From Allianz Parque to World Cup: who can make Brazil 2026, what they need | OneFootball

Verdão lead the Brasileirão, won the Campeonato Paulista, and have eight players who could go to the 2026 World Cup, but not a single one whose place in the Brazil national team is guaranteed. This is one of the most striking paradoxes in South American football: the strongest club in Brazil, a contender for everything in the continental club tournament, may end up with no representatives in Carlo Ancelotti’s squad. The countdown to the announcement ends on May 18. Until then, there are two names who still, at least in theory, have a chance of being called up.

Carlos Miguel and Ancelotti’s silence

Carlos Miguel’s case is the most puzzling of Brazil’s current cycle. The 26-year-old goalkeeper is Palmeiras’ undisputed starter this season, has logged more minutes than any other player in the squad and, in that context, is one of the most efficient goalkeepers in the world. And yet, Ancelotti has never counted on him.

Carlos Miguel’s biggest problem is the pecking order in the national team squad. The Italian coach already has his three goalkeepers set: Alisson (Liverpool), Ederson (Fenerbahçe), and Bento (Al-Nassr). All three have extensive history with the national team and have given no reason to be dropped from the call-up list. Carlos Miguel, meanwhile, arrived late on the coach’s radar: he established himself at club level when Ancelotti had already settled that position for his team.

For him to go to the World Cup, there would need to be a serious injury to one of those three before May 18, or the Italian coach would have to make a decision that many would consider madness. The Palmeiras goalkeeper does everything a national team coach should ask for. The problem is that this coach is focused elsewhere.

Andreas Pereira disappeared from the call-ups

Andreas Pereira is the other Brazilian Palmeiras player who deserves to be in Ancelotti’s squad, but, like Carlos Miguel, he is dealing with a very narrow path in. The 30-year-old midfielder was called up twice by the Italian: against Ecuador, in a match where he got a few minutes on the pitch, and against Bolivia, where he did not come on at all. Since then, the Brazil coach has not called on him again, and Andreas was not among the players involved in the latest friendlies against France and Croatia, even though the national team staff had been watching him closely.

The situation is complicated, but not impossible. Andreas Pereira could fill Bruno Guimarães’ role, as Guimarães has had physical issues, and that was the position with the most uncertainty until a few weeks ago. Casemiro, Andrey Santos, and Guimarães himself are the names most often mentioned in speculation, but none of them are in their best form, nor is there great confidence in their call-ups, something that could directly affect World Cup betting. At Palmeiras, the player is coming off a solid season, with five assists in the 2026 Brasileirão, the best mark in the squad in that category.

Andreas’ possible call-up could happen if Ancelotti decides the midfield needs a player with more attacking drive, if other players’ injuries are not resolved, and if his performances in the coming weeks in the league and Copa do Brasil are strong enough. The window is small, but not impossible: the squad is not finalized, and Pereira has at least already been part of the group before.

Palmeiras supply national teams… except their own

Individual cases aside, Verdão’s situation ahead of the 2026 World Cup reflects a strategy the club adopted years ago and the consequences it brought. Under Leila Pereira and Abel Ferreira, the club chose to sign high-performing foreign players at a lower cost within the Brazilian market context, instead of betting on local talents who tend to move to Europe in search of better conditions and a chance to play for major clubs. According to Transfermarkt data, roughly a third of the squad is foreign-born.

That is how we arrive at the current situation: in the last international friendly window, eight Palmeiras players joined their national teams, but none with Brazil. “Flaco” López and Agustín Giay with Argentina, Joaquín Piquerez and Emiliano Martínez with Uruguay, and even Maurício, born in São Paulo and developed in Brazilian football, became a naturalized Paraguayan and received his first call-up to the national team.

That is why Palmeiras are in their current position: developing talent for Brazil is not appealing because of the fear that those players will leave. The club usually brings in already established figures from abroad, in more profitable deals that help keep it competitive. The price to pay? Players who are already in the second half of their careers, and being one of the best teams in South America while risking having no representation in the national team during the World Cup.

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