SAUCE RATING: THAT Brazil Goal

Brazil have a plethora of saucy footballers capable of wrecking just about any defender 1v1. Marta and Debinha have been tormenting the NWSL for years, while newcomers like Kerolin, Adriana and Ary Borges have stepped into the league and gotten straight to work on compiling their own highlight reels.

This doesn’t always lead to cohesive team play, however. Players have to vibe together, which involves curating on-pitch relationships that plenty of talent-packed club teams struggle to do over the course of 20-30+ game seasons. Against Panama, Brazil blended individual talent and team play to put together one of the most stunning team goals you’ll ever see.

Five players were involved in key moments to keep the ball going and setup a teammate for the next move. It was beautiful, free flowing football that we are all truly blessed to have witnessed. In the first edition of this random segment I made up because I couldn’t shutup about this goal, we’re going to look at how it came together player by player, touch by touch, saucy bit by saucy bit.

Tamires

At 35, Tamires doesn’t have the cultural gravitas of Marta or Debinha and isn’t part of the Brazil’s outrageous young talents like Kerolin or Ary Borges. But she’s a solid player who knows how to support the prodigious talents around her.

Until this pass she’d been positioning herself high and wide, but surprised Panama by narrowing a bit and staying deep, creating lanes for players to run beyond her. With Debinha and Adriana taking advantage, Panama was suddenly stretched and Tamires took advantage.

This leading pass curled beautifully around the defender and into the path of Debinha was a harbinger of sauce to come.

Debinha

This move might not have been immediately noticeable in real time but it’s one of my favorites. Debinha is a magician who has exceptional feel for what an attacking moment needs. Though she was fed a ball that led her behind the defense, the angle to goal was narrow and there was cover waiting to get in the way if she attempted to turn the corner.

Instead, Debinha puts her foot on top of the ball and rolls it backwards and hopping to break her own momentum while maintaining close proximity to, and control of, the ball. She then immediately spots Adriana and plays a quick pass into the box before a trailing defender could block the passing lane.

Adriana

Adriana’s role is fun too. She made the offset parallel run with Debinha and found space in the box to receive a pass, and now it was her turn to match the sauce Tamires and Debinha used to get the ball to her. She didn’t disappoint.

She let the ball roll across her body to her outside foot while moving toward a gap between Panama defenders. They both assume she’s taking a touch toward goal and move to block her off. Instead, it was a perfect read of Debinha’s movement, who was making a curling run behind her.

The back flick wasn’t a pass to feet but rather a clever rolling of the ball into space in which Debinha would soon arrive. Smart, perfectly executed, and pure sauce.

Debinha (again)

In charge of keeping the move going a second time, Debinha pulls out a wicked cross that turned the panic in Panama’s defense from eleven to eleventy-billion.

Adriana’s back flick was a crucial part of the setup. Had the ball been spinning or rolling too quickly it might’ve been a big ask for anyone, even Debinha, to judge velocity and spin rate to deliver such a perfect service with one touch. Since the ball was rolling slowly into a spot Debinha was charging toward, she was able to focus solely on how she wanted to strike it.

In classic Debinha fashion, she selected the ‘To Mf’n Perfection’ option. This pass curls through and over the defense before diving directly onto Ary Borges’ right foot. Go ahead, stare at the GIF above for a few loops. It’s magical, the ball is seemingly pulled from the air onto Borges’ boot as if it has its own gravitational pull.

Ary Borges

This part not only warms my heart, it’s a vital element of perfecting team play. Borges had already scored two goals in this World Cup debut, and could have gone for the hat trick right here. Who doesn’t want to score a hat trick, in any game, let alone at a World Cup? And to be honest, not many would have blamed her if she’d swung a boot at the ball.

But she didn’t. Just like Tamires, Debinha and Adriana before her involvement, Borges maintained awareness of defenders’ positioning, space she had access to, and teammates’ movements.

One Panama defender curled around and slid in front of Borges in an attempt to block a shot while another shifted beside to cut off a dribble across the box. Goalkeeper Yenith Bailey was also prepared, tracking the ball and being light on her feet to stay in front of a presumed strike.

Instead, cruelly and deliciously, Borges shelved her pursuit of a hat trick (which she later got anyway) to put her foot on the ball and roll it backwards into the path of forward Bia Zaneratto.

Bia Zaneratto

Zaneratto may have had the “easiest” piece of this move, but there was surely some pressure to not waste everything that came before. Without the finish this becomes a ‘What if?!’ sequence that’d likely be forgotten by the time Brazil kicked off their second match of the tournament.

Zaneratto ensured that wouldn’t be a problem.

She stayed locked into the move, following the play with her eyes while allowing her feet to almost sentiently slide her into space, just in case she was needed. If she’d been static and ball watching, instead of a pass Borges’ back flick would’ve become a 50/50 duel at best. Maybe Zaneratto gets there first, but maybe so does a defender, which would’ve caused the entire stadium and everyone watching at home to instantly deflate.

It’s also important that Zaneratto used the perfect strike. With players on the ground or recovering after a dive, trying to roll or smash it into a bottom corner would’ve been risky. Instead she swept across the ball with her left foot, lifting it into the air at pace and bending toward the top corner to cap off this outrageous, perfectly constructed, gorgeous team goal.

(I also love how Borges and Zaneratto run in opposite directions while mirroring one another’s arms raising in celebration at the same time.)

Official DU Sauce Rating: ALLUHTHE