Vinícius Jr. went from hero to villain in a matter of minutes amongst his Brazil teammates during their 2-1 victory vs. Colombia in World Cup qualifying on Thursday.
The Brazil star scored a superb long distance goal in the 99th minute to secure the much-needed three points. However three minutes later the Real Madrid star rubbed his teammates the wrong way when he was wasting too much time being substituted.
In the 12th minute of stoppage time Vini Jr. was taken out of the game and tried to take the longer path off the field to kill time. The Colombian players objected and the referee told the Brazilian forward to take the shorter route.
Vinicius then took his sweet time coming off the field and his teammates Raphinha and Cunha were furious with him when he stopped to remove his shin guards.
Raphinha and Cunha yell at Vini Jr.
The moment Vinicius was substituted, he was taking off his shin guard to waste time, so Raphinha and Cunha got angry and shouted at him to leave the field quickly.
The reason is if he gets a yellow card he won't play against Argentina pic.twitter.com/fuVWixhRBW— KinG £ (@xKGx__) March 21, 2025
The reason for their anger is due to Vinicius missing the next game vs. Argentina if he were to have received a yellow card.
The CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying rules with yellow card accumulation are quite strict. Two yellow cards during qualifying will result in a suspension in the next game.
Vini Jr. has only received one yellow card during Brazil’s 13 World Cup qualifiers with his booking coming against Paraguay back in September. Had he been booked for time wasting against Colombia he’d miss the crucial game vs. Argentina.
Raphinha and Cunha helped him avoid that fate and he WILL be available against their arch-rival on Tuesday.
