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The Brazilian men’s under-20 national team said goodbye to the World Championship of the category, played in Chile, in the first phase. This Saturday (4), the team led by Ramon Menezes was surpassed by Spain, 1-0, at the National Stadium of Santiago. With a draw and two losses, Brazil finished group C melancholy in the last place, with only one point.
The Spanish, with four points, await the conclusion of the first phase to know if they get a place in the top four third places. In the other group C game, Mexico beat Morocco 1-0 and secured the second position of the key with five points. The Africans, with six, qualified in the lead.
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The goal that decreed the Brazilian elimination came out two minutes into the second half, with striker Iker Bravo, from Udinese, from Italy. Brazil had chances to swing the nets. In the best of them, just at seven in the early stage, striker Wesley, former Corinthians and currently at Al Nassr, from Saudi Arabia, crossed on the left and midfielder João Cruz, Athletico-PR, sent in the crossbar. After the break, Cruzeiro midfielder Rhuan Gabriel and Palmeiras striker Luighi missed the main opportunities.
This is the first time that Brazil, a five-time tournament champion, falls in the first phase of an under-20 World Cup, which, by far, is the worst campaign in the competition, which has taken place since 1977. The fragile performance until then was an elimination in the last 16 of the 2007 edition in Canada-coincidentally, also with defeat to Spain. That Brazilian team had players such as goalkeeper Cássio, defender Marcelo, defender David Luiz, midfielder Renato Augusto and striker Alexandre Pato.
The current under-20 generation of Brazil has great expectations in European football. Defender Vitor Reis, for example, is the most expensive Brazilian defender in history, negotiated with Manchester City, from England, by Palmeiras for 37 million euros (R $ 232 million in the quote of the time). The same Verdon also formed the strikers Estevão (Chelsea of England) and Endrick (Real Madrid, from Spain), both attended by the main selection, including as holders.
Like the World Cup, although organized by the International Football Federation (FIFA), does not occur during the period for games between teams (the “Data FIFA”), clubs have no obligation to release athletes for competition, which usually weakens the teams – not just Brazilian. An example: striker Rayan, one of the great promises of the new generation, is already the starter of Vasco and Cruzmaltino decided not to give the boy to the competition.
In Ramon’s national team to the World Cup, few athletes are holders or even have been enjoyed in clubs they defend. The strikers Pedrinho, present in 14 Zenit games in the current season of the Russian Championship; and Deivid Washington, who was in 20 matches of Santos in 2025, loaned by Chelsea, are exceptions. Both were reserves in Chile.
The Brazilian classification for the World Cup came with the South American title of the category in February. The campaign, however, was marked by a 6-0 rout suffered for Archirrival Argentina, still in the first phase. Last year, the men’s team-which is not under-20 but under-23-had already been eliminated in the pre-Olympic and was out of Paris games in France. In 2023, at the previous World Cup, the fall was in the quarterfinals for Israel.
