How was the 1st call-up of the Brazilian National Team after the World Cup, now commanded by interim coach Ramon Menezes
Index
For the first time since the painful elimination of the Brazilian National Team to Croatia in the World Cup in Qatar, there was a call-up. The coach Ramon Menezes was responsible for calling up the 23 players for the friendly against Morocco on March 25.
What were the surprises of this call-up? Big names left out? It’s time to check out what was the line followed by the interim coach of the Selection.
Ramon Menezes
Even before the start of the 2022 World Cup, coach Tite, who had been in charge since 2016, announced that he would leave his post regardless of the result achieved in the competition. Thus, at the end of the World Cup, the Brazilian Football Confederation began its search for a replacement for Tite.
The mentioned search continues until today, and while the ideal name to assume the position of coach of the Brazilian national team is not found, the interim solution was found at home.
Ramon Menezes, former player, skilled midfielder who played for clubs such as Vasco da Gama, Cruzeiro, Atlético Mineiro, Bahia, Vitória and Bayer Leverkusen, in addition to playing 6 games with the Canarinho national team.
The former midfielder started his career as a coach in 2016 for Anápolis Futebol Clube, a small and modest club in the interior of the state of Goiás. But quickly, Ramon began to occupy more relevant spaces, becoming coach of Vasco da Gama in 2020.
However, it was in 2022 that Ramon presented his work with the best result. With little time left, the coach captained the Brazilian under-20 team towards the South American title, as well as the consequent vacancy for the under-20 World Cup, a feat that was not achieved in the last two editions.
The coach’s work in this tournament should indeed be praised, considering that the Brazilian under-20 team did not have several stars that are already part of the professional squads and were not released by their clubs, such as the Santos duo Marcos Leonardo and Ângelo, Giovani and Endrick from Palmeiras and Matheus França and Vitor Hugo from Flamengo.
Brazil won the tournament undefeated, with 7 wins and 2 draws. Thus, it is worth noting the influence of the South American sub-20 team in the selection of the interim coach.
Who was left out?
In order to renew the Brazil national team, Ramon left out players who were stamped figures in the vast majority of past summons. For example, Liverpool´s goalkeeper Alisson, and Juventus full-backs Danilo and Alex Sandro.
In addition, many fans questioned the absence of young talents, who are standing out in the world’s top leagues, such as Bruno Guimarães, a key player in Newcastle, Gabriel Magalhães and Martinelli, both very important to the Premier League leader (Arsenal), being the striker, the team’s top scorer in the competition with 11 goals.
Other well-known names were left out due to injury, such as Neymar, Thiago Silva and Gabriel Jesus.
The surprises
Under-20 South American champions
Ramon Menezes did not hide his satisfaction with the performance of his players during the competition, so he selected 5 players who participated in the title campaign, being them goalkeeper Mycael and Vitor Roque (Athletico Paranaense), Arthur (América-MG), Robert Renan ( Zenit – RUS), Andrey Santos (Chealsea – ING).
In fact, some of the names above are not so surprising due to the quality presented not only in the youth teams, but also in the professional squads. Vitor Roque, for example, was extremely important in Athletico Paranaense’s runner-up campaign in the 2022 Libertadores, in addition to being top scorer in the South American under-20.
The captain of Brazil in the tournament, Andrey Santos, was also top scorer with the same 6 goals as Vitor Roque. The fact to be highlighted is that the player bought by Chelsea is a defensive midfielder and managed to become one of the top scorers in the competition.
Highlights of the Brasileirão called up for the 1st time
The Brazilian champion in 2022, Palmeiras, had 3 summons. Weverton, a stamped figure who participated in the World Cup, in addition to Rony and Raphael Veiga, extremely important players for Verdão for years who received their first opportunity to defend the Brazil national team.
Midfielders André (Fluminense) and João Gomes (Wolverhampton – ING) were also called up for the first time. The former Flamengo player, who was transferred at the beginning of the season, was the engine of the Carioca team, in the conquests of the Copa do Brasil and Libertadores in 2022. The Fluminense player was also very important for his team in 2022, which fights to keep the young man in view of European interest.
What are your guesses? What will this cycle look like at the 2026 World Cup? Do you agree with the choices of Ramon Menezes?
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Written by Vitor F L Miller and Henry Miller.
