It’s real! It’s real! It’s really, really real! Two days removed from thanking the Santiago Bernabéu crowd after his last Real Madrid game, Carlo Ancelotti arrived in Brazil to announce his first callup for the national team. Here it is:

Goalkeepers: Alisson (Liverpool), Bento (Al-Nassr), Hugo Souza (Corinthians).

Defenders: Alex Sandro (Flamengo), Alexsandro (Lille), Beraldo (PSG), Carlos Augusto (Inter Milan), Danilo (Flamengo), Léo Ortiz (Flamengo), Marquinhos (PSG), Vanderson (Monaco), Wesley (Flamengo).

Midfielders: Andreas Pereira (Fulham), Andrey Santos (Strasbourg), Bruno Guimarães (Newcastle), Casemiro (Manchester United), Éderson (Atalanta), Gerson (Flamengo).

Atacantes: Antony (Betis), Estêvão (Palmeiras), Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal), Matheus Cunha (Wolverhampton), Raphinha (Barcelona), Richarlison (Tottenham), Vini Júnior (Real Madrid).

So, what to make of it? Before anything else, there are two important things to keep in mind: first, Ancelotti was still busy coaching Real Madrid until two days ago, so the long list of names submitted to FIFA last week was compiled with a significant helping hand from CBF national teams coordinator Rodrigo Caetano and technical coordinator Juan, and so may end up differing significantly from the list Ancelotti assembles in September when he’s had time to survey the talent pool more thoroughly for himself. Second, there are several notable names out injured or struggling for fitness, including Rodrygo, Endrick, Ederson the goalie, and Neymar.

But as for the list itself: there’s a lot to like! And also a few things to do a 🤨 over. In the first camp: Ancelotti has demonstrated an understanding of the importance of the midfield. Brazil will be able to count on a full contingent of players in the sector for the first time in what feels like two years—no more of this “just calling up four or five midfielders because the coach is hell-bent on playing a 4-2-4 and has no conception that he might want a backup plan for when that inevitably fails” misery we endured with Dorival Júnior and Fernando Diniz.

…Well, actually, Dorival actually did call up eight midfielders for his first games, and six for the Copa América, before progressively losing his mind on the matter. I think the main cause for celebration is that Ancelotti’s choice of midfielders seems to be much more in line with the team’s needs and the best options actually available to us. It’s become painfully obvious that nobody else has been able to do Casemiro’s job for the past two years, and even if there are question marks over his longevity (and whether we have somebody, anybody, capable of replacing him in the long term), if we want to return Brazil to winning ways, selecting him is a no-brainer. Éderson was long on the fringes of Dorival’s teams (for instance, he got called up as injury cover for the Argentina game after Gerson got injured vs. Colombia three days before) and never really thrived in the few opportunities he was given. His selection here seems to suggest that Ancelotti rates him rather more highly than his predecessor. Ditto Andreas Pereira, who seemed to lose Dorival’s trust during the Copa América and couldn’t really win it back despite his golaço against Peru or strong form for Fulham. Well, now he’ll have another chance to transfer his club form to the Seleção… right as it seems to have fallen off a cliff in the last two months.

Wait. Shit. Am I talking myself out of this? Well, if nothing else, Andrey Santos is genuinely an extremely exciting young talent coming off a stellar season on loan for Strasbourg where he even got to captain the team despite being just 20 years old and a loanee. There’s also no sign of Dorival favorites João Gomes or André, both of whom have promise but proved rather too limited (for now, anyway) to deserve so many opportunities for Brazil.

There are also some other new or returning names worth getting hyped over: Hugo Souza is a 6’6″ goalie with a decent record in penalty shootouts, Alexsandro anchored Lille’s impressive Champions League run, Carlos Augusto is a left-back(!) on a Champions League finalist team(!!!), and while I still half-expect Antony to turn back into a pumpkin at a moment’s notice, his complete turnaround since he left Manchester United as a Lord Bendtner-level meme is one of the most impressive comeback stories of recent years.

On the more negative side: we’re definitely already seeing Ancelotti give preference to some of his former charges, independent of their recent playing form. I love Richarlison, but he might be the most egregious: he’s had some good moments for a butt-awful Tottenham team since returning from injury, but he’s also had some pretty poor misses, and maybe more importantly, he seems like he’s constantly on the verge of re-injuring himself. Still, Carlo knows him from his time at Everton, and his selection indicates something important: he wants to play with a defined center-forward.

I thought Danilo was in the same boat, but in fact he never actually overlapped with Ancelotti at Madrid. So what’s the deal with that? Why the heck is he always getting called up? Christ, is he going to keep starting? Maybe there’s a case for his experience, and his form is solid enough, but he has thoroughly proven by now that he simply cannot contribute anything useful to the Seleção as a fullback, and we have so many other center-backs we could play ahead of him. I joke about the mythical Danilo Will Come Good Island, a hill I was once ready to die on which now seems destined to become naught but an Atlantis of Brazilian football, but this feels like investing in a new beachfront high-rise despite repeated warnings that the whole place is sinking into the sea. And ditto Alex Sandro, who, again, seems to be playing well enough, but wasn’t exactly spectacular for Brazil even when he was younger and playing at the highest levels in Europe. The likes of Dodô and Caio Henrique were long-listed and not selected, so it’s not like Carlo’s hands were completely tied here.

Also, I wish he’d selected a goalie not playing in Saudi Arabia instead of Bento. Lord knows we have options at the position, and it’s hard to trust the form of players in that league.

Still, there’s a lot to like here, a lot of the chaff from previous coaches has been removed, and we can hope that what odd selections still remain were partly the result of Ancelotti not yet having had time to scout the talent pool for himself. Besides, I trust the man to do a far better job with the same group of players than his predecessors. Saddle him with the same mess of a team that Dorival called up in March and I’ll bet you he gets a far better performance and result.