Author: Barkha Roy
On Monday, coach Arthur Elias presented a squad of 24 players for his first series of friendly matches in charge of the Brazilian women’s national soccer team. Brazil will play two friendly matches against Canada, the first on October 28 in Montreal and the second on October 31 in another Canadian city yet to be announced. Arthur Elias, the former Corinthians coach, called up veterans Marta and Cristiane, who took part in the training camp at Granja Comary at the end of September. This will be the first time the two have played together for the national team since February 2021.
Here is the list of players called up to the Brazil women’s team:
- Goalkeepers: Lelê (Corinthians), Luciana (Ferroviária) and Camila (Santos)
- Defenders: Rafaelle (Orlando Pride), Tainara (Bayern), Kathellen (Real Madrid), Antonia (Levante) and Lauren (Kansas City)
- Full-backs: Tamires (Corinthians), Yasmin (Corinthians) and Bruninha (Gotham)
- Midfielders: Ary Borges (Racing Louisville), Luana (Corinthians), Angelina (OL Reign) and Duda Sampaio (Corinthians).
- Strikers: Adriana (Orlando Pride), Kerolin (North Carolina), Geyse (Manchester United), Debinha (Kansas City), Marta (Orlando Pride), Cristiane (Santos), Gabi Portilho (Corinthians), Bia Zaneratto (Palmeiras) and Gabi Nunes (Levante)
Arthur Elias has been in charge of the Brazilian women’s national team since the beginning of September. In his first official role as head coach, he conducted training sessions at the Granja Comary in Teresópolis during the September FIFA international window. Elias opted to keep a significant number of the players from his starting line-up, now with the aim of assessing them in an official match.
Elias explained: “The squad changed a little, with three players not present, including Luana, who was on the list but had to be withdrawn due to injury. I think it’s the most logical decision right now, considering that we’ve decided to train them; now we’re going to test them in an international match.“
The coach’s first squad, in September, included 30 players, while the current list has 24. Among them, only two players didn’t take part in training at Granja Comary: defender Lauren and striker Gabi Nunes, the main new additions to the squad. According to the schedule released by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), the players will start to report on October 23.
Both Canada and Brazil were eliminated early in the group stage of the recent FIFA Women’s World Cup. Canada finished third in Group B, behind Australia and Nigeria, while Brazil’s women’s team secured third place in Group F, with France topping the group and Jamaica second.
Brazil have struggled in recent encounters with Canada, with just one win, two losses and two draws in their last five games, including a penalty shoot-out defeat that resulted in their elimination in the quarter-finals of the Tokyo Olympics.