Fernando Diniz made a regular call-up and kept Neymar – 08/19/2023 – Juca Kfouri

The best moment of Fernando Diniz’s call-up to the Brazilian national team was not the list of players, although good, because there were no major news or notable absences.

He did very well when responding to the excellent reporter Pedro Ivo Almeida, who wanted to know who had been summoned in place of the troubled Lucas Paquetá.

Diniz had just said that speaking the truth was always his best protection and had explained why he had removed Paquetá’s name from the list. But he declined to name the replacement.

Someone, then, spoke loudly, off the microphone: “And the truth?”.

To which the coach replied: “The truth is that you will be left without the answer”.

Game well played.

Whoever he was, Joelinton or Raphael Veiga, it wouldn’t really make sense to weaken the chosen player.

Omitting is not lying, says the technician who serves two masters, at CBF and Fluminense, although sometimes it can be even worse – for example, when a doctor knows that chloroquine is innocuous against Covid-19 and he is silent.

As for the list, everyone has their own.

Vitor Roque is a felt absence, and Neymar, an uncomfortable presence, because, regardless of his qualities, defects are more important for a team in formation.

Neymar is not a paradigm for anyone and still suffocates stars in formation.

Having the courage to leave him out would be Diniz’s invaluable contribution to the history of Brazilian football, even if it hurts the true admiration he has for the art of the game.

Maybe he was afraid to be called like the Argentine Marcelo Bielsa, today commander of the Uruguayan Celeste Olímpica, El Loco Bielsa.

But it would be charming to earn the nickname Fernando Louco Diniz, let’s face it, it would be.

Finally, the dinizismo with national dimension began.

Part-time. Or double employment. Huge risk.

BAD LUCK

Isn’t it a fine irony to withdraw a player from the national team because he is accused of receiving, on purpose, a yellow card so that his family members could earn some money at bookmakers?

Lucas Paquetá certainly doesn’t need it and, if he doubts it, he only participated in a game between relatives.
Why irony? Because the CBF already had the Brazilian Championship sponsored by a bookmaker and the Copa do Brasil is sponsored by another.

Incidentally, the competition between the two banks resulted in action by one of them against the CBF, which is losing the fight, in the second instance, and may have to indemnify it.

SENSATIONAL FINALS

Flamengo and São Paulo will dispute the finals of the Copa do Brasil on the next 16th and 23rd of September, two Sundays, ideal days for decisions of this size.

Cast by cast, the red-black team is much better.

Team by team, too.

Coach by coach, there are controversies.

And, moment by moment, the tricolor one is much better.

If tomorrow were the first game, São Paulo de Dorival Júnior would be the favorite to win the cup, unprecedented for the club, which would be the coach’s second in a row in the tournament.

So much water will run under the Morumbi and Maracanã lawns until the middle of next month that any forecast now will be a mere guess.

Will Dom Arrascaeta be 100% by then?

Will Lucas Moura continue the splendid start?

Is James Rodríguez more like Moura or Pato?

Will there be more boxing scenes in Gávea?

It is not known. What is known is the size of anxiety, difficult to hold until then.

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