Tite just called the squad for the games (at home vs. Colombia on November 11; away vs. Argentina on Nov. 16) that should confirm our place at the 2022 World Cup. At the behest of Brazilian clubs, which will play three crunch games during the international break, he did not call any Brazil-based players, with the exception of Grêmio goalie Gabriel Chapecó, who appears to be this FIFA date’s Young Goalie Who Gets To Hang Out With The Seleção.

Anyways, here’s the squad:

GKs: Alisson (Liverpool), Ederson (Manchester City), Gabriel Chapecó (Grêmio)

Fullbacks: Danilo (Juventus), Alex Sandro (Juventus), Émerson (Tottenham), Renan Lodi (Atlético Madrid)

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

Midfielders: Casemiro (Real Madrid), Fabinho (Liverpool), Fred (Manchester United), Gerson (Olympique de Marseille), Lucas Paquetá (Lyon), Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona)

Attackers: Antony (Ajax), Matheus Cunha (Atlético de Madrid), Raphinha (Leeds), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain), Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City)

This feels like a small, but frustrating, step back from last month’s squad, which was so close to being perfect. Then, I bemoaned the exclusion of Bruno Guimarães, which was bizarre for so many reasons; this time, I was hoping the enforced absence of Edenilson, Everton Ribeiro, etc. would open a deserved spot for him. Obviously, that’s not the case. I went over all the reasons why that’s weird in the article linked above, and I don’t want to belabor the point too much, but it still baffles me. Bruno has been in better form than Fred or Gerson all season; he brings club chemistry with Lucas Paquetá, who’s almost a guaranteed starter by this point; and Tite seemed to like him when he was coming through the ranks at Athletico Paranaense. So why did he fall out of Tite’s good graces seemingly just for that bad game against Chile?

Speaking of Gerson and Fred, I’ll go to bat for them a bit. Just because I’d take Bruno over one of them at this point doesn’t mean they’re without merit. Gerson’s had a rough start to life in France, but he seems to be gaining some form and working his way back into the team, and I think he has the potential to really shine once he settles. Fred, despite his clear faults, was really quite good against Uruguay, reminding me that there’s still a quite talented attacking midfielder in there somewhere, being shoehorned into a deep role that exposes his lack of physicality. And while he’s often blamed for Manchester United’s problems, I present this testimony from my United-fan friend during last weekend’s giant loss to Liverpool.

Let’s move on to the other notable changes. Philippe Coutinho makes his return to the Seleção after an injury-plagued year. I was surprised it’s only been a year! It feels like it’s been longer. Honestly, I’m fine with him returning. Sure, he’s washed-up, but I’d take him over Everton Ribeiro in a heartbeat, and I don’t know that there’s anybody else out there who’s obviously better and could play a similar sort of role. Rodrygo or Good Paulinho, maybe, but they’re not quite ready for the big time yet. Maybe a Felipe Anderson or Lucas Moura, but neither of them have really distinguished themselves much in recent times.

I’m glad to see Matheus Cunha return, even as I worry about how his lack of playing time for Atlético will affect him in the long term. If there was one shortcoming in our otherwise excellent attacking performance against Uruguay, it was Gabriel Jesus playing as a 9; while he combined well with his teammates, he was a total non-factor in the box itself, slow both to pull the trigger himself and to pass to teammates in better positions. Cunha, as well as the returning Roberto Firmino, both promise to be a little more decisive in those moments, though I have serious doubts that Firmino is quick enough to keep up with Neymar, Raphinha, and Paquetá.

Two more notable absences are Richarlison, whose fitness is apparently in doubt after his recent injury, and Vinícius Júnior, whose absence is at once perplexing and understandable. On the one hand, his breakout season for Real Madrid continues, including a sensational performance recently against Shakhtar Donetsk. On the other hand, he still has yet to play anything like that—nor, indeed, well—for Brazil, and with Raphinha and Antony both doing far more with their time in a yellow jersey recently, it sounds like VJ was kicked to the curb for the moment. Still, I feel like he’s fast approaching “too good to leave out” territory.

Tite tends to call up 24-25 players instead of the minimum of 23, often to account for suspensions and the like, but this time he’s stuck with the minimum. Had he seen fit to call some extras, I wouldn’t have been surprised if VJ or Bruno would have been the ones he called. But I think they deserve spots in the core 23-man squad right now. Gun to my head, right now, I’d swap Bruno in for Gerson, and VJ in for GJ.