‘We have many excellent players’ – Firstpost

Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti has warned his team that he will not be carrying players to next year’s FIFA World Cup on reputation alone and has urged star forwards Vinicius Junior and Neymer to improve their fitness levels if they are to feature in football’s showpiece event.

Ancelotti, who had
joined the five-time world champions as their coach earlier this year, added that only those players who are 100 per cent fit will be considered for the 23rd edition of the World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada next summer.

Ancelotti says only players who are at 100 per cent will be considered

The former Real Madrid and AC Milan boss had warned veteran star Neymer, who currently represents Santos in the Brazilian Serie A, over his inconsistent fitness levels in October. On Tuesday, he extended that warning to 25-year-old Vini, who had been playing under the 66-year-old’s leadership at Madrid
until the latter parted ways with the iconic Spanish club.

“There are many high-quality players and I need to choose those who are at 100 per cent,” Ancelotti said in an interview with Brazilian sports programme Esporte Record.

“It’s not just about Neymar; it could be Vinicius. If Vinicius is at 90 per cent, I will call up another player who is at 100 per cent, because this is a team with a very high level of competitiveness, especially in attack, where we have many excellent players,” he added.

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Vini had scored the lone goal for Brazil in their 1-0 victory over Paraguay in June, which helped them secure their spot in the World Cup that has been expanded to 48 teams starting next year.

Brazil and Paraguay finished fifth and sixth respectively in the South American World Cup qualifiers, finishing on 28 points along with Colombia and Uruguay – the teams that finished third and fourth respectively.

Defending world champions Argentina finished top of the standings with 38 points, winning 12 out of 18 games and
thrashing Brazil 4-1 at home along the way, while Ecuador finished second with 29, just one point above the next four teams in the standings.

Ahead of the World Cup finals, which will be taking place from 11 June to 19 July in North America, Brazil will be facing two-time world champions France in a friendly game in Boston during the international window in late March.

Brazil had won the last of their five world titles in the 2002 edition in South Korea and Japan, exiting in the quarter-finals in each edition since then barring the home World Cup in 2014, in which they had suffered a 1-7 semi-final thrashing at the hands of eventual champions Germany.