Abel Ferreira mocks Flamengo’s U20 world title

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·26. August 2025

Abel Ferreira mocks Flamengo’s U20 world title

Abel Ferreira, from Palmeiras, insinuated that Flamengo doesn’t give opportunities to academy players

After Flamengo’s Flamengo U-20 team won the world title last Saturday (23) against Barcelona (ESP), Flamengo fans rubro-negros began to discuss which of the youngsters deserve a spot in the main squad. The topic of using academy players even reached Palmeiras. The team’s coach, Abel Ferreira, mentioned Mengão’s back-to-back titles and made an ironic remark, insinuating that the Rubro-Negro doesn’t give chances to its homegrown talents, unlike the São Paulo team.

— The coach has patience, the fans have patience, I don’t know if our fans have it. Did you see a team that was U-20 world champion twice (Flamengo), how many players do they bet on? These are different mindsets, our players who went to the national team, all of them were sold. Our best players were sold. Estêvão was sold, Endrick was sold, Vitor Reis last year played both legs of the Cup, both legs of the Libertadores and in the end we sold him for the amount you know, but it was necessary to keep him there — said Abel Ferreira, from Palmeiras.

— It’s the club’s process, and I always stress this so that our fans understand, it’s a different process. There are players in the academy that we were able to identify, two players we observed that I see and envision a future like Endrick, like Estêvão, but I know the time it takes for them to develop, to gain the maturity they need, and then in the future it’s up to the coach to decide whether or not to call them up — added the Portuguese coach, in a press conference on Monday (25).

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WHY DON’T YOU FOCUS ON YOUR OWN TEAM, ABEL FERREIRA?

Abel Ferreira’s comments are, to some extent, surprising. After all, last Monday (25), the Portuguese coach did not start a single academy player in the starting lineup that beat Sport 3-0. Moreover, of the five substitutions, only one homegrown player was brought on: Allan Elias.

On the other hand, Flamengo used a player with academy experience among the starting eleven who thrashed Vitória 8-0: Samuel Lino. The winger had a brief stint at the club, but it was enough to win the 2018 Copinha with the Rubro-Negro. In addition, Pedro also has a history with Mengão since he was a child.

HOW IS THE 2025 BRASILEIRÃO STANDINGS?

While Abel Ferreira is even concerned with Flamengo’s academy, the main team of the Most Beloved keeps leaving Palmeiras in the dust. After all, Mengão leads the Brasileirão with 46 points, compared to 42 for the São Paulo side. It’s true, however, that the rival has one game in hand.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.