The coach of the Brazilian team, Dorival Júnior, stated this Wednesday (13) that “the order of world football has been changing” and that, therefore, his team will have a tough game against Venezuela in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
“Don’t think that we will have a simple game. Forget what Venezuela, Bolivia, these teams were in the very near past, today the world order is changing a lot”, declared Dorival at a press conference in Belém, where Brazil is preparing to face the national team Venezuelan.
With less pressure after beating Chile (2-1) and Peru (4-0) in the double round in October, the coach warned that the strongest teams in South America, such as Argentina and Brazil, lost ground against opponents that previously took less work to defeat.
“South American football has grown a lot in general, if we take all the squads of most teams we will see players spread across all teams in the world, a factor that did not happen a short time ago”, stated Dorival.
“The top teams didn’t have much room for growth, but the teams at the bottom started to gain an interesting and important space. This has equalized a lot and has made the games more competitive every day”, he added.
Although he warned that the team is still in formation, Dorival stated that the team is evolving to the point it wants to reach: a “safe”, “strong” and balanced combination.
“There is a lot of confidence in what we are seeing in training and I hope we can repeat it on the field”, he pointed out.
After a poor performance at the beginning of the Qualifiers, the team occupies fourth place in the table, which gives a direct place to the World Cup, with 16 points, six less than leader Argentina.
“Our situation was not entirely favorable, we are coming from a position back there (…), gaining a little more in the sense of a greater structure of this team”, highlighted Dorival.
The coach confirmed the starting team that will go to Maturín to face Venezuela, the only South American team that has never played in a World Cup.
The lineup will be the same as the one that started the game against Peru in Brasília, except for the absence of the injured Rodrygo:
- Ederson;
- Vanderson,
- Marquinhos,
- Gabriel Magalhães and
- Abner;
- Bruno Guimarães,
- Gerson and
- Raphinha;
- Savinho,
- Vinícius Júnior and
- Igor Jesus;
Against the Venezuelans, Brazil may be absent due to physical problems with left-back Guilherme Arana and midfielder André.
“We know that they have important pieces playing with us in Brazilian football,” said striker Estêvão in a video released by the CBF.
“It’s going to be a very difficult game, we know, but we will endure all the obstacles of the game, God willing, and come out with victory”, added the young Palmeiras player, top scorer in the Brazilian Championship with 12 goals.
After visiting Venezuela (8th), the team will host Uruguay (3rd) next Tuesday in Salvador.
