Gabi Nunes celebrates chance to play in the World Cup after three knee injuries

The Women’s World Cup, scheduled to start on the 20th, will have a special flavor for Gabi Nunes. The 26-year-old will have the opportunity to play for the Brazilian national team after a series of setbacks in her career, including three serious knee injuries and a four-year absence from the national team.

“This World Cup represents a lot. I have very high expectations and I’m really happy. I don’t even have words, being living this with the girls, sharing this experience with them and being training all day is a good responsibility. makes me so happy to represent my family and friends who also dreamed of being here, and dream of us in that star, so I’m very happy and I try to take advantage of every day, detail and opportunity”, celebrated the striker.

Gabi returned to the national team in 2021 after calling up coach Pia Sundhage for friendlies with Spain and Hungary. She was more than four years without defending the national team. That’s because she suffered three knee injuries in just three years. In practice, she hardly played during this period.

In the last test of the selection before the opening of the Cup, the striker was in the starting line-up in the 4-0 defeat of Chile, in Brasília. Gabi scored one of the goals of the match. Excited, she is already thinking about repeating the dose in Australia and New Zealand, which will host the World Cup from the 20th of this month.

“If there’s a little goal, the joy overflows, but I’m prepared if it’s to play, if not, then come in later to help. I’m prepared for whatever Pia wants to do with me on and off the field. I’m there!” , he stated.

Gabi and the other players completed a week on Australian soil, in the city of Gold Coast, which became the base of the team in the World Cup. And the striker already says she is fully adapted to the location and the new time zone, 13 hours ahead of Brasilia time.

“We are already seeing a greater intensity of training compared to the first days. Of course, in the beginning you have to be careful about the trip, but now the intensity is already very high because we know the importance of maintaining a high level, physically too. We have few days to train some details for the debut in the World Cup. So, now it’s increasing and picking up a little more and being prepared”, she commented.

The Department of Health and Performance of the CBF was also satisfied with the quick adaptation of the Brazilian women in Australia. “It was all work that started on the plane, with the time change in their clocks, already behaving as if they were in Australia. Food also taking place at the proper times in Australia. Arriving here, we sleep and also use medication, such as melatonin to adjust the circadian cycle”, said physician Paula Benayon, from the Brazilian team

For physiologist Rodrigo Morandi, the difference in time zones has been successfully overcome. “The great work of physiology at this moment has been all the follow-ups with questionnaires together with the medical department monitoring sleep. So we make individual adjustments with guidelines and training load individualization. The time to push a little more and the time to reduce a little little more load so that they can adapt in the best possible way”, he declared.

The debut of the selection is scheduled for the 24th, against Panama, in the city of Adelaide. For Group F, the next opponents will be France, on the 29th, in Brisbane, and Jamaica, in Melbourne, on August 2nd.