Women’s first team's youngest players, winning partners since youth | OneFootball

Of the 26 players called up by coach Arthur Elias for the friendlies against the United States, on June 6 and 9, 25 have worn Brazil’s green-and-yellow jersey for the U-20 national team, and 15 have also come through the U-17s. Of those, three also played in the U-14 and U-16 Development Leagues, thus completing the entire youth pathway: Kaylane, Dudinha, and Aline Gomes.

At just 17 years old, Kaylane is the youngest player in the squad that will face one of the Women’s National Team’s biggest rivals. Although she has not yet taken the field for the senior team, the Flamengo forward, who recently won the Brazilian U-20 Championship title, arrives with the confidence of someone already in her fourth call-up under Arthur Elias and hopes to maintain the consistency of her teammates.

Also among the youngest players in the squad, Dudinha is already on her 8th call-up with Arthur and has 17 appearances, while Aline reaches her 6th, having played 11 matches. For the forward who, in less than a year, has established herself as one of San Diego Wave’s standout players, youth-level experience teaches a lot about the training-camp environment, with meetings, training sessions, and schedule discipline, since preparation and integration time is short.

“At youth level, there is responsibility, but it comes with more lightness, with the joy of playing football and representing Brazil. In the senior team, there is greater maturity on the field and a kind of craftiness that the more experienced players teach you to have in the game. We represent so much when we play for the senior national team,” says Dudinha.

From rival to teammate

Growing within the national team setup and gaining international recognition was a natural and shared path for her and Aline, even when they were rivals at São Paulo and Ferroviária. “Since the U-17s, when we had our first call-up together, it was an enormous joy, because we’ve always called ourselves a duo. It’s a dream for us to be here,” Dudinha celebrated.

“Even playing for different teams, we were close. That connection has always been very good between us,” Aline celebrated. Scorer of Brazil’s most recent goal, which secured the FIFA Series title against Canada, the full-back acknowledges the challenge of facing the United States, but is confident because the team has experienced players.

“The cycles keep changing, but we learn every day from the coaching staff and the girls. Expectations are always the best, especially after the last three great performances here in Brazil. So the fans are expecting a lot too,” she said.

Check out the interview

In an interview with CBF TV, Aline Gomes talks about the use of players who have already worn Brazil’s green-and-yellow jersey, her partnership with Dudinha, and expectations for the friendlies.

The matches against the United States will take place on Saturday (6) at 6:30 p.m. at Neo Química Arena in São Paulo, and on June 9 at 9:30 p.m. at Arena Castelão in Fortaleza. More than 50,000 tickets have already been sold.

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