Palmeiras x Água Santa: final has a duel Endrick x Mezenga – 08/04/2023 – Sport

When Endrick was born, Bruno Mezenga had already debuted as a professional.

At the time when Endrick was emerging as a candidate for a new phenomenon in Brazilian football, Bruno Mezenga was in the reserve at CSA, in Série B of the Brazilian Championship.

The two forwards scored all the goals in the first match of the Campeonato Paulista final, which Água Santa won 2-1. But, while the great 16-year-old revelation is under early pressure, the 34-year-old veteran, discreet for most of the career, emerges as the greatest offensive highlight of the competition.

This Sunday (9), Palmeiras de Endrick receives Água Santa de Mezenga, at 4 pm, at Allianz Parque, for the second game of the final. The club from Diadema plays for a draw to obtain the unprecedented title. Victory for the home team by the minimum difference will trigger a penalty shootout.

“I hope we continue this story of ours. It’s our opportunity. And maybe we won’t have another one”, said the Água Santa striker.

Being a champion, for the alviverde team, will mean maintaining the routine. It is his fourth consecutive final at the tournament, which he won in 2020 and 2022. A regularity that Endrick is still looking for.

The young man started 2023 with almost a certainty of goals. Requested incessantly by the fans last year, when he was on the bench, he started to have more and more chances. But his first goal of the season only came last Sunday.

He already suffered from criticism and abnormal pressure for an athlete of such a young age.

“Sometimes I wonder why they put so much media on me. I didn’t ask for that. There’s nothing to do, you can’t ask people not to talk about my life. I always said that I would like to have all Brazilians close to me, but I understand more and more that this is not possible, and there will always be people to attack me”, complained Endrick, in an interview with GQ Brasil magazine.

The boy has been in the press over the past two years not just for his goals from base and on-field talent but also because of his sponsors. He has a contract with a sports equipment brand, a dentistry company and a sports betting house. And you’re not even of legal age to gamble.

For what he did before being professionalized, Real Madrid agreed to pay 72 million euros (R$ 397 million at current prices) to buy him. He will join the Spanish club when he turns 18.

Maybe his path will cross with Bruno Mezenga in the 2023 Brazilian Championship. Água Santa’s top scorer (seven goals) in the state tournament should sign with Santos.

It will be the return, at the age of 34, of Mezenga to one of the greatest in the country. Revealed by Flamengo, he made his debut at 16 (the age Endrick is today), in Nacional in 2005. He was part, despite having played little, of the squad that won the Brazilian title in 2009. But, with few chances in Gávea, he wandered through Australia, Poland, Serbia and Indonesia. Always lackluster.

He was also at São Caetano, Vila Nova and CSA. He scored few goals and did not miss.

He finally stood out at Ferroviária, in 2021, at the age of 32. He ended up being Paulista’s top scorer (nine goals) and elected the best striker of the tournament. The glory can come now, with Água Santa.

“He’s not just the guy who scores the goals. He’s the last ball player, but he’s also the one who presses the ball out very well”, said coach Thiago Carpini.

This became clear in the semifinal against Red Bull Bragantino. He surrounded the goalkeeper, which helped in the mistake that caused Água Santa to draw. The team would later win on penalties.

Bruno Ferreira Mombro Rosa earned the nickname Mezenga, which makes him have the same name as the character in the soap opera “Rei do Gado”, when he was playing futsal. As the coach liked the plot and there were three players named Bruno on the team, the top scorer was nicknamed after the protagonist played by Antônio Fagundes.

Endrick’s oscillation was the fear that Abel Ferreira had and what prevented him from giving the boy a place among the starters so soon. The assessment was that it would be normal for such a young striker not to maintain consistency on the pitch. The goal drought made the Palmeiras promise stop paying attention to what others say about his performance.

It only matters what your coach thinks.

“No one has to feel sorry for me or rub my head. Abel has a daughter my age so he knows when I’m sad and upset,” Endrick said.

It’s a lesson that Bruno Mezenga also learned at 16, when he didn’t have a following in Flamengo’s main squad and started being loaned. That was until he crossed paths with Endrick and Palmeiras in the Paulista final.

Palmeiras x Agua Santa

Sunday (9), at 4 pm, at Allianz Parque
On TV: Record, Premiere, YouTube and HBO Max