Six months after the fall in Qatar, the national team lives in uncertainty – 09/06/2023 – O Mundo É a Bola

This Friday (9) marks the exact six months since the painful elimination of the Brazilian team from the World Cup in Qatar.

Also on a Friday, Brazil, with the game apparently under control, had a silly minute in the marking that was enough for Croatia to find a close tie at the end of overtime. On penalties, we know what happened.

After these six months of the fall in the city of Al Rayyan, the selection still hasn’t defined a coach to replace Tite, who left the position after failing in two consecutive World Cups.

The delay is due to the hope of the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) to convince Carlo Ancelotti to take office.

A hope that should not come true, as the Italian has said several times that he intends to remain at the helm of Real Madrid – he has a contract for another season.

Instead of giving up and choosing a new name (Fernando Diniz?, Renato Gaúcho?), the CBF prefers to postpone the lack of definition, keeping Ramon Menezes as interim.

This lack of defined direction, with the choice of players for friendlies being made by a buffer coach –it is very unlikely that Ramon will be effective, not least because he was shipwrecked with the under-20 team at the World Cup, days ago–, plunges the team into uncertainty.

Those summoned now may not be called later. Each coach has his preferences, and even consolidated names in the team, with the Cup in their curriculum, have a chance of being discarded without the need for justification.

Of the 26 who were in the Qatar World Cup, 14 are among the 23 called up for this month’s friendlies against Guinea, on the 17th in Spain, and Senegal, on the 20th in Portugal. More than the ten that made up the group defeated by Morocco in the March friendly.

Both times Ramon honored goalkeepers Ederson and Weverton, winger Alex Telles, defender Éder Militão, midfielder Casemiro, attacking midfielder Lucas Paquetá and forwards Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior, of those who went to the 2022 World Cup, and, of the absent in it, defender Ibañez, midfielder André, attacking midfielder Raphael Veiga and striker Rony.

This dozen can be considered the foundation Ramon trusts, or wants to trust.

I would add goalkeeper Alisson, winger Danilo, defender Marquinhos, midfielder Bruno Guimarães and strikers Pedro and Richarlison, who were in the World Cup and are on the current list.

Neymar, recovering from ankle surgery, would certainly be called up if he was fit to play.

It is these 18 players (19 with Neymar) who would begin preparation work, combined with teamwork, with a view to the next call-up, which will already be for games in the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers – Brazil’s first opponents, in September, will be Bolivia and Peru.

They would start, on conditional.

Because, with the (late) definition of the new technician, who is expected to leave by the end of this month or at the beginning of the next one, “everything can change”, as Virginie do Metrô sang in the 1980s.

And, in everything changing, it will be six months and a little more thrown away in the cycle that has as its objective the conquest of the sixth, frustrated Cup after Cup, five in all, since the 2006.

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