Brazil 1-0 Venezuela: 5 Talking Points as Selecao record hard-fought victory | 2022 World Cup Qualifiers

#3 Venezuela fire another blank in the qualifiers

Venezuela are the only side yet to score in the qualifiers after three games

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.

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#4 Frustrating return for Gabriel Jesus

Jesus was like a fish out of water on the right flank

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.

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#5 What's wrong with Salomon Rondon?

Rondon hasn't scored in the qualifiers yet and was ineffective in the attack once again

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.