Opinion – Renata Mendonça: You may disagree with Tite, but there is no better call-up than his

End of the mystery, and we already know the 26 who will represent Brazil in the Qatar World Cup.

Daniel Alves is among them. Roberto Firmino, no. Perhaps the biggest surprises in the list announced this Monday.

In a summons, there are always controversies. There are 200 million Brazilian “technicians” in the selection to disagree with Tite. But I would venture to say that there is no better call-up than his – in the sense of the process that the current national team coach created to reach his squad and also to explain them at the press conference.

My impression is that Tite “professionalized” the call. In the press conferences for the presentation of the 84 names that have been called up so far in the 20 summons of this cycle in Qatar, the coach shared the criteria for the choices and brought his technical commission and even the medical commission to explain details that perhaps went unnoticed by the journalists who were there covering . Player minutes on the field, positioning, deliveries with and without the ball, physical conditions, all these details were broken down even in the form of slides with numbers and data to justify each name.

Tite is very careful to prepare for a press conference. He seeks to be stocked with as much information as possible about each player in order to answer journalists’ questions. This shows the respect you have for the position you hold.

Tite is not the national team coach for nothing. He is not there to make choices according to his personal preferences, but according to technical criteria that are very well established and explained to journalists.

But it is possible to disagree with him. It is difficult to do so without arguments. If we often see empty discussions in football coverage, those bar table opinions, repeating clichés to please fans – throughout this cycle, Hulk was unanimous, then Raphael Veiga, more recently Scarpa and even Rodinei –, it became more difficult debate now.

Even because it is not only debated with Tite. In press conferences, he always brings members of his technical committee to share the word with them. The coach is the leader, but the job of managing a team is not solitary. And each one there plays an important role – Tite insists on valuing them and shares with them the responsibility he carries on his back.

To arrive at these 26 names – and, in fact, to arrive at the closed list of each call-up in this World Cup cycle –, Tite gathered his commission and each of them brought their own list. Each name was debated exhaustively until a consensus was reached. Numbers, technical information, physical data, all this was debated by everyone in an attempt to build the most “fair” summons possible.

Tite knows he won’t please everyone, nor is he there for that. But he shows respect for the position he occupies, for his people, for the people he represents in the role of coach of the Brazilian team.

“On top of our ideas, of the accompaniments, (I want) to be as fair humanly as possible. (…) There is the athlete, but, first, there is the man, the character, the son, the father, the human being who must be respected. I make a point of expressing this, this gratitude to all the athletes who were part of this group. The choices will happen, they are technical, but they have great personal respect”, said the coach in an interview with Globo.

I hope that, by the way, is one of Tite’s legacies for the selection. That the coaches who succeed him have the same respect for the players, the press and the public when it comes to publicizing their calls and justifying them. That they are prepared to answer questions without clichés or rudeness, but with technical and grounded answers.

That said, let the hexa come!

See the squad for the World Cup:

GOALKEEPERS

Alisson (Liverpool-ING)
Ederson (Manchester City-ING)
Weverton (Palms)

SIDE

Danilo (Juventus-ITA)
Alex Sandro (Juventus-ITA)
Alex Telles (Nottingham Forest-ING)
Daniel Alves (Pumas-MEX)

DEFENDERS

Thiago Silva (Chelsea-ING)
Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain-FRA)
Eder Militao (Real Madrid-ESP)
Bremer (Juventus-ITA)

MIDFIELD

Casemiro (Manchester United-ING)
Fred (Manchester United-ING)
Fabinho (Liverpool-ING)
Lucas Paquetá (West Ham-ING)
Bruno Guimarães (Newcastle-ING)
Everton Ribeiro (Flamengo)

ATTACKS

Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain-FRA)
Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid-ESP)
Richarlison (Tottenham Hotspur-ING)
Antony (Manchester United-ING)
Gabriel Jesus (Arsenal-ING)
Rodrygo (Real Madrid-ESP)
Pedro (Flemish)
Martinelli (Arsenal-ING)
Raphinha (Barcelona-ESP)