The U-17 meninos will take on Argentina later tonight… and the tension is mounting! Even coach Lucho Nizza had to take the boys for an innocent night out (yes futbolitas, please control yourselves) to calm their nerves.
“I took the kids to the circus here in the city to calm the environment and alleviate the tension. This competition is very complicated as they’ve gone a week without playing any games. We’re working hard to control the anxiety,” he said.
What?! The circus? Why couldn’t Lucho take them all to see the new Star Trek movie? Spock and his ridiculous ears alone are capable of a hat-trick against Argentina anyway.
“There’s such a natural rivalry. After all, (the boys) grew up watching games between Brazil and Argentina and are obviously in love with football. Furthermore, we faced some problems with the Argentinean selection earlier this week. They wanted us to leave the training field so that they could train. Our boys didn’t like it and they were indignant,” added the coach.
What’s with the bitchfest? You know the Argentinean boys are all mini Fernando Gagos, waiting to flick their hair and pose. Aw, ferosh!
Brazil’s u-17 meninos are slated to meet powerhouses Argentina on May 9th for the finals of the u-17 South American Championships. Fresh from a 3-0 victory over Bolivia last Wednesday, the boys are now ensured of qualification for the U-17 World Cup in Nigeria.
Coach Lucho Nizzo says he’s hoping to calm all the kids down before the game. Yes, everyone knows they’ll be under enormous pressure. Brazil-Argentina is a match everyone including your neighbour’s cat will be watching!
“The first objective has been achieved, which is qualification for the World Cup. I’ve been speaking to the the kids and we’re working on recovering some players who are in the medical department. We’re training with (a lot of) commitment for the finals. Facing Argentina (gives us an) extra responsibility to win this title. The rivalry is great and we will work on the psychological aspect,” he said.
Ah, so it appears the U-17 meninos in Chile now are coping well without Neymar. Well, at least that’s what their coach, Lucho Nizza (in the photo with Mr Braces himself above) said.
“Many great players are missing but we have to live with the reality. We’re playing in this tournament without Neymar. We are playing with a group of players who’re very good. It’s important and we must have patience. We hoped to get Neymar for a long time, but he was not released,” said Nizza.
On Brazil’s current performance at the Sub17, he said : “I’ll try to keep the balance in the team and avoid getting too relaxed. The boys who’re between 15 and 17 years old will feel some self-confidence after the victories.”
EARTHQUAKES
Of course it hasn’t been a smooth ride for the boys. Last Thursday, they were woken up in the middle of the night by an “earthquake” and the ground shaking beneath them.
Said Nizza : “I was in my room and felt the ground shaking. I asked myself, ‘Gee, do I have labyrinthitis or something?” I left the hall and everyone was scared that the building was shaking. There wasn’t a reason to be scared – after all you should keep calm when you’re on the 19th floor!”
Time for a long-overdue update on the selecção bebê. Last Saturday, they defeated Paraguay 4 goals to 0. And meninos repeated that goal rout against Peru in a 3-0 victory last night. Goals came courtesy of Gerson, Phillipe Coutinho and Wellington.
Brazil found it difficult to break the opposing defence from the first minute and could not find creativity in midfield. In the early minutes of the game, the Peruvians seemed to be the ones who looked threatening until their defender, Cetenho, ruined the party and got sent off for an ugly challenge on Wellington.
With one man down, Brazil took advantage of the situation and started to increase their pace. The goals came in the form of a header, penalty and an impressive mid-range shot that sunk nicely into the left corner of the net.
Brazil will face Colombia on Thursday.
1. Brazil has won the U-17 South American Championships 8 times since it’s inauguration in 1985. Argentina have only won it twice. Colombia and Bolivia also won it in 1993 and 1986 respectively.
2. The Top Four Teams at the end of the tournament automatically qualify for the U-17 Fifa World Cup to take place later this year.
3. 2007’s Best Player of the Tournament was Peru’s Reimond Manco. 2005’s was Brazil’s Kerlon, who now plays for Chievo in Italy.
4. Fabio da Silva, Rafael da Silva and Diego Ribas have all played at the U-17 level for Brazil.
5. The tournament is not a significant springboard (as compared to the u20 Championships) when it comes to unearthing talents. Typically, players who play at the U17 level end up competing with technically better players for the senior youth team.
Unfortunately, Santos’ wonderkid Neymar has not been included in the squad that will play in the U17 Championships. According to our amigos, Neymar was not summoned despite previous reports that he was called up. He was not officially released by Santos either and is still with the club.
The official squad is below the cut and the meninos are mostly from Internacional, Santos, Vasco and Sao Paulo. The tournament starts this weekend.
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The Brazilian U-17 team are preparing hard for the South American Championships that kick off this Friday. As we told you earlier, it will be staged in a similar format as the U20 Championships.
The countries taking part in the tournament are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. The young selecao will play Paraguay on Saturday while Argentina take on Venezuela on Sunday.
Don’t forget to follow them here at Futbolita!
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