Opinion – Renata Mendonça: Patience is the key word for the renewal of the Brazilian women’s team

The Brazilian women’s team is going through a very different moment in its history. It’s renewal time. And as much as this has been talked about for some time now, as has been asking for it for even longer, the time has come to feel the impact on the field. And to understand the importance of a magic word: patience.

Word that in the dictionary of the “soccer language” does not exist. On or off the field, you ask for changes, but when they don’t come overnight, you ask for heads. I say that it is a very peculiar period in the history of the women’s team, because there has never been such a big renewal, followed so closely.

The Brazilian team, which had Sissi as its main exponent in the 1990s, entered the 2000s with talents such as Marta, Cristiane and Daniela Alves. But of course, in the beginning, there were many doubts about the future. The big difference is that, at the time, media coverage of the women’s soccer team was practically nil. When Sissi’s name didn’t appear on coach René Simões’ squad in 2004, the repercussion was much smaller than it should have been.

This time, the women’s team sees two of its main pillars say goodbye (one officially and the other still waiting for an outcome) while their games are aired on national television and there are many more people interested in knowing what will come from now on.

Cristiane’s absence from the Olympic Games had repercussions, Formiga’s last match moved and now Marta is on the mission of continuing to be part of a team that is gaining new faces, while seeking to maintain its identity.

In Manaus, in the friendly tournament held in the last FIFA date of the year, the selection took to the field against Venezuela with a team that had an average age of 23 years. Six of the 11 incumbents were 22 years old or younger. There were only two veterans among them: Tamires and Debinha, 34 and 30 years old, respectively. The selection started the match losing 1-0 with a failure that generated the Venezuelan goal after 3 minutes of play.

There, the keyword was always repeated in Portuguese by the Pia Sundhage technique: patience.

First, to understand what mistakes are going to happen when you start putting players so young to start a senior squad. It is part of the maturation and learning process. Second, not to let the team’s performance in the game be conditioned to that first mistake. There were another 87 minutes to change the game’s story.

Brazil took some time, but managed to do it in two set-pieces very well used by Kerolin and Gabi Nunes (22 and 24 years old, respectively). Kerolin then scored the most beautiful goal of the game, and Debinha closed the score: 4-1.

It wasn’t the most brilliant game in Brazil, but, in some moments, the team enchanted in its best characteristic, that of beautiful football, dribbling, improvisation. As in the plays performed by Debinha, who penned the opponent, Ana Vitória, who made a heel pass, and Adriana, who dominated the ball. Marta also used her heel to give a spectacular pass to Gio Queiroz, who kicked it out.

Throws that reminded us that Brazilians never lacked talent in football, but, yes, the work behind it. The opportunity to play from the ground up, the competitions to play, the trained coaches to develop.

With Pia Sundhage, the Brazilian team has already had 81 players called up and should have more tested names between now and the Copa America, which is the team’s first objective in 2022. With patience, good results can be reaped by then.