Brazil national football team

So he's been ruled out.

So, so he's not been included in the Brazil squad because of injury, but, um, Alonso said, um, he might play on the weekend, um, even though he's injured for Brazil and you're like-

That's really helpful, isn't it?

What? [laughs]

Probably Chelsea's most controversial number nine since Khaled Bolaris or before Khaled Bolaris, who knows? [laughs] Those were happy days, weren't they? Uh, let's turn our attention back to 2026 anyway and talk about Brentford against Chelsea.

Uh, I've had to rejig the team news bit of my script here, Liam, because I see that João Pedro has pulled out of the Brazil squad, so presumably he's not gonna play on Friday night.

So that'll mean a first Premier League start for Chelsea for Danny Welbeck then.

Yeah, we have very little detail on this at the moment.

I, I will be heading to Xabi Alonso's press conference later today, uh, which of course will be before most people listen to this.

Um, but we do already know that João Pedro has been replaced in the Brazil squad, and it would be unprecedented in that context for him to play the final game before the international break if, if he's not fit enough to go on international duty.

So I think we, we can work on the assumption that João Pedro will not be playing.

And judging by what we've seen so far this season, that means a big opportunity for Danny Welbeck at the Gtech.

Would you recommend doing anything with them? Got three free transfers.

Also, do you think Pedro will be out?" Well, look, the fact that Joao Pedro is out of the Brazil squad, we can only kind of assume at this moment.

But I do think, and again this will sound silly for people listening to the audio because by the time it comes out you'll know, but I do think there's a possibility that he's all right.

That it's like, oh, he's picked up an issue and Chelsea want to...

Now ironically, he didn't get back in time, lost his place in the team and never played for the club again.

I'm not suggesting this will happen with Joao Pedro.

But if it's like, oh, he's got a problem that's gonna need some rest, right? Brazil are playing a couple of friendlies.

Let's, let's wait and see what Alonso says.

So it's just a case of waiting to see how his body reacts.

Oliver Glasner did seem relatively positive, though, and said he hopes that Jai would still be able to meet up with the Brazil squad, who I think go to Australia and India.

So it'll be quite an occasion for the young defender.

Elsewhere, we'll find out tomorrow what the makeup of the England squad is and if Morgan Gibbs-White will be picked by England.

Yeah.

Another thing that's interesting is, if we talk about Brazil for a second, they've got Carlo Ancelotti as their manager for this World Cup.

I think it's the first time that Brazil has taken a foreign manager to a World Cup.

And of course, one interesting statistic when we talk about managers is that no country has ever won the World Cup with a foreign manager.

Is that an anomaly? Is there something in that? What do you make of that statistic?

Are you surprised that even the big teams have taken a while to start hiring foreign managers? Because you'd think with all the sort of slim margins that you're talking about, you'd be wanting to get whatever edge you can.

And so to get the best manager, irrespective of nationality, you'd think they'd want to do that.

So for instance, with Brazil, hiring Angelotti, is that to you a sign that they're thinking in the right way?

And I think...

But we'll reach a point where if he doesn't start, I'm just going to get a Brazil flag and just hang it in my background in future episodes.

What a protest.

I think one of the reasons why Klasner might prefer him over it, because in theory, over Jesus, sorry, just because in theory, at least, he's more natural in that position, is there? That's more a role he's more capable to take on.

This is pretty much press conference, so he might just blow all this out of the water and it won't make a difference.

But Jay Cunha looks as though he has a fighting chance of playing.

Now, I wanted to ask you, Jack, given that he's just got the Brazil call-up and he's slowly but surely becoming a more integral part of this Forest team, If he is close to fitness, is it a risk worth taking to put him straight back in?

No, I wouldn't start him.

It might be a bit of a sore point.

But the Socceroos are about to play Brazil.

And I wanted to ask about the time you played Brazil.

It was a long time ago in terms of... you know, memory, but I'm sure it lives in yours because sadly, Thomas, tell our audience what happened when you had your chance to play in a match against Brazil.

Yeah, it turned out to be my last international match.

It was just before the Euros in 2012 and we played in Hamburg and 1-0 down at half-time and I got injured.

My back went out of whack and I had to come off at half-time.

I think Hulk scored.

The issue is I think Javier Pedro might be missing here.

Javier also keeps his cards close to his chest, but Brazil have not included him in their squad and suggested he is injured.

So we have to assume he probably is.

But I thought Chelsea competed pretty well against Arsenal.

Adrian, you're staying away from the match odds prices as well.

We're assuming, as Mark said, I was going to mention that Joao Pedro is looking like he won't play.

But again, it's a bit unknown there because I don't think he's very keen on Brazil at the moment and Ancelotti.

It's a bit of politics in play.

I mean, plus a quarter, Brentford's around about minus 127.

At the moment, Jad Pedro looks like he's going to be a miss, doesn't he? Because he's at the Brazil squad, as one or two of the commenters are saying here.

So that might put a dent in Chelsea's fortunes.

As far as where the money is coming here, 88% of the money, 89% of the tickets on Chelsea.

So, you know, tread carefully.

It'd be interesting to see what happens with that one.

João Pedro definitely out of the Brazil squad.

Let's move on to Tottenham.