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Brazil labored to an unconvincing victory over Venezuela after Roberto Firmino scored in the second-half to secure all three points on matchday three of the World Cup qualifiers.
Without Neymar and Philippe Coutinho, the Seleccao found it hard to beat the stoic visitors, who maintained their shape throughout and stifled Brazil's normal attacking flow.
The match was heading towards a goalless draw, just like it did between these sides in the Copa America last year, but Firmino tapped home from close range after Yordan Osorio accidentally headed the ball onto the Liverpool striker's path.
The victory maintains Brazil's 100% record in the qualifying rounds. The Selecao also climbed above Argentina to the top of the table with nine points, whereas Venezuela are yet to open their account. Here are the major talking points from the match.
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#1 Disappointing performance from Brazil
Brazil were always likely to have the lion's share of the ball here, and sure enough, boasted 74% possession. However, they failed to make the most of it, ending the game with just three shots on target.
It was yet another example of the Selecao struggling to deal with a deep-lying side who were happy to sit back and defend. They cut a swathe through the likes of Bolivia and Peru last month, netting nine times in the process, but Venezuela kept it really tight at the back, not allowing their mighty neighbors too much space to work with.
This might be down to the absence of Neymar, who's often the creative talisman of the side, and also Coutinho, whose incisive runs and crossing ability opens up so many avenues down the right flank. However, the reigning Copa America champions still have enough quality in their side and should've comfortably sailed through this.
With Firmino completely anonymous until the goal, part of the blame must go to the wide men, who offered precious little service to the Liverpool target man. On the other hand, Allan, who's so often the creative mantle of his club sides, came a cropper in his playmaker role.
#2 No VAR controversy this time
Compared to all the chaos that ensued last month due to VAR and it's mismanagement by the referees - Brazil have themselves been witness to this in the game to Peru where the match official made some questionable calls and also took too long to make a decision - today was much better and far less controversial.
It was called into question on three occasions, and every time, the referee was quick to review the incident and make the correct decision. The first two of those were Brazil's disallowed goals in the first-half - Lodi was rightly judged to be offside in the build-up to Richarlison's goal, before Douglas Luiz's effort was chalked off for a nudge on a Venezuelan defender before the shot was taken.
In the second half, the referee checked the pitchside monitor for a potential handball inside Venezuela's penalty area, but quickly concluded there was no foul and restarted the match. Not only were the decisions accurate today, but there was also no time-wasting either, something which upset the flow of many games in the last round.
#3 Venezuela fire another blank in the qualifiers
Three games in and La Vinotinto are yet to score a single goal in the qualifiers. They were shut out in the defeats to Colombia and Paraguay last month and failed to test Brazil today, having mustered just four shots all night out of which only one was on target.
The visitors probably came into the match with the intention of frustrating the Selecao, and it almost paid dividends until a mistake at the back from Osorio.
Jose Peserio's side deserves full credit for keeping their mighty rivals at bay for most of the match by running a taut ship. However, in the process, they almost abandoned the idea of ever going on the offense.
Once the Brazilians found the breakthrough, though, they no longer had the luxury of sitting deep and were forced to move forward.
#4 Frustrating return for Gabriel Jesus
The absence of Neymar is never good news for Brazil, who were also missing Coutinho. So that's two highly attack-minded players out. But they were boosted by the return of Gabriel Jesus, as the Manchester City striker recovered from his thigh injury which had ruled him out of last month's victories to Bolivia and Peru.
While he's reconvened his club duties with aplomb, netting thrice in just 201 minutes for the Skyblues, Jesus was a poor imitation of that for Brazil today. In fact, far from firing his side to a win, he was seemed lost on the right flank.
Early on, he even failed to connect with an inviting cross which could've otherwise seen him open the scoring for the Selecao. His passes were wayward and he also made incorrect decisions in the final third which led to Brazil's promising attacking moves fizzle out like a damp firecracker.
Could this be due to the fact that he was playing out of his position? Perhaps yes, since he's a natural striker very much like Richarlison, and Tite should've rather opted to play one of them upfront with Everton Ribiero on the right.
#5 What's wrong with Salomon Rondon?
Despite being hailed as one of the weakest sides in the CONMEBOL zone, Venezuela have some quality players in their ranks such as Torino midfielder Tomas Rincon and Grenada forward Darvin Marchis. However, former West Brom striker Salomon Rondon is the real McCoy.
Top-scorer for his country with 30 goals from 80 games, Rondon always steps up to the plate for La Vinotinto and has been a prolific scorer in recent years, but his form in competitive games has deteriorated in the last few years.
After drawing a blank in last year's Copa America showpiece, he's yet to open his account in this qualifying phase, having failed to score in all three games so far. In fact, his last strike in a competitive match came way back in March 2017 when he scored against Chile in the previous World Cup's qualifiers.
His barren run has directly translated into Venezuela's struggles up front, as we discussed earlier, and they'll be hoping to have the 31-year old firing again sooner than later to start picking up the points.
