opening the scoring has been fundamental for Brazilians to go to the decision

The search for answers in the past to questions that arise in the present is seductive. What should Flamengo do to avoid surprises against Al Hilal and qualify for the Club World Cup? Therefore, behaviors that are repeated are sought: coincident successes among winners, repeated errors among losers. But the only thing in common is the enormous emotional charge that the World Cup dispute brings to the Brazilians involved.

David Luiz, from Flamengo, aged 35, admitted his anxiety for the title dispute in Morocco. Probably great expectations like the veteran’s explain why it has been so important for Brazilian teams to come out ahead in the semifinals of the World Cup.

Since 2005, when Fifa started to organize the competition in the current format, opening the scoring in the opening match was halfway to the decision. All Brazilian teams eliminated before the final (Internacional in 2010, Atlético-MG in 2013 and Palmeiras in 2020) failed to come back after conceding the first goal.

São Paulo, Internacional (2006), Santos, Corinthians, Grêmio and Palmeiras (2021) took the lead and advanced.

Scoring first is a simple advantage, but one that helps keep pre-established game strategies in place. It also allows you to play more defensively. And traditionally it’s easier to act to not concede goals than to score them.

But, above all, the first goal helps the players to manage their tempers. Because, as much as the retrospective always indicates balanced games, the idea that losing to the European is understandable is embedded in the head of the Brazilian, but that the defeat to the opponent of another continent is a reason for shame.

In the entire history of the competition in the current format, the only South American that came out behind the scoreboard and turned was Flamengo, in 2019, against the same Al Hilal.

From there, comes the attempt to understand what made Flamengo by Jorge Jesus different from Palmeiras by Abel Ferreira, Atlético-MG by Cuca and Internacional by Celso Roth. The simplest answer is that certainly none of the three played football at the level of the Red-Black four years ago.

Unlike Internacional and Atlético-MG, Flamengo in 2019 did not have to wait months between the Libertadores final and the FIFA competition. This helped the team arrive packed and without losing traded players. But Abel Ferreira’s Palmeiras experienced a similar situation: there were only eight days between the victory over Santos in the Libertadores and the defeat to Tigres-MEX in the World Cup.

Against alviverde in 2020-2021, the fact that it was already a successful job, but only four months old, still raw, as the growth in the level of performances of Palmeiras that came later proved. When he faced an equally strong opponent, he stalled for lack of tactical alternatives.

But that wasn’t a problem for Jorge Jesus’ Flamengo, with just two more months ahead of the team. And the opposite did not save Atlético-MG de Cuca from defeating Raja Casablanca — the coach was in his third season at Galo.

A weighty factor for Atlético at that time was the fact that it was the only Brazilian team to date to face a home team in World Cups. The pressure came on strong. Internacional also fell in a semifinal, to Mazembe, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the United Arab Emirates.