Ancelotti convoca Brasil com novidades para amistosos contra Senegal e Tunísia

Carlo Ancelotti called up 26 players on Monday for Brazil's final two friendlies of the year, matches that will take place in Europe against Senegal on November 15 and Tunisia three days later. Both teams have already secured their spots in the 2026 World Cup, making these games a chance for the Italian coach to continue testing combinations and evaluating talent ahead of the tournament in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

The squad announcement brought three notable returns to the fold. Luciano Juba, a left-back from Bahia, appears for the first time in a senior Brazil call-up. Vitor Roque, the Palmeiras striker, is back after a two-year absence—his last appearance came in 2023. Fabinho, the midfielder now playing in Saudi Arabia for Al-Ittihad, returns after missing the entire period since the 2022 World Cup. Ancelotti emphasized that these players represent the kind of evaluation work he wants to continue as the tournament draws closer.

The coach has been gradually shifting his approach to squad selection. In the previous international window, he had called only four players from Brazil's domestic league. This time, that number jumped to seven, a deliberate choice to assess the quality available in the Campeonato Brasileiro. "I believe the tests have gone well," Ancelotti said during his announcement at the CBF headquarters. "I have more knowledge of the players now. I want to evaluate players like Fabinho and Luciano Juba, and Vitor Roque, who is having a good season. We have seven players from the Brazilian league. It's a good level of competition, and we have many players who could be part of this." He added that the squad would be more defined by the time these two matches conclude.

The team will gather in London on November 10, where they'll prepare for the first friendly against Senegal at Emirates Stadium on November 13 at 1 p.m. Brasília time. The match against Tunisia follows three days later in Lille, France, at 4:30 p.m. These venues and dates place the squad firmly in a European context, allowing Ancelotti to work with players in their club environments before bringing them together.

When asked about the recall of Fabrício Bruno, the Cruzeiro defender who made costly errors in Brazil's 2-1 loss to Japan last month, Ancelotti defended the decision. "The truth is he left that game upset, but the CBF technical staff's thinking isn't based solely on that mistake against Japan," the coach explained. "It's based on many matches where he's performed well. We have confidence in him and his qualities. In general, a mistake is a good moment to learn." The message was clear: one poor performance doesn't erase a body of work.

Ancelloti remains in the early stages of building his final squad. With roughly six months until the World Cup, he acknowledged that he hasn't yet settled on the core 17 or 18 players who will definitely travel to North America. Two more international windows lie ahead—one in March, when Brazil will play two friendlies against European opponents in the United States, and another in June, when the team will train at Granja Comary and play a final warm-up match on home soil. That June opponent will be chosen after the World Cup draw on December 5. "The more time I spend with the players, the closer we get to what the definitive list might be," Ancelotti said. "Over the next six months, much will depend on injuries, which unfortunately can happen. But by then, the list will be much more defined."