Antony has been included in Brazil’s squad by national coach Tite for the World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Argentina on 11 and 16 November respectively. Earlier this month, the Ajax attacker was allowed to come in as a substitute in the matches against Venezuela (1-3 win), Colombia (0-0) and Uruguay (4-1 win). It was his first three international matches; in his debut game he scored one of three goals. He will have another chance to show himself next month.
Tite chooses to favor Antony and Raphinha over Vinicius Junior, who has a starting spot at Real Madrid but is not part of the roster. Vinicius is described by Tite as ‘a great player, with a lot of potential to get even better’. “He performs well at his club. The three players have put us in a difficult position,” the national coach admits. “I had to leave certain players out of the selection for football technical reasons at this particular moment. The performances of Antony and Raphinha were important for their place in the selection.”
Tite feels empowered by the game against Uruguay, the ‘best game we’ve played recently’. In it, Raphinha and Antony came into action, while Vinícius remained on the bench. Antony played as a left winger, the position of Vinícius. The national coach, Richarlison, has also kept another player who can operate as a left winger from the selection. “He is one of the players who is important to us, but you have to make choices for these matches. We don’t have a run-up period like with the Copa America. He injured his knee on September 13 and has been training again since October 18. is not making many playing minutes yet. We think he needs some more playing time to get into better shape.”
Vinicius is in good form and has scored seven goals and five assists in his last 15 appearances for Real Madrid. He simply doesn’t seem to fit well with Tite’s plans, who seem to prefer playing in a 4-4-2 formation. In the last three international matches, Vinícius recorded only 27 playing minutes combined. Tite caused a stir by calling up Philippe Coutinho. The Barcelona midfielder played his last international match (4-2 win over Peru) on October 14, 2020 and has not made a big impression at his club in recent games.
The full selection:
Target: Alisson Becker (Liverpool), Ederson (Manchester City), Gabriel Chapeco (Grêmio)
Defense: Éder Militao (Real Madrid), Lucas Veríssimo (Benfica), Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain), Thiago Silva (Chelsea), Danilo (Juventus), Emerson Royal (Tottenham Hotspur), Alex Sandro (Juventus), Renan Lodi (Atlético Madrid )
Midfield: Casemiro (Real Madrid), Fabinho (Liverpool), Fred (Manchester United), Gerson (Olympique Marseille), Lucas Paqueta (Olympique Lyon), Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona)
Attack: Antony (Ajax), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City), Matheus Cunha (Atletico Madrid), Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain), Raphinha (Leeds United).