At his glorious 38 years old, Dani Alves has kept the brilliance of big events in his eyes for weeks.
“It is a great honor to face Spain.
There I have my second nationality and a piece of my heart for everything I lived through.
I have a special affection and love for that country ”, declared the player who stood out so much at Sevilla and Barcelona.
On the eve of his first Olympic final, the winger exerts his leadership in a family that is seeking the second gold medal in the history of Brazilian football in its third consecutive final. In mid-July, security employees at the armored Conrad hotel in Tokyo where the Canarinha team is staying were startled one night by the presence of an energetic figure sprinting through the corridors of the accommodation. It was Alves leading by example. The coach, André Jardine, highlights that his pupil is going through a phase of mental boom: “And with a very high level of tactical maturity. It does not wear out, it is always well positioned to avoid overrunning or running backwards ”.
The central Diego Carlos, the goalkeeper Santos and the forward Richarlison are the other over 24 years called up. None have the ancestry of the veteran São Paulo winger over a group of deserving people who dream of following in his wake and who are above all showing competitive character, streaks of cohesive football and the ability to adapt to any match.
Dani Alves is no longer the runaway fan who left class grooves on the right wing. Now he alternates in his additions to the attack with the left back Arana, and prefers to be an intelligent support in interior positions than to seek depth on his side. Brazil is a solid team that has only conceded three goals in five games. If the central Nino and Diego Carlos have left any doubts, especially in the crossed balls to the area, the high performance of their applied steering wheels already tanned in Europe has given the team the desired solvency to shield a team with a taste for offensive flight and the collective association.
Douglas Luiz, 23, was on loan for two courses at Girona by Manchester City before arriving in 2019 at Aston Villa, where his role has grown gradually. At his side, Bruno Guimaraes, with the same age, has taken advantage of his jump from Athletico Paranaense to Olympique de Lyon a year and a half ago to confirm his capital intuition in defensive work and a growing personality to distribute game and filter precise deep shipments to the tips. He is the best player in the Jardine cycle on the way to the Games. Right winger Antony, a skilled 21-year-old left-hander, came from São Paulo to Ajax in the summer of 2020 to win the Dutch league with 9 goals and 8 assists. His club has just rejected an offer from Bayern Munich. On the other side Claudinho operates.A rare 24-year-old specimen that has yet to show its best arguments in the Japan tournament.
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Top scorer of the 2020 Brazilian championship, in which he was also chosen as revelation and best player of the tournament after an exultant appearance with the modest Red Bull Bragantino, Claudinho is a midfielder with a colorful catalog of technical gestures, feints, dribbles, pauses and unexpected accelerations coupled with the quality of the pass and a finishing capacity that he seems to have lost in 2021 while waiting for his club to agree to transfer him to a European club.
Paulinho, just out of a long knee injury at Bayer Leverkusen, or Reinier, on loan from Real Madrid to Borussia Dortmund, where he has not had quality minutes, have not had much flight as alternatives to escort the forwards.
The goal in Olympic Brazil is a matter of two different and complementary gunners who scored seven of the eight goals scored by the team: Richarlison has scored five, all in the first phase, for two by Matheus Cunha. The Everton striker, one of Neymar's gregarious in the absolute, in which he already has 27 appearances, feels more comfortable starting from the side, teaming up short and pulling power to reach the area. Cunha is the only reference nine in the catalog. At 22, he has been in Europe for five years (Sion, RB Leipzig and now Hertha from Berlin). Ready, vertical and good finisher. Waiting as a revulsive in the second parts, Gabriel Martinelli has appeared without much success. The 20-year-old Arsenal striker made his London debut with Unai Emery, scoring 10 goals and setting the bar high. Jürgen Klopp,after a game against Liverpool, he said he had impressed him as if he were one of the talents of the century.
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