Manchester City's New Wonderkid Gabriel Jesus Fails to Find Feet in Olympics

The Olympic Games was supposed to be the perfect stage for Gabriel Jesus to show his new employers just what he was capable of. But after two intensely disappointing matches, the Palmeiras forward has fallen well short of his true potential as Brazil stare at a shocking potential elimination. 

Rio 2016 had been billed as the moment Brazil would shake off their Olympics hoo-doo and finally deliver the gold that has thus far eluded them. But on current evidence, Rogerio Micale's team look far more likely to end their campaign in the group stages than in August 20's final at the hallowed Maracana. 

The team, captained by Neymar, were roundly booed on Thursday after being held to a 0-0 draw by 10-man South Africa. Gabriel Jesus had spurned the best chance of the match in that opening clash after being left with an open goal. Surely, however, Brazilians must have thought, the Selecao had hit rock-bottom in that match, and things could not get any worse. 

They were wrong. Lowly Iraq took on a side peppered with players starring in or linked with the top clubs in European football and held them to another goalless draw. The boos grew deafening towards the end, and at the final whistle Brazil trudged off the pitch at Brasilia's Estadio Mane Garrincha knowing qualification for the quarter-finals now hangs in the balance. 

Gabriel was far from the only culprit in a team that is performing far below the level one could quantify as even minimally acceptable. But his underachievement is perhaps the most glaring. A player who leads the Serie A scoring chants in Brazil followed up that opening-day nightmare by missing two more opportunities against Iraq. 

Eraldo Peres/Associated Press

It seems almost implausible that a team able to field Neymar and two of the world's most-coveted young forwards have gone three hours without hitting the net, and against less-than-formidable opponents.

Perhaps the timing of the transfer, announced by Manchester City just a day before the start of the Olympics, cranked up the pressure on the 19-year-old star. But as the host nation in front of one of the most demanding fanbases in the world, Gabriel could hardly have expected not to feel the weight of expectation even without a hugely lucrative move awaiting in December. 

More likely, deficiencies in Brazil's tactics are leaving Palmeiras' star woefully isolated in the box. At his club. Gabriel shifts constantly from the centre to his favoured left side, driving into the area on the diagonal to surprise defenders. In this Olympics, however, he has featured as a more static centre-forward as Neymar occupies the post he fills at Barcelona, and there is little creative activity coming from behind. 

Against Iraq, as the statistics compiled by Goal demonstrate, he was the only Brazilian forward to attempt a shot from inside the box. Neymar managed just four touches in the Iraq danger zone, with Gabriel Barbosa adding five. 

From midfield the numbers are hardly more encouraging. Renato Augusto, with four, led in that regard, while Felipe Anderson broke into the box just once and Thiago Maia, admittedly the deepest-lying of the trio, playing entirely outside. It is a recurring problem in Brazilian ranks: Talented strikers left to fend off scraps in front of a wall of defensive-minded, creatively limited men in the middle. 

Eraldo Peres/Associated Press

One poor tournament does not make a bad player. Gabriel has shown his potential week-in, week-out for Palmeiras over the last year, and he will be an asset for Manchester City once the move is completed at the end of the year. 

But Brazil's woes show the danger of placing too much emphasis on one, or in their case three, recognised stars. Gabriel's struggles have been merely the most visible face of Brazil's Olympic problems, and time is running out. 

The hosts need to rally on Wednesday and take down Denmark in order to make sure of their quarter-final place. It is by no means impossible, but it is time for Gabriel and the Selecao's misfiring stars to show their true talent if they are to avoid what would be a disastrous first-round exit on home soil.