Among the teams considered favorites for the World Cup title, Brazil is already ahead of the others in one aspect: physical conditions. Unlike France and Argentina, for example, Tite has no injury problems and has not been forced to make cuts after submitting his 26-man squad.
The only name that at some point was a question mark in the head of the coaching staff declared itself pain-free this Monday (21): Richarlison ensured that he was in normal conditions for the team’s debut. On Thursday (24), the team will face Serbia at 4 pm (BrasÃlia time).
“I’m not 100% I’m 200%. For me, the World Cup has already started, and I used those 10 days [desde a apresentação do grupo] to recover well. Now, it’s time to be happy, to have fun. I’m here for that,” said the striker.
The 25-year-old athlete suffered a calf injury in a match against Tottenham Hotspur (ING) in mid-October and worried the coach. After imaging tests, it was found that the attacker would be able to compete in the World Cup.
“We will be attentive, but we know that the recovery should take three weeks. The performance should be very good”, believed the selection’s physical trainer, Fábio Mahseredjian, at the time of the call-up.
Richarlison will be Brazil’s number 9 in the Cup and should play in the attack with Neymar. Tite called up nine men up front, with options like Raphinha, Vinicius Junior and Gabriel Jesus. The expectation is an aggressive search for goals.
“It will happen naturally with these teammates that I have in the attack. The charge came from Gabriel Jesus in the last Cup because he was the 9. And, when you wear the 9, the first thing that comes to mind is to score goals”, said the capixaba.
In the 2018 World Cup, Jesus did not score once in the five matches played by Brazil. Richarlison has 17 balls in the net with the national team’s shirt and was part of the 2019 Copa América champion team. He also won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year.
He is almost a certain name in the team that will start the Cup, not yet announced by Tite. The coach did a rehearsal this Monday, but the activity could not be followed by the journalists, who had to leave the Grand Hamad stadium after the initial part of the training.
As a seasoned news journalist, I bring a wealth of experience to the field. I’ve worked with world-renowned news organizations, honing my skills as a writer and reporter. Currently, I write for the sports section at News Bulletin 247, where I bring a unique perspective to every story.
