Philippe Coutinho Showed vs. Mexico He Can Explode for Brazil at Copa America

Was this the goal that earned Philippe Coutinho his place in Dunga's Brazil team for the Copa America?

It was certainly a thing of beauty, even if the coach's rebuilding job doesn't place as high a value on that as previous Selecao sides would have.

So far, it's been more about efficiency than style, but when that means nine wins from nine games, 20 goals scored and two conceded, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

They might have all been friendlies, but those are the only building blocks Dunga has had to work with ahead of this Copa America, which he has said is a platform to prepare for the World Cup qualifiers.

The Brazilian public are fairly demanding, and with tempers and nerves still frayed after their World Cup humiliation on home soil, they don't take well to bad displays. That means a strong performance—reaching the semi-final of the tournament at the very least—is a must.

Nelson Antoine/Associated Press

After 20 minutes of Brazil's 2-0 win over Mexico, with the team plodding along slowly and no score, Brazil fans in Sao Paulo's Allianz Parque started to boo their own team. Then, Coutinho had his say.

Chelsea's Filipe Luis, still fresh after a season in which he played only 24 games, moved down the left flank, slipping a ball to Coutinho on the left side of the penalty area.

Demonstrating both his agility and speed of thought, Coutinho twisted his body to leave Mexican defender Hugo Ayala for dead.

Now on the edge of the pitch, Coutinho looked up and saw Diego Tardelli fighting for space in the middle of the box.

Goalkeeper Jesus Corona was aware of the striker's presence in the box too, and as Coutinho touched the ball onto his right foot with his left, he sensed a cutback was coming.

It wasn't, so with the goalkeeper giving Coutinho the smallest of reads that he was going to dive to his left to cut out a ball in, the midfielder pulled the trigger, firing between the goalkeeper and his post, swerving the ball sweetly into the far-side netting.

"

VINE - GOLAÇO de Coutinho! https://t.co/tvK1Wf9I35

— Seleção Brasileira (@BrazilStats) June 7, 2015"

It was a wonderful goal, a moment of magic, a moment Brazil needed. Without Oscar, who was left out of the squad so he can recover from injury, and Barcelona's treble-winning star Neymar, they looked short of ideas.

Neymar will join up with his team-mates later this week and instantly add some star power, but Coutinho's clever goal and all-round impressive display will stand him in good stead to play behind the forward at the tournament.

There are other players fighting for Oscar's spot in the centre of Brazil's attacking midfield as well, like Everton Ribeiro, who replaced him after 70 minutes.

Buda Mendes/Getty Images

This was only Coutinho's second start in a Brazil shirt, the other being during the 1-0 win over Chile in March, and it's clear he has to earn Dunga's trust.

The way to do that is with contributions like his goal in this game, coming off the back of a wonderful season with Liverpool.

His celebration was wild, the delight of scoring for his country for the first time plain to see. Before the game, he had told Liverpool's official club magazine (h/t the Liverpool Echo) that he was thrilled to be in the squad for the tournament. Coutinho said: 

"

It is a great opportunity for me and I am very happy to be called up for the Copa. Like every child, I dreamt of being selected for the national team and I hope that I will be able to make a contribution to the team’s success in the tournament.

The other nations are very good as well and the Copa is always a very difficult competition to play in, but Brazil have very good players too and I am confident that we are going to do well.

"

Brazil have one more warm-up game before the Copa America begins, against Honduras on Wednesday night, which Coutinho might only feature in from the bench as Dunga shuffles his pack.

But this goal should be enough to see him in the starting lineup against Peru on Sunday, June 14, when they kick off their Copa campaign.