Vinicius starts as India face Brazil in Kolkata friendly

Brazil named Vinicius Junior in their starting XI for Saturday’s football friendly against India at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, while India selected veteran goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu as captain. Brazil’s line-up was led by captain Marquinhos and also included Pedro Morisco, Danilo, Douglas Santos, Estevao, Matheuzinho, Arthur Dias, Pedro, Andrey Santos and Gabriel Bontempo. Gabriel M, Endrick and Bruno Guimaraes were listed among the substitutes.

India’s starting side featured Gurpreet, Abhishek Singh Tekcham, Anwar Ali, Bijoy Varghese, Akash Mishra, Anirudh Thapa, Lalengmawia, Manvir Singh, Ryan Williams, Sahal Abdul Samad and Muhammed Ashique Kuruniyan. Gurpreet said India understood the scale of the opportunity and the difficulty of facing Brazil. He said the team was focused on performing well and that communication from the back would be important against Brazil’s attacking players.

The goalkeeper encouraged younger players to enjoy the occasion rather than be overwhelmed by it. He said his nervousness had disappeared when he stepped on to the team bus. India coach Khalid Jamil urged his players to keep their approach simple, remain disciplined and defend when required.

India entered the match after a 1-1 draw with Panama, while the Brazil fixture represented a significantly different challenge, according to the report. Reports from the stadium described excitement among supporters outside, although the crowd inside was initially smaller than expected. Brazil players completed their warm-up before the match, with Vinicius acknowledging fans.

The supplied material provides the teams’ line-ups and pre-match comments but not the result.