Fernando Diniz will make his debut in charge of the Brazilian national team this Friday (8). Amarelinha faces Bolivia in the 1st round of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers. Despite being at the beginning of a job, since being called up for this match, the coach has been the target of much criticism.
And with the announcement of a possible lineup after Wednesday’s training session, there was no shortage of criticism from fans on social networks, considering that the Fluminense coach did not know how to choose what was best for him to work on in this 1st moment of work.
It’s not that the selection is bad, the lineup is bad, Caio Henrique, Gabriel Magalhaes, Casemiro and Martinelli should be in the starting line-up, and I prefer Gabriel Jesus to Richarlison
— Italo Sena (@senaitalo98) September 7, 2023
This team would lose to Flamengo de sampaoli
— Flamengo makes me depressed (@fla_me_dx_depre) September 7, 2023
Diniz after putting together the worst 11 in the history of the selection pic.twitter.com/Rvxfv6fTTk
— Giuliano Cosenza (@CosenzaGiuliano) September 7, 2023
The call-up wasn’t too bad but the line-up…
— Rachão News (@rachaonews) September 7, 2023
Some of the coach’s choices, such as the selection of defender Nino, from Fluminense and Ibañez, who currently plays for Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia, were also criticized by fans, who believe that this selection is not strong enough to play competitively on the international stage.
The match against Bolivia takes place this Friday (8), at 21:45 (Brasília time), and will be held at the Mangueirão Stadium, in Belém, capital of Pará. Brazil returns to perform in Pará after 12 years.
In the last appearance of Canarinho, Mano Menezes was the coach of the Brazilian national team, which only called up players who played in Brazilian football to play in the Superclássico das Américas against Argentina. Neymar was a Santos player, and scored one of the goals in the 2-0 victory over the Albiceleste team.
Fans list their ideal 11 for this Friday’s game
A possible lineup for Brazil for the debut in the South American Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup will have Ederson; Vanderson, Ibañez, Nino and Renan Lodi; Joelinton, Bruno Guimarães and Neymar; Rodrygo, Richarlison and Raphinha.
Dissatisfied with the players that can go to the field in this 1st appointment of Fernando Diniz against the Brazilian National Team, a good part of the fans put themselves in the coach’s shoes to choose the team they considered ideal.
In most internet users’ lineups, the main changes in relation to the possible team this Friday were linked to the exchange of Nino for Gabriel Magalhães, Martinelli in place of Rodrygo, and Gabriel Jesus in Richarlison’s vacancy.
The starting lineup should be this:
EP: Martinelli; ATA: Gabriel Jesus; PD: Rodrygo
VOL: Bruno Guimarães; MEI: Neymar; VOL: Casemiro
LE: Caio Henrique; ZAG: Marquinhos and Gabriel Magalhães; LD: Vanderson.
GOAL: Alison.
— Manoel Gomes flamenguista (@4minutespersonal) September 7, 2023
It has to be this right here pic.twitter.com/n0wwGDBWfk
— Icarus (@icaroxfc) September 7, 2023
How many times did the Brazilian team play in Belém?
Throughout history, Brazil has performed four times in the capital of Pará. The 1st of them took place in 1990, shortly after the defeat by Argentina in the Round of 16 of the World Cup in Italy.
At the time, Brazil played in the extinct Friendship Cup against Chile, and it was nothing more than a 0-0 draw. The next presentation took place seven years later, in a friendly preparatory match for the World Cup in France.
With two goals from Denílson, Brazil beat Morocco by 2 x 0 in October 1997. Interestingly, the Brazilian team would again face and beat the Moroccans in the 1998 World Cup. Still in the group stage, Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Bebeto scored in the 3-0 victory.
Brazil would perform again at Estádio Mangueirão in 2005, this time, for the Qualifiers for the World Cup in Germany in 2006. The opponent was Venezuela, and with goals from Ronaldo, Adriano and Roberto Carlos, Canarinho won by 3 x 0.
Which countries will host the World Cup in 2026?
For the first time in history, the World Cup will host three countries. The United States, Mexico and Canada are the nations that will host the 104 matches of this year’s World Cup, which brings another novelty: the increase in the number of teams from 32 to 48.
With that, the countries will be divided into 12 groups with four selections. Thus, the first two placed in each group, plus the eight best third parties, advance to the 2nd phase of the World Cup. Regarding the number of vacancies, practically all continents received an increase in the number of vacancies.
The only exception is in relation to Oceania, which kept only one representative, but will not have the need to play the repechage to be among the classifieds for the main men’s soccer tournament on the planet.
Check out the separation of vacancies by continent for the 2026 World Cup
- OFC (Oceania): 1 vacancy;
- UEFA (Europe): 16 vacancies;
- AFC (Asia): 8 vacancies and one more in the repechage;
- CAF (Africa): 9 vacancies and one more in the repechage;
- Conmebol (South America): 6 vacancies and one more in the repechage;
- CONCACAF (Central and North America): 6 and one more in the recap.
Which cities will host the World Cup in 2026?
Due to the increase in the number of games, and the number of countries that will compete in the World Cup, FIFA determined the increase in the number of teams that will host the games in the 2026 edition. Therefore, the United States, Mexico and Canada were the hosts chosen for the next edition of the tournament.
With 11 cities, the United States is the country that will have the most cities that will host games, followed by Mexico, which will have three cities and finally Canada, with only two cities hosting part of the 104 matches scheduled for this World Cup.
Cities that will host the 2026 World Cup
- United States: Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami and New York/New Jersey;
- Mexico: Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey;
- Canada: Vancouver and Toronto.
