Can Philippe Coutinho step out of Neymar’s shadow to shine at the World Cup? Brazil need another star to emerge if they are to go all the way in Russia.
The relationship between Philippe Coutinho and Neymar is a long one. In 2015, the Brazil team-mates even recreated a famous image of the pair together as teenagers. They first met in 2008 at the International Mediterranean Cup in Spain. The following year they were in the same side at the Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria. Even then, Neymar was the star.
There are only fourth months between them but the hierarchy has long been established. Coutinho has called Neymar “a mirror of the player I want to be” and summed up Brazil’s approach in a recent interview. “He is the guy who decides a lot of games, a guy that is fundamental to our national team,” he said. “We give the ball to him and he sorts it out.”
But in Brazil’s opening game against Switzerland it was Coutinho cast in the role of problem solver. When the ball came to him in his favoured zone on the left edge of the penalty box, he was afforded the space to set himself. That was all that he needed to open the scoring, firing off a curling effort that found the back of Yann Sommer’s net via the far post.
It was the perfect illustration of why Tite has reshaped his team to get Coutinho into a deeper role. Previously used out wide on the right, the Brazil coach has recognised the need to have greater creativity and penetration from deep to find a way past packed defences. The more that opponents back off, the more risk of being hurt by Coutinho from distance.