FIFA and CONMEBOL just greenlit October’s round of South American World Cup qualifiers, meaning the Seleção is going to play for the first time in eleven months: first at home against Bolivia and then away to Peru, tentatively scheduled for the 9th and 13th of the month respectively.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has hit South America hard, particularly Brazil (gosh, I wonder why), which now has more deaths from the virus than any country except the United States. This is a potential issue for European clubs, who will be obligated to release their players for two weeks and then potentially lose them for at least two more weeks when they have to quarantine upon returning from hotspot countries like Brazil and Peru (which actually has an even worse per capita death rate right now). Even obligated by FIFA to let their players travel, they may find sneaky ways to get around it (like how English players always get conveniently injured for 10 days during international breaks) or just ask players to sit out.

The result is that Tite might end up having to draw from Brazil-based players more than he’d like, and in a worst-case scenario, we might end up seeing a squad with only Brazil-based players, like that 2017 friendly against Colombia to commemorate the Chapecoense plane disaster.

That said, I think Tite’s initial squad will look fairly normal, even if a large number of players end up withdrawing before training begins, and so this article will mostly just casually look over who’s likely to be in the running, who I’d like to see, and which Brazil-based players might benefit from European-based players dropping out. I haven’t been paying particularly close attention to the Brazilian league this year, so I certainly don’t have a holistic view of who’s actually playing well.

Goalkeepers

With Alisson and Ederson keeping the top two spots in perpetuity, this is the easiest position to fill. Third-choice goalie has always been a toss-up between half a dozen names, several of whom might move up the pecking order if our England-based players can’t cross the pond. Ivan, Weverton, Santos, and Diego Alves will all surely be in contention, but as a Santos fan, let me put in a word for João Paulo, who’s continuing a fine tradition of Santos goalies regularly bailing out the defense. Plus, he’s a youthful 25.

Right-Backs

Dani Alves’ availability is iffy because he recently broke his arm, which could leave Tite scrounging for scraps. I hope he finally gives Emerson a full game to shine, but I worry he’ll go back to someone like Danilo.

This is probably one of the better-stocked positions if we have to go domestic, if only because the dropoff in quality won’t be that big. Fagner isn’t great, for instance, but it’s not like Danilo would be that much better. And there are a couple of young names still playing in Brazil who might not get a shot otherwise, like Guga.

Maybe this is finally the moment we’ve finally been waiting for where Yago Pikachu becomes a Brazil international.

Left-Backs

Renan Lodi has pretty well established himself as the wave of the future, and Tite continues to call up Alex Sandro for some unimaginable reason, but Alex Telles deserves another shot. With the pandemic, I would have to imagine Filipe Luís will be in the running as well, and so might ex-Sevilla man Guilherme Arana, now with Atlético-MG.

Center-Backs

Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, and Éder Militão have their spots pretty well accounted for, and in ideal conditions the fourth center-back slot might go to any of several replacements: newly-minted Europa League winner Diego Carlos, Atlético Madrid stalwart Felipe, Arsenal debut goalscorer Gabriel Magalhães. Potential domestic names include Rodrigo Caio and Pedro Geromel, both of whom are familiar to Tite and could probably fill in in a pinch.

Defensive Midfield

Casemiro, Fabinho, and Bruno Guimarães are the surest of sure picks here, and I agree with all of them. I truly have no idea who might replace them. Flamengo’s Willian Arão is decent at best, but he’d add to the instant chemistry of just calling up half of last year’s best team.

Central/Attacking Midfield

If there’s one area where it’ll be easy to swap out European players for Brazilian ones, it’s here, thanks to Flamengo’s core. Éverton Ribeiro was called up in March and has been in great form recently, including scoring this amazing goal:

Gerson wasn’t in the March squad, but he’s continued to play well and this is surely the perfect opportunity for him to get a tryout.

Arthur and Philippe Coutinho are the Euro-based players most likely to be called here, with Douglas Luiz another who seems to be thoroughly in Tite’s long-term plans. Allan may be about to go through a resurgence for Everton, but it seemed like Tite had largely dismissed him by the end of next year. Fred is in a similar boat despite a much improved season with Manchester United.

An extreme left-field pick here might be Vasco’s 18-year-old Talles Magno.

Wingers

We boast a nice, rich collection of talented wingers who can’t score right now, and you can count on three or four of them making the squad. Neymar is a lock, Vinícius Júnior has continued to grow nicely for Real Madrid, Douglas Costa might actually be fit for once; Everton’s move to Benfica means he will no longer be kept out of squads because Grêmio want their star player for the home stretch in the league, but he actually can score so he’s in his own category.

Another winger who can score is Bruno Henrique, who appeared briefly for Brazil in fall 2019 and was called up for the March games. He could end up with a much larger role next month.

Forwards

Gabigol deserves a try, pandemic or no. With the pandemic, his teammate Pedro might finally get his break too; Tite was a big fan of his before his knee injury.

I really hope Richarlison gets the green light to travel. With James Rodríguez feeding him the ball, he could be poised for a breakout season for Everton, and I’m not convinced we have anybody better at putting away the half-chances we often struggle to convert. (Gabigol may be a better finisher overall, but he seems to require more space.)

One guy I’d really like to see more of is Matheus Cunha, who seems set to have a breakout year for Hertha Berlin, but I have to figure Tite will stick with Gabriel Jesus and Roberto Firmino if he can. (Note that GJ is suspended for the Bolivia game thanks to his red card in the Copa América final—making it even more of a perfect opportunity to start Gabigol.)

There’s a small chance (knock on wood) that the lack of quality strikers means we see a journeyman striker late in his career having a good season, like Internacional’s Thiago Galhardo or Santos’ Marinho, called up.