Seleção General Discussion, 2018 and beyond

Neymar saying WC 22 will probably be his last because he is fed up with "football". I told a friend of mine this past week that after the WC, I predict he will basically "retire" from football like Ronaldinho did. He will run out his PSG contract pocketing that fat salary at half gear.

Honestly he would be 34 in WC 26. While some players are making it normal playing at high level and at NT at that age, most players only 10 years ago were already done with NT at at that age either by choice or force. So I don't see this a big deal. Except that he felt it necessary to touch on the subject right now. Probably looking for sympathy.

 

Next call-up should be on October 22 (one week from tomorrow), unless there is some kind of delay. (Last call-up was delayed but I don't expect it to happen again).

I know the comissão técnica doesn't avoid calling Brasileirão players, but I could see it happening in November for two reasons:
1. November is the final stretch of the domestic season
2. CBF was very unprofessional and let Juninho get burned by promising they would reschedule matches and then going back on their promise.

With that in mind, although I think there's a small chance we'll see a "new" name like Caio Henrique for Arana's spot, but other than that the roster will probably be the same as October plus Richarlison, Cunha, Casemiro.

I expect the focus to continue being solving problems with creating chances and at the laterais.

 

Excellent games by Antony and especially Vini Jr. (2G 1A so far) today.

Some were predicting Vini Jr. might be the odd one out in the next call-up, including myself, but I would prefer to see him included and I'm a little more hopeful now.

 

Vin Jr. will be important after the WC and Neymar is retired assuming he can keep this up. I'd have him come as a sub regardless because with Neymar ... you just never know. I am afraid that if it's between him and Pombo, Tite will go with Pombo if both are in similar form or even if Vin Jr. is slightly better.

 

Then he will be naturally replaced.

 

So, call-up is tomorrow morning, I guess they went with the same timing as last call-up, though if they said so, I missed it. (I was expecting the call-up last week, at the usual 3 weeks before).

I do think they'll avoid calling players in Brazil, but we'll see. It would open up 5 spots in theory, but it's not that simple when you look closely.

For example:
a 3rd keeper from outside of Brazil has not been called up in a while.

the back-up left-backs that play in Europe and have been tested are out of favor. Will he call a new name?

at mid and forward last time he called 7 names, so some of those spots were an extra anyways.

Firmino and Richarlison are back from injury, Cunha has been productive and scored today. Vini Jr. isn't getting minutes under Tite but is probably the best Brazilian in Europe so far this season, by a lot.

Raphinha's injury might open up a spot, but otherwise, it's super crowded.

That said, since the call-up is only hours away and I have some time to kill after another trip, why not throw out a prediction.

 

Prediction:

I think we will see at least 24-25 again, since we have so many players "pendurados" and because the forward spots are kind of crowded right now.

GK: Alisson, Éderson, Fuzato
I think Neto might get the call, but this is probably the most meaningless extra spot that is open tomorrow if he doesn't call Brasileirão players. Maybe it goes to a young keeper he has used before instead of a veteran.

RB: Danilo, Émerson
LB: Alex Sandro, Caio Henrique
I mentioned it before, he has Caio Henrique on the radar cause of the pre-Olympics and his name is being speculated by some in Brazil, he is in better form than Lodi and Telles isn't playing.

CD: Thiago SIlva, Marquinhos, Militão, Veríssimo
I would prefer to see Thiago Silva not called just to test the 5th option (probably Felipe) but even that is a known quantity. There are no surprises left here.

MID: Casemiro, Fabinho, Bruno Guimarães, Fred, Douglas Luiz, Paquetá, Arthur
Edenílson and Éverton Ribeiro out could simply be replaced by DL or BG and Gérson. But I think Gérson will be dropped and we might see Arthur and even Coutinho soon. Will it be as soon as tomorrow?

Also, Raphinha gets the right-mid spot in a 4-4-2 now, but still counts a forward in the call-up:

FWD: Neymar, Richarlison, Vini Jr., Firmino, Gabriel Jesus, Raphinha, Antony
This is really hard to predict. I can actually see him leaving Vini Jr. out for one call-up, but I don't want to see that happen. Cunha might be the odd man out, but my dream scenario would be for Gabriel Jesus to get a break since I expect he won't be the first choice right wing anymore and we need to try other names alongside Neymar in the 4-4-2

 

Watch Coutinho get a call up ...

 

According to Bielsa it looks like Raphinha may be good to play this weekend. So I see him getting a call up.

 

Goleiros: Alisson (Liverpool), Ederson (Manchester City) e Gabriel Chapecó (Grêmio)

Laterais: Danilo (Juventus), Emerson (Tottenham), Alex Sandro (Juventus) e Renan Lodi (Atlético de Madri)

Zagueiros: Eder Militão (Real Madrid), Lucas Veríssimo (Benfica), Marquinhos (PSG) e Thiago Silva (Chelsea)

Meias: Casemiro (Real Madrid), Fabinho (Liverpool), Fred (Manchester United), Gerson (Olympique de Marselha), Lucas Paquetá (Lyon) e Phillipe Coutinho (Barcelona)

Atacantes: Antony (Ajax), Firmino (Liverpool), Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City), Matheus Cunha (Atlético de Madri), Neymar (PSG) e Raphinha (Leeds)


Called it ... Coutinho ... he has been garbage for Barca but Tite probably wants to see if it's the system and he can bring back the Coutinho of 2017.

Other Notes:

- Renan Lodi is called back.
- The CB situation looks set in stone.
- Gerson called back even with his poor performance.
- Firmino is back but Richarlison doesn't get a call. Thought Jesus might be dropped but Tite likes him a lot.
- Vin Jr. not called.

 

Super disappointing call-up for a few reasons.

1. It appears he didn't call either left-winger (Vini Jr., Richarlison). That sort of makes sense considering he's consistently starting in a 4-4-2 with the right-winger in midfield (and the left-mid position taken by a midfielder - Paquetá).

However, Richarlison deserves a shot in the middle in this system, and Vini Jr. could offer an alternative to the formation as a sub. As it is, if he needs a left-winger he can put Antony there, or of course move Neymar or Coutinho there. Those are just improvised options.

2. He only called 23 players. He can only list 23 players on game day, but he doesn't have to limit the call-up to 23 players.

Last time he called 2 more. One to replace Neymar in game 1 (suspended) and, I thought, another extra to protect the midfield in case of suspension since so many players were on a yellow.

True, we only have 2 matches this time, but I think we have more players on a yellow, including Casemiro and Fabinho both, so why not bring at least one more instead of forcing yourself to make a last-minute call-up if we have one or more suspended players?

In addition to those reasons, seeing Lodi and Gérson instead of other options at this time is disappointing and of course, seeing Coutinho is weird though I sort of called it (and celtio called it specifically). I wouldn't mind seeing him or Arthur if we had called up 25 or 26 players, but in a 23 man roster, he shouldn't be there yet.

 

Argentina called up a 34-man squad and Colombia called up 28 if I'm not mistaken. Just reinforcing the fact there's no reason to limit these call-ups to 23.

 

One thing I noticed about Vin Jr. is that when he went back to Madrid after WCQ he posted something on his social media saying something like "back where I am happy". Today I see a story saying that "people around him" feel like next year he will be in a Romario 93 type of situation. I don't think I have to explain the reference. I suspect this may be a planted story to build public pressure.

I'd imagine that letting these dissatisfactions slip out to the public isn't going to help his cause with Tite.

 

I got the impression those words were manufactured by people around Vini Jr. and not necessarily representative of how he actually felt. Also, the Romário comparison itself, if I'm not mistaken, was made by the writer.

Anyways, as CB pointed out, Firmino has been confirmed out due to injury, Vini Jr. is now in.

 

From what I understood, the Romario analogy was from the people around Vin Jr. I take this as his agent planting this in the news as a ploy to force Tite to think well before discarding him. Not unusual.

 

Lucas Verissimo cut because of injury.

https://www.uol.com.br/esporte/fute...sima-e-vai-desfalcar-a-selecao-brasileira.htm

 

Gabriel (Arsenal) called up to replace him.

Gabriel was part of the Olympic cycle but got cut from the Olympics due to injury. I think this is his first senior call-up.

https://www.uol.com.br/esporte/fute...a-a-selecao-meses-apos-corte-da-olimpiada.htm

 

The team only really has today and tomorrow to train. We will probably have a clear idea of the starting line-up tomorrow, but there's no sign of any surprises, so the early guess is:

Alisson;
Danilo, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva, Alex Sandro;
Casemiro, Fred, Paquetá;
Raphinha, Neymar, Gabriel Jesus

Also, we have a ton of players on a yellow, but apparently Argentina has even more, so there's a big chance the starting line-up for the second match will change due to that.

Pendurados:
Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, Eder Militão, Casemiro, Fabinho, Gerson, Lucas Paquetá, Gabriel Jesus (Note: Bruno Guimarães and Gabigol also have a yellow but are not part of this call-up).

(Argentina: Rodrigo De Paul, Germán Pezella, Giovanni Lo Celso, Nicolás Otamendi, Lucas Quarta, Ezequiel Palacios, Gonzalo Montiel, Nicolás Domínguez, Nicolás Tagliafico)