The Olympic men’s soccer team will be aiming to replicate their feat from 2016 and retain their crown in the upcoming games scheduled to take place in Tokyo.
18 players already selected for the upcoming games
The majority play in Brazil like the two goalkeepers, Brenno (Grêmio) and Santos (Athletico-PR, 31-year-old joker).
Nino (Fluminense), Guilherme Arana (Atlético-MG), Gabriel Menino (Palmeiras) and veteran Daniel Alves (São Paulo) represent the defense.
André Jardine alongside Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhães and Diego Carlos (28-year-old) from Sevilla complete the backline.
The defense of the Seleção will therefore account for players who have won the Copa Libertadores 2020 (Gabriel Menino), the Europa League 2020 (Diego Carlos) and Daniel Alves, who has won almost all existing titles.
Matheus Henrique (Grêmio), Gerson (Flamengo) and Claudinho (Red Bull Bragantino) will represent the midfielders playing in Brazil. Claudinho was the Serie A championship’s top scorer in 2020. Bruno Guimarães (Lyon) and Douglas Luiz (Aston Villa) complete the trio.
In attack, Paulinho (Bayer Leverkusen), Matheus Cunha (striker from Hertha Berlin), Antony (Ajax) and Malcolm (Zenit Saint-Petersburg) will keep company with the only striker playing in the country: Pedro (Flamengo) who scored three goals in the last two warm-up matches.
Brazil are strong favorites to win the 2021 Tokyo Olympic games
The Olympic games that precede Tokyo were held in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There, the men’s soccer team won the gold medal, after beating the German team on penalties.
That final was played in the historic Maracanã stadium, a team that was commanded by none other than Neymar, who was in charge of kicking the last penalty that awarded Brazil the gold medal.
At the upcoming Olympic Games to be held in the city of Tokyo in July, Brazil hopes to repeat the feat. To do this, they have called up perhaps one of the best Olympic teams in recent times as mentioned above.
A great responsibility weighs on the entire Brazilian delegation for these Olympic Games, since it is the South American country that managed to classify the most athletes to the Olympic event. On the other hand, not everything is rosy as some teams like Flamengo refused to give players to participate in the competition.
Brazil in general is experiencing a very good time in terms of its soccer team. An example of this is the good start they have seen in the Copa América, as well as in the qualifying rounds for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
