Vasco da Gama opened their 2022 Copinha campaign with a convincing 5-1 win. They set up in a 4-2-3-1 and had a lot of position changes throughout the game. Their positional play was really good and they looked good in possession. After a boring start, they created more and more chances and in the end they managed to get an easy 5-1 win.
Youth Ratings
1 – Ready for the first team
2 – Good, potential to be first team
3 – Decent, could make first team squad
4 – Decent potential, unlikely to make it to first team
5 – Unlikely to make first team
Marlon Gomes
Player profile:
- Nationality: Brazilian
- Age: 18
- Date of birth: 14/12/2003
- Current club: Vasco da Gama
- Career: Vasco da Gama
- Position: Central Midfielder
- Preferred foot: Right
Marlon Gomes started as the right central midfielder for Vasco da Gama in their opening match at the 2022 Copinha. He showed a lot of potential throughout the match and was one of the best players for Vasco da Gama under 20 in this match. Playing as the right central midfielder, Marlon Gomes often dropped deep to support the first phase of the build up. He saw a lot of the ball and moved really well between the lines. Marlon Gomes often drifted wide in the first phase of the build up. During the times that he got on the ball in the first phase of the build up, he often chose for a forward pass or he carried the ball forward.
Marlon Gomes used good feints and his great acceleration on the ball to play out of pressure and never lost the ball in a dangerous area. When his opponent was already close to him, he would put his body between the ball and the opponent. He was not that strong physically and lost his balance a few times, but he often managed to get a free kick out of this. There was one situation in which he should have either scored himself or given an assist. He carried the ball forward in the final third, played a pass into Andrey and continued his run into the box of Lagarto’s defence. He received the ball back from Andrey and was in a 1v1 situation with the goalkeeper. He chose to lay it off but failed to reach his teammate as the pass was inaccurate.
Rating – 2
He could already get some minutes in the Serie B for Vasco da Gama, as he is great technically. I need to see more of him to assess his tactical and psychological ability though.
Matheus Julião
Player profile:
- Nationality: Brazilian
- Age: 18
- Date of birth: 10/04/2003
- Current club: Vasco da Gama
- Career: Vasco da Gama
- Position: Left-Back
- Preferred foot: Left
Matheus Julião played as a left-back in Vasco da Gama’s opening match in the 2022 Copinha. The Brazilian left-back did well throughout the match and was one of the best performers for Vasco da Gama under 20. Matheus Julião is a left-back who likes to go forward. He often tries to combine with his teammates and play one-twos where he continues his run after passing it to a teammate. This often went wrong, not necessarily because of him, but it showed his attacking intentions in this game.
When he did go forward and managed to get into possession on the left wing, he did really well to look over the ball before putting a cross into the box. His crossing technique was really good. He also played a few cross passes, which were also accurate. The young Brazilian had a lot of variation in his positioning. He either operated in the half-space, from where he got a very good assist to Figueiredo, or he stuck close to the sideline. He mainly tucked inside when one of the midfielders would drift out wide. Not only did this show his intelligence off the ball, but also the competence of his manager.
Defensively, Matheus Julião seemed to read the game well, intercepting a few passes by simply getting in front of his opponent. He did not always stay on his feet when in the duels as he tried slide tackling his opponent occasionally. He timed this really well and did not get into any trouble.
Rating – 1
As for Marlon Gomes, I think Matheus Julião could already get some minutes in Vasco da Gama’s first team. However, I think he is a little bit more developed than Marlon Gomes at this point in his career. We will see how he plays in the next matches.
Vinícius Paiva
Player profile:
- Nationality: Brazilian
- Age: 20
- Date of birth: 01/03/2001
- Current club: Vasco da Gama
- Career: Vasco da Gama
- Position: Right Winger
- Preferred foot: Right
Vinicius Paiva already played a lot of official matches for the first team of Vasco da Gama, but will be playing for the under 20’s in the Copinha tournament. Vinicius Paiva occasionally showed why he already played so many matches for the first team, but he also showed some weaknesses. First of all, Vinicius is good in the short combinations with his teammates. As he has a low centre of gravity, he moves really fast and his quick feints are hard to defend. He sometimes struggles to control the ball well when he is moving so fast, as his legs probably move faster than he can think. His first touch when receiving a pass was sometimes very sloppy, too.
In the 1v1 duels on the right wing, Vinicius Paiva most of the time chose for a move out wide, instead of cutting inside. This was because he is right-footed and almost all of his actions, even his dribbles, were solely with his right foot. Whenever he used his left foot, the action went wrong. Before crossing the ball into the box, Vinicius Paiva did really well to look over the ball and pick out a teammate. He did so a few times and managed to deliver some pinpoint crosses to left winger Marcos Dias, who unfortunately failed to score from his crosses. Vinicius Paiva claimed the ball after Vasco da Gama got a penalty awarded and managed to score the penalty with a lot of confidence.
Rating – 2
At this point, I don’t think Vinicius Paiva has a lot of potential. However, he is currently good enough to be a rotational player and will probably become a squad player for a mid-table Serie A team in the future.
Note:
Eric Pimentel and Andrey Santos also played a good match as starters for Vasco da Gama, but I failed to make enough notes about them. Juan Alvina, Erick and Rayan Vitor also played well coming from the bench.