Opinion – Tostão: Brazilian football has slowly changed for the better

Today, the beautiful and dear Belo Horizonte turns 124 years old. I remember the things I saw, lived and imagined.

The great composer Fernando Brant would be quite happy with América at Libertadores. I had the pleasure of living with him, in conversations about football, music and life, at the home of my late friend and doctor Ciro Filoônio. “Every day comes and goes, life repeats itself at the station… There are people who came just to look… The platform at this station is the life of this place of mine, it’s life.” (Fernando Brant)

Fortaleza, Bragantino and América, all three for the first time, will compete in Libertadores. These are teams that worked hard, organized themselves and dreamed big, with new achievements, on and off the field. Grêmio and Bahia will join Cruzeiro and Vasco in Série B.

Brazilian football has slowly changed for the better. Teams that are not among the greatest in the country have improved and organized themselves, and this is one of the reasons why other great teams, such as Grêmio, Cruzeiro, Vasco and Bahia, are relegated to Serie B, as the technical differences between these teams have diminished. Flamengo, Palmeiras and Atlético are exceptions, as they invested and hired top quality athletes.

América confirmed its superiority over São Paulo, a disorganized team with important individual deficiencies, although many think that the squad is good. Calleri fights with the ball throughout the match. When he scores a goal, he is deified. Midfielder Benítez, from time to time, makes a good play and is treated like an ace.

Daniel Alves is sorely missed. Even so, many think he didn’t play anything for São Paulo. They wanted him to start the plays on the field and end them with dribbles, passes and goals.

I’m not going to make the selection for the championship, as it will be one more among thousands. I don’t want to be unfair either. As I don’t work on television, radio or the internet and I don’t have a commitment to give daily opinions about every match, I see the strongest teams more often, which hinders my analysis and selection of the best ones.

I watch various sports programs daily and learn from some analysis, but I cannot repeat the opinions of others. Furthermore, I realize that, more and more, the comments are influenced, contaminated, by what is said on social networks and vice versa. This also occurs in politics, economics and other public activities. Who is the most opinion leader today? The world is very confused. It is increasingly difficult for someone to be independent and a neutral observer.

I won’t choose the Brazilian national team, but I have no doubt that Hulk is the star of the competition. Many ask for it in the selection. It’s not easy for Tite to summon players who shine in Brazil, as the selection is very different. Gabigol continues to score goals for Flamengo and still hasn’t done well in the Brazilian team.

Of the players that play in Brazil, right for the next call-up are goalkeeper Weverton and left-back Arana. To make it difficult for more Brazilian football players to be called, there has recently been a technical growth, in clubs and in the national team, of some young people who work in Europe, such as Vinicius Junior, Antony, Raphinha, Matheus Cunha and others. Even those who were always called by Tite, such as Gabriel Jesus, Firmino and Richarlison, are at risk of losing their vacancies.

There are 11 months to go before the Worlds. Time passes, and uncertainties increase