In 2023, at the age of 36, defender Mônica is going to her third Women’s World Cup with Brazil’s shirt and is confident that she has only grown since 2019, when she became captain in a game that had Marta as an embezzlement.
Her call-up was questioned by some of the Brazilian fans, but she doesn’t care about that — in fact, in conversation with FIFA, she said she didn’t even see the criticism and only learned about the negative reactions through interviews like this.
“I even understand, it’s normal that some people are happy and others are not. It’s natural, we’re not here to do everyone’s will. But I’m not ‘just any player’, which is a surprise to be in the national team.”
The Brazilian National Team debuts against Panama on July 24, at 8 am (Brasília time).
READ MORE
++ Pia Sundhage leads the second training session of the Women’s National Team in Brisbane
++ Pia Sundhage has a positive performance with the Brazilian National Team in debuts
++ Antonia, full back of the Brazilian National Team: anxiety, expectation and optimism
“I don’t need to prove anything”
The player suffered a serious injury (total rupture of the proximal quadriceps tendon) at the end of 2019 and only felt fully comfortable on the field again in 2022. In her view, coach Pia Sundhage took a while to call her back because she needed to ensure her physical stability.
“The commission realized that I was still not within the parameters established by them to represent Brazil once again. I put it in my head that it would be very special if I was called again because it is an honor to represent my country, but first and foremost I needed to do a good job for my club,” explained the defender, who has once again become an important part of the Madrid CFF team.
“The call-up happened at the right moment for me and for the national team, when I was already 100% ready and could help this group in the best way. Criticism doesn’t get in the way. My motivation is the daily work and the people who are around me and have always believed much more than I did. I don’t need to prove something to anyone. I want to bring experience from other World Cups and make the girls shine”, she added.
Last World Cup fail
In 2019, at the World Cup, Brazil suffered a painful upset against Australia, lost 3-2 with an unfortunate own goal by Mônica and ended up advancing to the knockout stage only as third in the group – if they had beaten the Australians, the Brazilians would have been leaders of the group and would have faced a different opponent from the host France (which eliminated them) in the round of 16, in a very tough game defined only in overtime, by 2-1.
“For one team to win, the other has to fail. Sometimes, it happens due to lack of connection, communication, a wrong positioning… We weren’t used to VAR, there was little time to understand how things worked. It was difficult because you always prepare to do your best. And when you don’t succeed or fail, which is normal, human beings fail, you end up frustrated”, he lamented.
“But the whole doesn’t depend on just one person, it’s a group, and we worked to make it work. I keep this Cup as an experience, positive or negative, for growth. So I don’t make the same mistakes and learn to be better,” said Mônica.
