Category: Uncategorized (Page 2 of 16)

I’m traveling all weekend, so I may not be able to give more of a match preview than this. But given that this is the first we’ll be seeing of this team under Carlo Ancelotti, maybe it’s better to wait and watch and come back with our takeaways afterward. With any luck, I’ll write up something separate ahead of the Paraguay game, but for now I’m putting them both here.

Brazil vs. Ecuador

Estadio Monumental, Guayaquil, Ecuador, June 5, 2025

Kickoff: 7:00PM EDT / 8:00 PM BRT / 11:00 PM GMT

US TV/Streaming: Fanatiz ($30 pay-per-view)

Possible Starting XI: Alisson; Vanderson, Marquinhos, Alexsandro, Alex Sandro; Casemiro, Bruno Guimarães, Gerson; Estêvão, Richarlison, Vini Jr.

On The Bench: Bento, Hugo Souza; Beraldo, Carlos Augusto, Danilo, Léo Ortiz, Wesley; Andreas Pereira, Andrey Santos, Éderson; Antony, Gabriel Martinelli, Matheus Cunha, Raphinha (suspended for one game).

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Brazil vs. Paraguay

Arena Corinthians, São Paulo, June 10, 2025

Kickoff: 8:45PM EDT / 9:45 PM BRT / 12:45 AM GMT

US TV/Streaming: ViX Deportes ($8.99/month)

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Notes and Storylines

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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).

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It’s as official as it can possibly be. Despite numerous reports about negotiations breaking down because he was unsure about his safety, or didn’t want to live in Brazil, or didn’t want to deal with the political instability in the CBF, or that Brazil’s supreme court was investigating whether CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues had forged one of the signatures needed to secure his job, or that Saudi Arabian clubs were offering triple the salary, the CBF today announced Carlo Ancelotti as the new coach of the Brazil national team.

I, for one, am pleasantly surprised. I really thought Ednaldo Rodrigues, whose presidency up until this point had probably been the most embarrassing in the history of Brazilian football—with the original, ill-fated push for Ancelotti’s signature in 2023, the disastrous interim hirings of Ramon Menezes and Fernando Diniz and the historically bad results that followed, the increasingly calamitous year of Dorival Júnior, the federation’s apparently forgetting to sack Menezes from the junior teams even after embarrassing failures in the 2023 U-20 World Cup and 2024 Olympic qualification, and let’s not forget the ongoing saga surrounding whether Rodrigues’ mandate was even legitimate in the first place—would remain single-mindedly fixated on bringing in Ancelotti beyond all reasonable indications and find himself not only failing to sign his man but leaving himself without any remotely decent fallback options. As best I can tell, that will not be the case. Huzzah! Maybe the 2026 World Cup isn’t a lost cause!

Ancelotti, of course, is as blue-chip as football coaches come, and thus almost by definition, given the backwater that Brazil has become in the world of football tactics and coaching, the best coach the Seleção has had in decades. What previous Brazil coach is even in the same conversation as far as pedigree? Telê Santana, maybe Mário Zagallo, and I’m not sure there’s anybody else. He’s not the first foreign coach Brazil has ever had (in fact he’s the fourth), but he’s the first in sixty years, more than that if you consider that the team Filpo Nuñez coached—yes, an Argentine has, technically, coached the Seleção—was in fact the Palmeiras side he managed for his day job press-ganged into service as the Brazil national team for the inaugural game in Belo Horizonte’s Mineirão stadium. And in an age where the tactical ineptitude of Brazilian coaches is becoming more and more glaring, even as nativist elements in the country’s footballing “intelligentsia” try and insist there’s no problem and that Renato Gaúcho is totally the best option to lead the Seleção right now, we can only hope that Ancelotti, who has proven his worth at the absolute highest levels of European football, can improve Brazil’s performances and results to a degree that can help demonstrate the need for and benefits of more tactical sophistication and create a positive impact that lasts well beyond however long he spends in charge.

More immediately, hopefully he can fashion Brazil into genuine contenders for the 2026 World Cup. The utter mess of the last two and a half years makes it easy to forget that Brazil really does have some serious talent to work with. Vini Jr. was FIFA’s Best Men’s Player in 2024 and came second in the Ballon D’Or voting. Raphinha may well follow suit this year. The defensive spine boasts more top-quality center-backs than may even be able to fit in a single tournament squad, especially if Éder Militão’s knee ligaments ever stop exploding, and Brazil continues to produce a seemingly endless supply of quality goalies, even if Alisson isn’t much help in a penalty shootout. Even in the areas where we’re a bit thin, we can count on the likes of Bruno Guimarães and Andrey Santos in midfield, Matheus Cunha as a center-forward, or newly-minted Champions League finalist Carlos Augusto as a left-back.

Supposedly Ancelotti will start on May 26, in time for the June games against Ecuador and Paraguay, though given the time constraints he will share the responsibility for compiling the initial long list of players from which the 23-man final squad is chosen with Juan and Rodrigo Caetano from the CBF’s technical staff. He’ll hit the ground running with games against two of the most in-form teams in the confederation. With Brazil fairly comfortable but not yet assured of their spot at the World Cup, the extent to which he can instantly improve a team will be put to the test straight away.

Ednaldo Rodrigues, against all odds, got his guy at last. Let’s hope Carlo Ancelotti proves to be what the Seleção needs.

Brazil vs. Argentina

Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina, March 25, 2025

Kickoff: 8:00PM EDT / 9:00 PM BRT / 12:00 AM GMT

US TV/Streaming: Telemundo (network TV), ViX Deportes ($8.99/month), Fanatiz ($25 pay-per-view)

Likely Starting XI: Bento, Wesley, Marquinhos, Murillo, Guilherme Arana; André, Joelinton, Raphinha; Vini Jr, Rodrygo, Matheus Cunha.

On The Bench: Weverton (replaces Alisson – injured), Lucas Perri; Alex Sandro, Vanderson, Lucas Beraldo (replaces Gabriel Magalhães – suspended), Léo Ortiz; Éderson (replaces Gerson – injured), João Gomes (replaces Bruno Guimarães – suspended); Estêvão, Endrick, João Pedro, Savinho.

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Notes and Storylines

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Brazil vs. Colombia

Arena Mané Garrincha, Brasília, Distrito Federal, March 20, 2025

Kickoff: 8:45 PM EDT / 9:45 PM BRT / 12:45 AM GMT

US Streaming: ViX Deportes ($8.99/month), Fanatiz ($25 pay-per-view)

Likely Starting XI: Alisson, Vanderson, Marquinhos, Gabriel Magalhães, Guilherme Arana; Bruno Guimarães, Gerson, Rodrygo, Raphinha; Vini Jr, João Pedro.

On The Bench: Bento, Lucas Perri; Alex Sandro, Wesley, Murillo, Léo Ortiz; André, Joelinton; Estêvão, Endrick, Savinho, Matheus Cunha. (Cut: Neymar for Endrick; Ederson for Lucas Perri; Danilo for Alex Sandro.)

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Notes and Storylines

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It’s a new year, and that means it’s time to look over everything we can expect from the Brazil national team in the 12 months ahead, in a regular feature I would like to call, “oh, whoops, the last time I did this was actually five years ago“.

Anyways, here’s what’s on the docket for the Seleção:

January-February: The South American U-20 Championship

It’s become a tradition for me in odd-numbered years: settling down on some January evenings, opening up a sketchy, under-the-table streaming site, and dodging an onslaught of popup ads for gambling and porn sites to watch Brazil’s newest young generation in action. I first got around to doing this in 2011, and let me tell you, I got into this tradition at a bad time. That 2011 team, which somehow managed to free Neymar from his club obligations at Santos and supplemented him with Oscar, Casemiro, Danilo, Alex Sandro, and Lucas Moura, who announced himself in the final game with a hat-trick that briefly made us all think he might be as good as Neymar, was genuinely magical. It was also Brazil’s third-straight win in the tournament, their 11th overall, and capped a stretch of 18 tournaments, dating back to 1977, in which Brazil won nine times, finished second six other times, and never ended up worse than fourth, nowadays the last spot that will earn a team entry into that year’s U-20 World Cup. In that context, what’s happened since is almost unfathomable: Brazil failed to qualify for the U-20 World Cup in three of the next four editions, and in 2013 they even failed to advance out of the first round for the first time since 1975.

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What do they say about good deeds and punishments?

Brazil vs. Uruguay

Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador, Bahia, November 19, 2024

Kickoff: 7:45 PM EDT / 9:45 PM BRT / 12:45 AM GMT

US TV: Telemundo

Likely Starting XI: Ederson; Danilo, Marquinhos, Gabriel Magalhães, Abner; Bruno Guimarães, Gerson, Raphinha; Vini Jr., Igor Jesus, Savinho.

On The Bench: Bento, Weverton; Alex Telles, Dodô, Léo Ortiz, Murillo; André, Andreas Pereira, Lucas Paquetá; Luiz Henrique, Estêvão, Gabriel Martinelli.

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Brazil vs. Venezuela

Estadio Monumental de Maturín, Maturín, Venzeula, November 14, 2024

Kickoff: 4:00 PM EDT / 6:00 PM BRT / 9:00 PM GMT

US Streaming: Fanatiz (pay-per-view)

Squad:

Goalies: Bento (Al-Nassr), Ederson (Manchester City), Weverton (Palmeiras)

Fullbacks: Danilo (Juventus), Vanderson (Monaco), Abner (Lyon) e Guilherme Arana (Atlético-MG)

Center-Backs: Léo Ortiz (Flamengo) (replaces Éder Militão), Gabriel Magalhães (Arsenal), Marquinhos (PSG), Murillo (Nottingham Forest)

Midfielders: André (Wolverhampton), Andreas Pereira (Fulham), Bruno Guimarães (Newcastle), Gerson (Flamengo), Lucas Paquetá (West Ham), Raphinha (Barcelona)

Forwards: Estêvão (Palmeiras), Igor Jesus (Botafogo), Luiz Henrique (Botafogo), Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal) (replaces Rodrygo), Savinho (Manchester City), Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid)

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Notes and Storylines

So, how’re we feeling? I mean, last time out, Brazil secured two important wins against Chile and Peru, a major step towards guaranteeing our place at the next World Cup, and the Peru game in particular ended with a pretty impressive 4-0 scoreline. But on the other hand, Brazil didn’t play well against Chile and barely created any chances against Peru before VAR awarded a penalty to open the scoring.

And if we look at Dorival Jr.’s squad selection for this FIFA date’s matches against Venezuela and Uruguay, I think they speak to a similar trend: Brazil may finally be improving under Dorival, but not nearly enough to get out of the hole he dug them. The big addition this time is Murillo—the right one, with the right number of L’s in his name!—who is very welcome, but otherwise, things haven’t changed a ton. Dorival backtracked a little bit on his “only have four proper midfielders” ploy from last month, but he’s still passing off a forward as a midfielder to make up the numbers (last time it was Rodrygo; now, even before Rodrygo pulled out due to injury, it’s Raphinha). And that midfield selection is still iffy, as André got yanked at halftime of Wolves’ first game after the last international break and has only played three minutes since, while nobody seems to think Gerson is playing well. Up front, Vini Jr. and Estêvão are welcome returns after their injuries, but Igor Jesus remains the only true striker—even as we saw Evanilson, Matheus Cunha, and João Pedro excel in the Premier League over the past few weekends.

Oh, and Danilo and Guilherme Arana are still omnipresent at the back. Yippee. (To be fair, Yan Couto was out injured for the last month, and Samuel Lino seems to be losing his starting spot for Atleti.)

If there’s actual reason to be excited about the players on display, it comes from the stars who are returning after injury. Vini Jr. seems to have taken his Ballon D’Or snub as motivation, if his hat trick on Saturday was any indication, and while we’re still waiting for him to deliver like this for the national team, every little bit of motivation will help him overcome the limits imposed by Dorival’s middling coaching. Estêvão is back too, and not only has he now passed Neymar’s record for goals in the Brasileirão in his age-17 season (despite being about three months younger when that season started than Neymar was for his), he’s the top scorer and joint-top assister in the league this season! That’s pretty cool, even if it underscores how poor the talent level is that no full-grown adult could manage 12 goals in 33 games. (Pedro probably would have, to be fair, had the national team not killed him.) Can’t wait for Chelsea to ruin him!

Luiz Henrique was also a surprise bright spot in the October games, with two excellent goals and an assist. He’s demonstrated that he belongs here, just in time to be swept up in the Lucas Paquetá betting scandal. Wait, shit, stay positive. Uh… I can’t wait for Dorival to keep relying on the two of them like there’s no possibility that they’ll be banned from football in the next six months! Shit.

Okay, but on the actual bright side, we may be facing this week’s opponents at the right time. Venezuela had a stellar Copa América, winning all three group stage games and nearly making the semis, but their form has collapsed since then and they’re all the way down to eighth in the qualifying table. Still, they held Uruguay and Argentina (sans Messi) to draws in their last two home games, so a result is far from guaranteed. For Uruguay’s part, the wheels might be coming off the Marcelo Bielsa express—they’re scoreless in their four qualifiers since the Copa, and the players seem to be turning on their coach. I won’t predict the Uruguay game until we see against Venezuela whether there’s been any semblance of continued improvement. I kind of think we’ll stumble again and that Venezuela will continue their decent home form against tough opposition. I’m probably just going to keep predicting that until Brazil starts playing well enough for me to feel more optimistic. I’m thinking another 1-1 draw like when we hosted them last October.