Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino will have an upcoming opportunity that could turn out to really benefit his career as a soccer player, his position at Liverpool, and what he does for the Brazilian National Team.
Firmino is set to serve as first-choice forward for Brazil during their upcoming games against the United States and El Salvador.
Firmino spent the majority of the 2018 World Cup warming the bench as manager Tite preferred Manchester City’s Gabriel Jesus up front. Jesus was widely criticized for Brazil’s failed World Cup campaign, by their standards, as he failed to find the back of the net despite having started all five of their matches.
Brazil went on to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup, where they were eliminated by eventual third-place finishers Belgium. While reaching the quarter-finals is considered an achievement by most nations, Brazil are a nation which aim for nothing less than winning every World Cup that they play in. Hence, this would be a failure by their standards.
Firmino is almost definitely going to see action during Brazil’s upcoming fixtures. He was initially one of only two forwards called up to Tite’s squad for the friendlies along with Fluminense’s Pedro.
However, Pedro has since had to drop out due to injury and Tite has since called up Everton winger Richarlison to his squad.
This leaves Firmino as the only genuine striker in the squad.
While Firmino was in top form for Liverpool last season, he has yet to find the back of the net for the Reds from the three League fixtures which they have played so far this season.
The games against the US and El Salvador will offer him the perfect opportunity to re-find confidence in front of goal and perhaps also impress Tite.
Liverpool fans can certainly hope that the game time that he will get can positively influence his club performances going forward.
