Tite just called up the squad for Brazil’s World Cup qualifiers against Venezuela (Oct. 7), Colombia (Oct. 10), and Uruguay (Oct. 14th). Once again, he called up a bunch of players based in England, in the hopes that this time they’ll be allowed to travel internationally and join up the squad. (Note that Russia-based players Malcom and Claudinho, part of his last callup before COVID protocols led to their removal as well, are not here.)

So here’s the 25-man squad:

GKs: Alisson (Liverpool), Ederson (Manchester City), Weverton (Palmeiras)


Fullbacks: Danilo (Juventus), Alex Sandro (Juventus), Émerson (Tottenham), Guilherme Arana (Atlético-MG)


Center-backs: Thiago Silva (Chelsea), Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain), Éder Militão (Real Madrid) Lucas Veríssimo (Benfica)


Midfielders: Casemiro (Real Madrid), Edenilson (Internacional), Fabinho (Liverpool), Fred (Manchester United), Gerson (Olympique de Marselha), Lucas Paquetá (Lyon), Everton Ribeiro (Flamengo)


Attackers: Antony (Ajax), Matheus Cunha (Atlético de Madrid), Raphinha (Leeds), Vinicius Júnior (Real Madrid), Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain), Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City), Gabigol (Flamengo)

All things considered, this is close to the best callup we could have hoped for. Stars whose absence was felt in the September games are returning; players who are out of form or otherwise aren’t playing (like Roberto Firmino and Dani Alves, the latter of whom will apparently not join a new club until the new year) have been dropped; and Tite even appears to finally be caving on his weird “no left-footed right wingers” rule, as Antony and Raphinha are both in line to get their first caps next month. Yes, there are quibbles, like Gabigol getting yet another chance, but even that’s excusable considering both Firmino and the injured Richarlison are out, he’s undeniably been in better goalscoring form recently than either them or other potential striker options like Pedro and Gabriel Jesus. But on the whole it’s a really solid list.

With one exception. One extremely frustrating exception.

Yep, it’s Bruno Guimarães, and there’s a lot we can unpack here. First of all, it should be noted that, no, he really wasn’t very good in his first career start for Brazil against Chile last month. He coughed up the ball a bunch, committed several fouls, got a yellow card, and got yanked at halftime. But his replacement, Gerson, was no better in the second half, producing almost exactly the same stat line, and when Gerson took the starting spot against Peru, he produced an underwhelming game aside from a couple of nice moments.

So why is Gerson returning when Bruno isn’t? (To be clear, I don’t think Gerson is undeserving of his spot; I’d take him in a heartbeat over someone like Fred.) I think the tight turnaround between international breaks has a lot to do with it. Tite only announced his squad today, but he submitted it to FIFA a week ago to avoid a repeat of all the England-based players pulling out. That left him with only a week’s worth of club football to observe players, which probably wasn’t going to change his opinion much if at all, so the fact that Bruno has had a pretty great couple of weeks for Lyon (including this chef’s kiss pass the other day) probably didn’t count for a lot.

But there’s still something deeply unsatisfying about this explanation, and I think it’s partly because of who’s in the squad in Bruno’s place. Last month, Bruno was in Tite’s initial squad, even before other players had to be cut and replacements brought in. Fred and Fabinho were both in the same boat, and both have returned this month, but rather than join them, Bruno has lost out to Gerson and Edenilson, only called as replacements last time. Did Tite think that little of his first half against Chile? Then why was he so quick to bring back Fred, who in his last game for Brazil almost got himself sent off in the third minute, was so bad defensively that he made Bruno and Gerson’s stats against Chile look good, and also got himself subbed at halftime?

Look, every coach plays favorites, and Tite is hardly the first coach to have some utterly bizarre favorites taking time away from players anybody else would say are clearly better. Edenilson, though he only got his first callup last month as an emergency replacement, is another such player. Globo has reported about Tite’s interest in him for a while, and the coach backed that up in today’s press conference, saying he’s been on Brazil’s radar all season.

What’s odd is that Bruno seemed, not so long ago, to be one such favorite. Here’s Tite talking about his potential in early 2020. He has the benefit of club chemistry with Lucas Paquetá, and Tite seems to be putting a little more of an emphasis on that sort of thing with his recent inclusion of current or recent Flamengo players Gabigol, Gerson, and Everton Ribeiro. His recent club form has been pretty undeniably better than that of either Gerson or Fred (Edenilson’s form has actually been pretty good, but he’ll be 33 before the World Cup ends, so why is Tite spending so much energy on him?) Tite talked up Edenilson’s versatility, but it’s not like Bruno, who’s both a pretty solid defender and a remarkably good passer, is lacking in that department.

So what gives? Could Tite really be icing a former favorite of his based on one game?