On Sunday evening, Cruzeiro hosted Juventude on matchnday 15 of the Brasileiro Serie A season, coming away from proceedings with a statement 4-0 victory.
Although he did not add to his superb goalscoring form of late, striker Kaio Jorge provided two assists and won a penalty, meaning he played a huge part in three of their four goals.
Earlier this week, we advocated the idea of him getting a call up to the Brazil national team, given his form and the lack of (top) strikers they currently have at their disposal. This game only proved that case further.
Admittedly, the first assist was perhaps a touch fortunate – as Jorge looked to be going for goal himself, before seeing his acrobatic effort turned in by team mate. But it showed his excellent confidence all the same to be trying that sort of shot.
Six minutes into the second half, Cruzeiro went long to evade the Juventude press – with a ball played towards Jorge who showed excellent strength and skill to turn his man and burst down the right hand side.
From there, he showed his composure to pick out Gabriel Barbosa with a perfectly weighted cutback, and the former Flamengo man fired emphatically into the back of the net to make it two assists for Jorge.
Then, around six minutes later – a throw in was played towards the striker who with another sharp turn managed to get the wrong side of his man, who felt the need to make contact. A little soft, but more clever work from Jorge earned his team a penalty.
From the spot, Barbosa made it 3-0 and put the game out of sight. Midway through the second half, Jorge was taken off, with one eye on their game with Corinthians on Wednesday evening.
The player who replaced Jorge was Matheus Pereira, who had been rested from the start of this game. The fact the 23-year old was able to go with linking up so well with Pereira in midweek, to linking up similarly well with Barbosa tonight, shows just how good a player he is to have in your squad.
Surely these level of all round performances to go along with his goal output will not go unnoticed by Carlo Ancelotti. Back in 2020, it was said that Ancelotti’s Everton signed tried to sign him on loan from Santos, so there is a possibility that the manager has been conscious of Jorge for a while now.
On the flip side, whilst Ancelotti’s time at Everton may have been a positive for the Cruzeiro striker there, his time at Everton could end up being a net negative for him overall, due to the excellent relationship he maintained with Richarlison.
The 28-year old started Ancelotti’s first game in charge against Ecuador, but struggled and was subbed in the second half by Matheus Cunha, who is not a natural nine. In the manager’s second game, he started Vinicius up front – who is again, not a natural nine.
So, as we can all see, there is a clear vacancy up front for the Seleção, and there is no reason why Jorge should not be, at the very least, included in the next squad. His goal threat and ability to link up with the likes of Vinicius and Raphinha could prove hugely beneficial.
