/24 season in Europe, in competition games played by the club and the national team.
- João Pedro (Brighton, 22 years old): 1 goal every 134 minutes (1,071 minutes, 8 goals)
- Paulinho (Atlético-MG, 23 years old): 1 goal every 162 minutes (4,531 minutes, 28 goals)
- Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid, 23 years old): 1 goal every 194 minutes (1,165 minutes, 6 goals)
- Rodrygo (Real Madrid, 22 years old): 1 goal every 200 minutes (1,799 minutes, 9 goals)
- Endrick (Palmeiras, 17 years old): 1 goal every 210 minutes (2,515 minutes, 12 goals)
- Gabriel Jesus (Arsenal, 26 years old): 1 goal every 232 minutes (929 minutes, 4 goals)
- Raphinha (Barcelona, 26 years old): 1 goal every 278 minutes (835 minutes, 3 goals)
- Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal, 22 years old): 1 goal every 334 minutes (1,002 minutes, 3 goals)
- Pepê (Porto, 26 years old): 1 goal every 1,376 minutes (1,376 minutes, 1 goal)
In the bottom half of the list, Jesus should not, in theory, have been a starter against Argentina, as he was (he played the entire match), but rather João Pedro or Paulinho (the current top scorer in the Brazilian Championship), who only warmed the bench .
Despite his good performance (1 goal every game and a half), João Pedro, who has been in Europe since 2019 (previously played for Fluminense), is not an absolute starter for the modest (but competitive) English club for which he plays, having only started 4 of Brighton’s 13 Premier League games.
Pepê (ex-Grêmio), at the bottom of the list of the nine forwards compared, started 9 of his team’s 11 matches in the Portuguese Championship, scoring… zero goals. The only time he scored this season was in the Champions League, in Porto’s 2-1 defeat to Barcelona this Tuesday (28).
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