So my predictions for the Olympics were almost entirely backwards. I thought the Brazil women’s team would win a medal, and they ended up losing in the quarterfinals; I expected the men’s team would flame out early on, and they won the friggin’ gold medal. Let that say what it will about my powers of prediction.

Anyway, tomorrow (August 13th), Tite will call up the squad for Brazil’s next round of World Cup qualifiers, so let’s try and predict what he’ll do, based upon who did well at the Olympics!

There’s an interesting wrinkle to this upcoming set of qualifiers: thanks to previous COVID-necessitated cancellations, CONMEBOL is cramming three games into the FIFA date instead of the usual two. So we’re playing Chile away on September 2, Argentina at home on the 5th, and then Peru at home on the 9th. I wonder if that’ll compel Tite to call up a couple of extra players? I mean, he didn’t do it for the Copa América, so…

Anyways, in a previous post I went over players whose standing in the Seleção might have been damaged by their role in Brazil’s fairly underwhelming performances in the Copa América. This time I’ll be focusing more on the players who made a good case for themselves at the Olympics, particularly those who might actually stand a chance of getting into the squad tomorrow.

Bruno Guimarães was Brazil’s consensus best player for much of the Olympics, and he plays in the number 8 role where we’re sorely lacking. Tite’s a longtime fan of his, and compared to Fred, the current starter in the role (who damn near got himself sent off three minutes into the Copa América final), Bruno is a significantly more incisive passer and is vastly better in physical battles. Surely the spot should be his, but I think two things complicate the matter: one, after initially looking like he was going to play his way out of a Brazil shirt, Douglas Luiz put together a very solid final two games, and two, Tite started Fred in so many games that I have trouble believing that he’ll just drop him like that, even for a better alternative. I expect Bruno will be in the squad, but I also wouldn’t be too surprised if he somehow isn’t.

Matheus Cunha might have one of the easiest routes into the September squad, despite a ton of (uncharacteristically) bad misses at the Olympics. This is because Brazil’s striker corps at the Copa combined for as many goals in seven games as Cunha managed in five, all without displaying nearly the ability to combine with teammates or run at defenders as Cunha did. That said, I still expect that at least a couple of them will return: Richarlison will obviously stay in the squad, not least because of his chemistry with Cunha; Gabigol’s club form will keep getting him chances even though he’s proving that he can’t replicate it for the national team; and as moronic as his red card against Chile was, I think Tite sees Gabriel Jesus as too valuable on the right wing (more on this in a second) to drop any time soon. I’d expect Roberto Firmino to be the odd one out; he was arguably the worst of the bunch, and at this time of year Tite has often given a little less preference to European-based players who are just beginning to get back to their clubs after their summer holidays.

Antony had a decent tournament, albeit one that showed that he still needs to develop more physically to truly complement his excellent technical ability, and Malcom‘s stellar substitute appearance in the final resulted in the gold-medal goal. By virtue of their participation in the Olympics, they’re more likely to be called than Raphinha of Leeds, who’s probably the best of the three at the moment, but I think they might all suffer because of the same reasoning. I discussed previously how Tite is preferring right-footed right wingers, in part because he sees it providing better balance with Neymar coming in from the left. The problem is, we have far more left-footed right wingers in the mix right now, including all three of the players I mentioned, any one of whom probably deserves a look. Tite has instead preferred to play right-footed left wingers and center forwards out of position on the right, which backfired at the Copa; not one of Everton Cebolinha, Vinícius Júnior, or Gabriel Jesus gave a very good account of themselves. (Indeed, the best such player in the role in recent times has probably been Richarlison.) Whether or not we see Antony, Malcom, Raphina, or a wild card like David Neres will be a good indication of whether Tite recognizes the problem and is willing to loosen up and try something different to get better play in that position.

Guilherme Arana had a very good tournament at left-back, though not one that convinced me that he should start for the senior team or anything like that. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets a look, both because he was quite good and because Renan Lodi had a notably bad tournament, including a very obvious mistake in the final. Playing for a Brazilian club probably doesn’t hurt.

Dani Alves will surely return, given that he was set to be in the Copa América squad before he got injured, but I kind of hope he doesn’t. I fear that his return will kick the young, exciting Emerson out of the squad rather than Danilo, who’s older and has less upside. While Alves certainly still seems to have the necessary quality, he’s so old that I’d rather we spent the time before the World Cup getting a better look at players like Emerson. He’s more than good enough to immediately slot back into the starting XI like nothing happened, so why not give some other people a chance? (Alternately, let’s throw Alves to the wolves against Argentina or Chile and make him prove that he’s still got what it takes against top-tier opposition.)

The rest of Brazil’s Olympic notables have fewer chances, I think. Santos gave a good account of himself but will never be any more than the third-choice goalkeeper. Diego Carlos and Nino were better in defense than I feared they would be, but Carlos in particular still flirted with disaster on several occasions, and in any case, neither one has much chance of beating out Marquinhos, Éder Militão, and Thiago Silva on the depth chart. (Plus, I’d prefer we call up Luiz Felipe and Roger Ibañez instead, just to guarantee they can’t switch nationalities.) Claudinho was probably the biggest Olympic disappointment—I was expecting a new Coutinho, and got, well, a guy who was scared to try any dribbles—and he just moved to a new club, so while André Jardine has been urging Tite to call him up, I think that might wait a month or two. Lastly, youngsters like Reinier, Paulinho, and Gabriel Martinelli either didn’t get enough chance to shine at the Olympics, or don’t play enough for their clubs to warrant their selection just now.

As far as other players from outside either the Copa or Olympics roster who might get a look? Besides Raphinha (whose chances aren’t very good, I don’t think), two names that could get a shout are Gerson and Rodrygo. Both were forbidden by their clubs from going to the Olympics, and both have some notable things going for them. Gerson’s time at Flamengo made him very popular with the pundits, and he plays in that central midfield position where Brazil are desperately lacking for depth; Rodrygo is just about our only right-footed right winger, and if Tite still insists on that sort of player, he’s bound to get a look sooner rather than later.