Why Richarlison cried in Brazil win as Tottenham fears continue

Tottenham news as Richarlison's poor form in front of goal continued for the national team despite emphatic Brazil win and massive opportunity.

Tottenham striker Richarlison was reduced to tears after being taken off during Brazil's 5-1 win over Bolivia in their first 2026 World Cup qualifying match.

He has now gone four games without a goal for his country, last getting on the scoresheet in the 4-1 win over South Korea at Qatar 2022 where he also got an assist. It comes at what had been an extremely fruitful patch for the forward.

It is now just one goal in 31 Premier League games for Tottenham since his big-money arrival from Everton last summer and only four assists to go with it. After the exit of Harry Kane from Spurs this summer, the pressure is on to turn what have been some encouraging performances into more goals.

His confidence, which has slowly eroded over the past 12 months, looks as low as it has ever been and that was on show once more in the first half of this game. As the first half drew to a close he was presented with a golden chance to get a goal after receiving a header just outside the six-yard area. His first touch, to take it away from three defenders around him, was good and the slick turn afterwards sold two players to create room for a shot.

It is here that his composure failed though as Richarlison was only able to lean back and fire way over the bar with a free shot close to goal. His teammates would go on to avenge him with Raphinha, and Neymar - who scored twice to overtake Pele as the country's all-time top scorer - adding to the score in the second half.

Richarlison, though, was disconsolate after being taken off by interim boss Fernando Diniz. "Everyone welcomed him, and the fans also welcomed him, as he was applauded," the coach said afterwards. "This is a really cool thing that he awakens in the fans, something affectionate.

"We will do everything so that he can remain calm, because he is a great player, and his ball will go in. We will think about what is best for the team. I believe in him a lot. He is a great player. Today, his ball didn’t go in.

"I don’t think he played badly. He moved a lot, it helped at the front. One day the ball will go in. He is a player who helps a lot in many things. On the walls, on the returns, making up for whoever was in front. So he answered, and I liked his performance."

Postecoglou, though, has remained positive when speaking about his man, explaining his situation after the goal against Fulham two weeks ago. "I guess because everyone talks about it and I’m not in Richy's head to really know how people feel, but I guess it stops people talking about the fact that he didn’t score," the Australian said.

"I was happy with his contribution. I said I thought the other night he probably wasn't at the same level as in the other three games but he gets a goal and people will focus on the goal. But I'm still looking at his contribution to the team and thinking about what Richy needs to do for us to keep improving as a team.

"But he's not the only one, all of them are in that boat. But anything that gives a player confidence is great, particularly for strikers - I get that. Because obviously that's what people focus on. But I wasn’t unhappy with Richy before he scored a goal."

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