It was not only Casemiro’s goal against Switzerland that made him the Man of the Match. The Manchester United star had another great performance in midfield, being one of the reasons why Brazil didn’t concede a single shot on target in their first two games at the World Cup.
The player was interviewed by Brazilian legend Ronaldo after the match, and actually had an interesting chat about his current role at the national team.
Ronaldo mentioned that he watched the game along with Diego Simeone, Roberto Carlos, Cafu and Kaka. And he claims it was an ‘unanimous’ that Casemiro was the best on the pitch, pointing out many of his qualities, saying the Manchester United player can take ‘shortcuts’ to be everywhere on the field.
“Yeah, especially with age. I’m 30 years old. Especially when you reach a certain age, you who have already played and know it very well, we arrive with a mentality and a physical build, I think it’s your peak. At 30, 31, it’s your peak, right?” Casemiro told Ronaldo.
“So, without a doubt, I’m very happy, even more so than this work that we talk about as a midfielder, especially because people see the goals, the nutmegs, and this work… not many people see. There are few people, there are people like you, like Simeone, this reading of the game is difficult for anyone to pay attention to it. But I’m happy. I’m especially happy receiving compliments from so many stars, so many idols that I had as a child, and I’m very happy.”
The two also talked about the young attackers in the squad, with Ronaldo pointing out that Casemiro is very communicative and tries to get the best from them. The Manchester United player brought his view of it, praising the ‘humility’ that all of his teammates have.
“I try to take the most of them. Even because we’ve experienced these things, we’ve played in the World Cup, we’ve played big games, we’ve played games that the whole world is watching, the Champions League final. We know this is important. Mainly let these kids loose, man. Because these kids have a lot of ball and a lot of will.
“I think the mix is good. But the coolest thing is that we have our feet on the ground. Foot is on the ground, humility is good, the guys are working when they have to work, when it’s time to do our samba, the guys do it. I’m not really into samba (laughs), but the guys do it. We know how to balance it well when it’s time to joke, when it’s time to do serious things, that’s the most important thing.”
