Lucas Itaberaba on Brazil U20s' fitness work during Spain friendlies | OneFootball

Lucas Itaberaba, Brazil U-20 national team fitness coachCredits: Nelson Terme/CBF

The routine of the Brazil U-20 national team changed after the first friendly in Spain. With only two days between matches, the technical staff’s work shifted to prioritizing recovery. The team’s fitness coach, Lucas Itaberaba, explained how the squad has been prepared for the run of games and the challenge of balancing the players’ different situations.

According to Lucas, the work is done in coordination with the clubs, since the players arrive at the national team at different points in their seasons. Some play in Brazil and others come from Europe, in addition to the differences between those already playing professional football and those competing at youth level.

“The first point is that this is joint work between the clubs and the CBF. I’m representing all the clubs’ fitness coaches, since we receive these players. It’s a very different context from what we have at the clubs,” he explained.

This diversity requires special attention from the staff. Each player arrives with a different workload, and one of the goals is to bring those conditions closer together so everyone is ready to compete at the same level.

“That’s the big challenge: trying to unify all these standards, unify all these workloads so they can perform better in matches,” he said.

Recovery begins at the stadium itself, right after the matches. After the 4-1 win over Denmark, the players who had greater involvement did recovery work, while those who played fewer minutes or did not get on the field went out onto the pitch.

“Basically, we start our recovery right after the game, in the locker room, with some recovery strategies. Yesterday, with the group that played a little more, we did passive recovery together with Physiotherapy and the Medical Department,” he said.

Brazil U-20 national team training in SpainCredits: Nelson Terme /CBF

For the athletes with fewer minutes, the schedule was different. The staff used training to make up for part of what they had not done during the match, while still working on technical and tactical aspects.

“The group that played little or didn’t play came onto the field so we could give them a bit of exposure to some important physical variables they didn’t get in the game, while also continuing to work on the technical and tactical side together with our coach and the entire staff,” he said.

Before the opener, the staff had a longer period to work. Lucas explains that the first eight sessions were important for developing different physical components and, at the same time, integrating those activities with ball work.

“The biggest workload came in the first eight days of work, in the first eight sessions, when we were able to cover all the physical variables as well as the technical and tactical ones,” he said.

With the run of friendlies, however, the priority changed. The short interval between matches means the staff is focusing its efforts on recovery rather than adding new workloads.

“From the first game on, we focus much more on the recovery process and recovery, because there are only two days between games. So it’s much more about recovery than actually building up workload,” he explained.

With the work done before the match against the United States, the fitness coach believes the group is now in a more balanced physical state. The staff was able to work with the players who had fewer minutes while also helping those who arrived at the national team with a heavier workload recover.

“That period before the United States game was very important for us to balance the workloads of those who were playing less and to recover the athletes who had played matches before reporting,” Lucas said.

The assessment is that the squad is now in a more similar physical condition across the group, which allows the staff to continue the run of friendlies with greater balance.

“I believe we’re now at a much more homogeneous level in physical terms, of course with a balance in technical and tactical capacities as well, so that we can play two more good matches,” he concluded.

The Brazil U-20 national team faces the United States this Thursday (October 1) at 6 p.m. local time (1 p.m. Brasília time), once again at Pinatar Arena in San Pedro del Pinatar. The team’s third and final match in Spain will be against Mexico on Sunday (October 4), also at Pinatar Arena.

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