Robinho Lazaró was given the ultimate honour of any Football Manager as he became the Brazil boss in August 2030. Brazil turned to Lazaró after exiting the 2030 World Cup with a 3-0 round of 16 exit against eventual winners Germany, who beat France 2-1 extra time in the Final. The nation is currently 4th in the FIFA world rankings behind France, Spain and Germany and just ahead of Portugal, England, Argentina, the Netherlands, Ivory Coast and Italy.
Lazaró’s first act as manager of Brazil was to name his former player and Santos homegrown product Izaquiel Penchel as the new national captain. That was the first of many changes as Lazaró slashed a mass of old players and anyone who played in Saudi from the Brazil squad. He also made Santos icon Neymar his assistant manager and called up five of his Santos squad, right back Rafinha, centre back Glaudestony Penchel and midfielders Charles and Lucas Rosado in addition to existing left back Rodrigo Passos. He also added young exciting talent from across Brazil like Sao Paulo centre back Márcio Antonio, wonderkid left back Paulo Henrique and striker Marcos César, Gremio right back Leonardo and attacker Vinicius Maia, and Internacional attacker Rodney Teixeira.
Lazaró’s Brazil career began with 2 internationals in Africa either side of the state championship final (which would have been ludicrous amounts of air miles) in April 2031. He handed out debuts to Rafinha, G Penchel and Charles, who typically announced himself on the international stage with a beautiful 25-yard strike after 24 minutes, in a 3-1 win over Algeria. And César scored twice on his full debut before Endrick surprisingly scored his 1st Brazil goal in just his 8th cap in a 4-2 win over Senegal.
World Cup Qualifying
Lazaró hadn’t settled on a formation, so he trialled a few as he set about ensuring Brazil progressed in World Cup Qualifying, which began in September 2031. They started with an awful performance at home to Bolivia until Rosado came off the bench to score his first international goal from 20 yards and exciting wing back Leonardo added a 2nd. They were equally wasteful in Chile, where Charles’ 41st-minute strike nicked a 1-0, before Gabriel Martinelli, Antonio and Vini Jr. downed Uruguay 3-1 and I Penchel’s brace led a 4-1 win in Paraguay. Moving into 2032, they made hard work of beating Venezuela, as Marcos Aurélio, Matheus Forcato and Marcelo Pereira made their international debuts, before a rotated team lost 3-1 with Aurélio scoring his 1st international goal.
Copa América 2032
Lazaró’s first major task in charge of Brazil was to lead his nation into Copa América in Chile. The squad he entrusted to try and win the tournament included 8 Santos players and 2 former Santos players, 7 more players at other Brazilian sides, 3 from Real Madrid and 3 from PSG. And the squad in full was:
Goalkeepers: Matheus Donelli (31, Corinthians), Luiz Júnior (32, Villarreal), Dirceu (17, Ponte Preta)
Full Backs: Leonardo (22, Man United), Paulo Henrique (21, Sao Paulo), Rafinha (23, Santos), Rodrigo Passos (23, Santos), Valdir Santos (21, PSG)
Centre Backs: Glaudestony Penchel (22, Santos), Jair (28, Al-Riyadh), Márcio Antonio (23, Sao Paulo), Matheus Forcato (20, Santos), Morato (31, Nottm Forest), Vladimir (20, Gremio)
Midfielders: Charles (23, Santos), Cleiton (23, Palmeiras), Izaquiel Penchel (24, PSG), Lucas Rosado (22, Santos), Marcelo Pereira (21, Santos)
Attackers: Endrick (26, Real Madrid), Gabriel Martinelli (31, PSG), Rodney Teixeira (25, Liverpool), Rodrygo (32, Real Madrid), Vinícius Júnior (32, Real Madrid), Vinicius Maia (20, Gremio)
Lazaró had trialled a few approaches but eventually settled on a 4-2-3-1 that maximised their best two players Viní Jr. and Martinelli. But he did have plenty of options across the squad.
Copa América Group Stage
Brazil were drawn in Group C alongside Bolivia, Canada and Venezuela. They started off against Venezuela and took a while to get going until Maia’s 1st Brazil goal after half an hour, but late goals by Morato and Vini Jr. earned a comfortable 3-0 win. They started faster against Boloivia as the giant Jair headed home Martinelli’s corner inside 4 minutes before Viní Jr. slammed home a 2nd. They absolutely dominated but struggled to finish and somehow allowed Bolivia to score their only shot, but Viní Jr. curled home his brilliant 2nd to kill the game off.
The group concluded with a rotated side playing out a 3-2 thriller against Canada, in which Pereira scored his 1st Brazil goal and laid on the winner for Aurélio. And that took Brazil through with 9 points alongside Venezeula with 6.
Copa América Knockouts
Brazil took on Paraguay in the quarters and started slowly. But Pereira lit the game up with a wonderful solo goal before Viní Jr. picked out Martinelli to slot home. Penchel headed home his 1st Brazil goal from Martinelli’s corner and Paraguay went down to 10 for a dreadful challenge just before the break. Lazaró’s former keeper García gifted Endrick a 4th, Penchel headed another from a throw in and Charles raced through the middle to bag a 6th off the bench.
That set up a semi-final against Ecuador, while Argentina took on Venezuela. They started poorly as Ecuador obviously scored their first (and only) shot but Viní Jr. won a penalty that Martinelli converted and Henrique’s cross bounced off the post into the path of Endrick to score a tap-in. Nothing happened after the break and Brazil snuck through 2-1.
That, of course, set up a huge rival clash in the Final as Argentina beat Venezuela 3-0. It had proved next-to-impossible to get players fully fit, despite rotation, but Lazaró lined up:
Donelli; Rafinha, Vladimir, G Penchel, Passos; I Penchel, Rosado; Pereira; Martinelli, Viní Jr.; Endrick
Subs: Aurélio, Júnior, Jair, Charles, Maia, Forcato, Henrique, Leonardo, Rodrygo, Cleiton, Antonio, Teixieruia
The Final was far from a spectacle as the sides shared 0 shots in the first 25 minutes, when Argentina had a tame effort easily saved, and Pereira crashed a great effort off the post with Brazil’s first shot on 34 minutes. And that was it for a dreadul first half! The second wasn’t much better, with Argentina just about edging it before Endrick’s awful backpass gifted Garnacho an open goal that he somehow missed. Brazil continued to offer nothing and Argentina deservedly nicked it with Martínez’s late goal. But Lazaró was fuming with his underperforming players.
Viní Jr. was equally disappointed and decided to retire from international football! And this would likely be the end of the road for many of the players in the squad as Lazaró looked to change things up ahead of the World Cup in 2034.
Could Brazil strengthen for a shot at World Cup glory? We’ll be back in 2 weeks to find out!
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