Well, crap. I’ve been busy with other things and left myself without enough time to compose a proper preview for Brazil’s U-20 World Cup campaign. And it’s a pretty big deal! Repeated screwups in the South American U-20 Championship, and a healthy dose of COVID cancellations, meant Brazil had only qualified for one U-20 World Cup in the past decade. For once, though, the youngsters won the South American tournament outright earlier this year to easily qualify for the big show.

Unfortunately, some big names will not be participating, as their clubs would not let them. In particular, Athletico-PR’s Vitor Roque, joint-top scorer in the Sul-Americano, and Pedrinho of Corinthians, who added two goals of his own, weren’t released by their clubs. This is to say nothing of Endrick, who Palmeiras kept from playing in the Sul-Americano in the first place, let alone the World Cup. Still, several of Brazil’s most exciting young stars did manage to get their club’s blessing, including the other joint-top scorer from the Sul-Americano, Andrey Santos. Here’s the squad:

Goalkeepers: Mycael (Athletico-PR), Kaíque (Palmeiras), Kauã Santos (Flamengo)

Defenders: Arthur (América-MG), Jean Pedroso (Coritiba), Robert Renan (Zenit St. Petersburg), Kaiki Bruno (Cruzeiro), André Dhominique (Bahia), Douglas Mendes (Red Bull Salzburg)

Midfielders: Andrey Santos (Vasco), Marlon Gomes (Vasco), Matheus Martins (Watford), Guilherme Biro (Corinthians), Ronald (Grêmio)

Forwards: Giovani (Palmeiras), Marcos Leonardo (Santos), Marquinhos (Norwich City), Giovane (Corinthians), Kevin (Palmeiras), Matheus Nascimento (Botafogo), Sávio (PSV)

It’s a pretty top-heavy squad, which concerns me a bit (only three center-backs and three fullbacks!), but even without several of our best young prospects, it’s a pretty talented one. Coach Ramon Menezes, though he didn’t do a great job as the caretaker manager for the senior Brazil team back in March, has done really well with the youngsters, and I expect that’ll continue here. (And he’s been here before—he was part of the squad that lost the 1991 U-20 World Cup final on penalties to Portugal.)

For all Brazil’s struggles in actually qualifying for this tournament, we’ve done very well whenever we actually appear in it. We’ve reached the final in our last three appearances: losing on penalties in 2009, to a 118th-minute winner in 2015, and winning it all in 2011. (I expect Argentina to bring some of this same energy: they didn’t even qualify for the tournament at first, but got a spot by becoming the new hosts of the tournament after FIFA stripped Indonesia of the rights. Watch ’em make it all the way to the final.)

Anyways, here’s our schedule for the group stage. This is a tough group, no doubt, but as this is a 24-team tournament, the four best third-place teams in the group stage go through to the knockout rounds.

As for TV broadcasts and streaming in the US at least: the whole tournament is being carried by FOX Sports and FuboTV. It sounds like every game will be available to stream on Fubo and most will be broadcast on FS2, with the remainder on the premium Fox Soccer Plus channel. Brazil’s first two games will be on FS2, with the game against Nigeria on FSP.

Brazil vs. Italy

Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza, May 21, 2023

Kickoff: 5:00 PM EDT / 6:00 PM BRT / 9:00 PM GMT

Brazil vs. Dominican Republic

Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza, May 24, 2023

Kickoff: 5:00 PM EDT / 6:00 PM BRT / 9:00 PM GMT

Brazil vs. Nigeria

Estadio Único Diego Armando Maradona, La Plata, May 27, 2023

Kickoff: 2:00 PM EDT / 3:00 PM BRT / 6:00 PM GMT