Ancelotti set to give Hugo Souza a chance in upcoming Seleção matches | OneFootball

In an interview with ESPN, Carlo Ancelotti praised Hugo Souza of Corinthians. The coach revealed that he plans to give the goalkeeper opportunities in the upcoming matches of the Brazilian National Team and cited Brazil’s elimination against Croatia on penalties in the 2022 World Cup as an example of the importance of having a player prepared for such situations.

“We are thinking about this, preparing, studying penalties, preparing a goalkeeper for penalties because in the past Brazil was unlucky against Croatia, many quarter-final and round of 16 matches are decided on penalties, so it’s something we are considering, evaluating. The truth is that I really like him as a goalkeeper, he has personality and character, he’s very tall. I believe that in the next matches we can think about giving him the opportunity to get used to the team,” he said.

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Hugo Souza has stood out in penalty situations for Corinthians. In 77 matches, the goalkeeper has already tallied eight penalty saves, the most recent last Wednesday (10), when he blocked Gastón Benavídez’s shot from Athletico-PR in the quarterfinals of the Copa do Brasil.

With this intervention, the goalkeeper reached an important milestone: he surpassed Dida and joined the group of the greatest penalty stoppers in the club’s history. Considered one of Timão’s great goalkeepers, Dida had saved seven penalties in 95 matches, while Hugo surpassed this feat in 18 fewer games.

Currently, Hugo is behind only three names in Corinthians’ all-time ranking: Cássio, with 32 saves, Ronaldo Giovanelli, with 27, and Gylmar dos Santos Neves, who stopped 11 penalties.

Qualified for the World Cup, the Brazilian National Team returns to the field for preparatory friendlies. The first match will be against South Korea on October 10, at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, in Seoul, followed by a clash with Japan on the 14th, at 7:30 a.m., at the Tokyo Stadium.

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