Endrick’s World Cup hopes rest on France, where he found form | OneFootball

With an eye on the World Cup, young striker Endrick is ready to return to the Brazilian national team in this Thursday’s (26) friendly against France, the country where he revived his career at Lyon.

Condemned to obscurity at Real Madrid, his resurgence in French football put him back on Carlo Ancelotti’s radar, and the coach has called him up for the first time since taking charge of the national team.

Endrick, 19, is back after showing flashes of the days when he was considered one of Palmeiras’ greatest youth prospects.

His impact in France was immediate: on January 11, in his debut for Lyon, the striker scored in a 2-1 win in the French Cup. The applause, then, was unanimous.

He has three goals and four assists in nine French league matches, and six goals in all competitions.

Ancelotti, who was his coach at Real Madrid, “had already advised me to look for more space, more playing time,” Endrick told AFP after his loan move to Lyon. “I found the ideal club.”

The young striker has not played for Brazil since March 2025, in the 4-1 thrashing by Argentina in the South American World Cup qualifiers, a defeat that cost Dorival Júnior his job and led to his replacement by the Italian coach.

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Ups and downs

The bright spell, however, did not last long.

“He shoots, he tries to dribble, but in terms of actual play, he is absolutely useless: he loses nine out of every ten balls,” former France national team coach Raymond Domenech said about Endrick on a program on sports daily L’Équipe’s channel.

A drop in form after his promising start at Lyon sparked criticism, including some as harsh as Domenech’s.

The striker has not scored in the French league since late January. His team, meanwhile, is winless in eight matches, with painful eliminations in the Europa League and the French Cup.

“He has his ups and downs, like the whole team, but he has adapted very well,” one of his club teammates, Argentine full-back Nicolás Tagliafico, told AFP.

“You can see the quality he has, sometimes with good decisions, sometimes with bad decisions… He is young and can make mistakes. That’s normal,” Tagliafico added.

Despite everything, Ancelotti is showing confidence in him for the national team’s first matches of the year.

Endrick made his Real Madrid debut under the Italian coach in August 2024, in a 3-0 win over Valladolid. The young striker came on in the final minutes in place of French star Kylian Mbappé and scored a goal.

Fierce competition

Making the World Cup squad is a highly coveted reward. Endrick is not the only center forward competing for a spot: Igor Thiago and Rayan, both in excellent form in England, received their first call-ups during this FIFA window.

“I have to give everything I’ve got, show my traits and my qualities in every training session and every game. Show that I’m ready,” Igor Thiago told the CBF.

He has been shining in the Premier League for Brentford, scoring 19 goals in 31 matches.

Only Manchester City’s Norwegian striker Erling Haaland is ahead of him in the scoring charts, with 22 goals.

Rayan, meanwhile, has been performing well at Bournemouth, where he arrived in January after leaving Vasco.

But Endrick, Igor Thiago, and Rayan all still face competition from João Pedro, who is having a solid season at Chelsea, while Matheus Cunha, a versatile No. 9 who likes to drift out of the box, is establishing himself as Ancelotti’s first choice.

The final World Cup squad list, for the tournament that begins in June, will be announced on May 18. Time is running out.

*By AFP

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