The Brazilian National Team led by Ramon Menezes is one of the attractions of the Under-20 World Cup, which will start this Saturday (27) in Chile.
It will be another chance to end the title drought in the category, as the last trophy was in 2011 with Oscar, Philippe Coutinho, Casemiro, Dudu, and Henrique Almeida, the top scorer and Golden Ball of that edition.
The last Brazilian final was in 2015, when they saw Serbia take the upper hand. Andreas Pereira and Gabriel Jesus were the highlights.
Below is a summary of the 24th edition of the competition.
Including the groups, how Brazil qualified, the call-ups, and all the champions.
💎 See five stars that ‘were born’ in Under-20 World Cups
Groups 👇🏽
A: Chile, New Zealand, Japan, and Egypt
B: South Korea, Ukraine, Paraguay, and Panama
C: Brazil, Mexico, Morocco, and Spain
D: Italy, Australia, Cuba, and Argentina
E: United States, New Caledonia, France, and South Africa
F: Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Norway, and Nigeria
See the date of all matches here.
Regulations 📝
The top two teams from each group qualify for the round of 16, totaling 12.
The other spots will go to the four best third-placed teams.
The tiebreaker criteria are: 1) goal difference; 2) goals scored; 3) head-to-head; 4) fewer yellow and red cards, and 5) draw.
Round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final are single matches with extra time and, if necessary, penalty shootouts.
There is only ONE debutant
The only team among the 24 participants that has never played in an Under-20 World Cup is New Caledonia.
They qualified after finishing second in the Oceania Under-19 to New Zealand.
The record holder for appearances in the tournament is the Brazilian National Team: 20.
They only missed out in 1979, 2013, 2017, and 2019.
The sequence includes Argentina and the United States with 18 each.
Brazil suffered embarrassment before qualifying
The South American Championship for the category was held earlier this year.
And the Brazilian National Team underperformed before qualifying with a title.
They suffered a resounding 6-0 defeat to Argentina right in the opening round of the group stage.
They only advanced to the Final Hexagonal thanks to Ecuador’s 0-0 draw against the Albiceleste in the last round.
Brazil finished third with six points. Two more than Ecuador, which had a superior goal difference.
The story would be different in the “moment of truth”.
The penultimate round of the Hexagonal reserved a decisive Brazil vs. Argentina.
The Argentinians took the lead with Echeverri, but Rayan’s goal from Vasco secured the valuable 1-1 draw.
The Brazilian National Team reached the final round depending only on themselves, defeated Chile, and celebrated.
Meanwhile, Argentina – which needed a big win and some luck – was defeated by Paraguay.
‘Curse’ was maintained 😨
Uruguay, with Luciano Rodríguez, formerly of Bahia, won the 2023 edition by beating Italy in the final.
But they are not among the attractions of this edition, as they only scored one point in the Final Hexagonal of the South American Championship.
Only the top four qualified. And Uruguay was fifth.
The Celeste EXPANDED the “curse” that began in 2009 when the then-champion Argentina was left out after winning the trophy in 2007 with Agüero and Di María.
Ghana (2011), Brazil (2013), France (2015), Serbia (2017), England (2019), and Ukraine (2023) also failed to defend their respective titles.
The Brazilian National Team Call-ups 🇧🇷
The only change in the original list released by the CBF was the removal of Felipe Longo from Corinthians.
He became considered the immediate substitute for Hugo Souza, and therefore, there was a request for his withdrawal. Pedro Cobra from Galo got a chance.
Some players had already been vetoed by their clubs. Such as Rayan, an absolute starter for Vasco.
Goalkeepers: Pedro Cobra (Atlético-MG), Lucas Furtado (Vitória de Guimarães-POR), and Otávio (Cruzeiro)
Defenders: Gilberto (Palmeiras), Igor Serrote (Al-Jazira- UAE), Leandrinho (Vasco), Léo Dérik (Athletico), Bruno Alves (Cruzeiro), Iago (Flamengo), and João Souza (Flamengo)
Midfielders: Coutinho (Palmeiras), João Cruz (Athletico), Murilo (Cruzeiro), Rayan Lucas (Sporting-POR), and Rhuan Gabriel (Cruzeiro)
Forwards: Deivid Washington (Chelsea), Erick Belé (Palmeiras), Gustavo Prado (Internacional), Luighi (Palmeiras), Pedrinho (Zenit), and Wesley (Al-Nassr)
All the Champions 🏆
With five trophies, Brazil is trying to match the record-holder Argentina, which is the biggest champion with six.
They have faced each other in two finals: Brazilian victory in 1983 with a goal by Geovani, a product of Vasco, and Argentina’s revenge in 1995.
Brazil has a total of four runner-up finishes: 1991 (Portugal), 1995 (Argentina), 2009 (Ghana), and 2015 (Serbia). It is the country with the most finals in history.
Argentina was only not champion when they reached the final in 83.
Check below who won each edition:
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.
📸 RODRIGO ARANGUA – AFP or licensors
Read the full article here
