If Brazil wins the World Cup this year, the trophy will be lifted by Marquinhos on July 19. Coach Carlo Ancelotti confirmed that the 32-year-old defender will wear the national team captain’s sash in the 2026 edition of the competition, with venues divided between the United States, Mexico and Canada.
In the friendly against Panama, however, the armband should go to midfielder Casemiro. Because of Paris Saint-Germain’s presence in the European Champions League final, Marquinhos – as well as Gabriel Magalhães and Martinelli, from Arsenal – will only join the green-yellow group in the United States.
It will be without the trio that the team will say goodbye to the Brazilian fans on Sunday (31), at Maracanã. The lineup was announced by the coach before training on Saturday (30): Alisson; Wesley, Bremer, Léo Pereira and Alex Sandro; Casemiro and Bruno Guimarães; Luiz Henrique, Matheus Cunha, Raphinha and Vinicius Junior.
The expectation is that this formation will be used in the first half in Rio de Janeiro. According to the commander, there will be multiple substitutions in the final stage. “Everyone will play. It’s a preparation match and an important match to say goodbye to our fans, in our stadium. So, everyone will play,” said Ancelotti.
Partying with the fans aside, the Italian will be attentive to the team’s performance in marking. Although the starting defense duo – formed by Marquinhos and Magalhães – is not yet available, the first training sessions at Granja Comary, in Teresópolis, were especially focused on one side of the field.
“We work a lot on the defensive side, with a lot of information. The players up front have a lot of creativity, a lot of quality. So, I don’t want to give too much information in that sense [para deixá-los livres]. At the defensive level, it is daily information until the last game of the World Cup”, said the coach.
“Our work is focused on this. The defenders, the full-backs, the pivots [volantes] have a very important role. And the team needs to understand well what we have to do defensively. We have players with a lot of experience, they understand well. I’m very motivated, I liked what I saw in training”, he noted.
On both sides of the field, Ancelotti wants to see responsibility shared. He even cited Vinicius Junior and Raphinha as important players in the football played in Europe in recent years, but he sought to take the burden of carrying the national team off their shoulders – especially Vinicius’.
“It’s obvious that we all have a lot of responsibility and a lot of pressure. How are we going to have less pressure? One thing: sharing it. It can’t be an individual responsibility. Sometimes, there’s a lot of talk that Brazil doesn’t have a star at the moment. It could be true. We don’t have a Pelé, a Romário, a Ronaldo. But we can have a shared responsibility.”
