The rainbow flick came about half an hour into the game, and in all fairness to Vinícius Júnior, it’s not like he had a plethora of superior options. Pinned to the left touchline, two Uruguay defenders in attendance, no Brazil teammates coming to help him out. And so, with a flash of improvisation, a little flick of the left heel and a burst of speed, he was away and clear: an outrageous piece of skill that would – nitpicking here – have been even better had he actually managed to take the ball with him.
In a way this little vignette, clipped from a bruising 2-0 World Cup qualifying defeat by Uruguay in October, sums up Vinícius’s international career to date: big plans and big ideas thwarted. It’s five years since he made his debut, and in that time a global star at under-15 and under-17 level has matured into one of the sport’s great forwards. But in Brazil yellow, at least, the great leap forward is yet to materialise.
