Brasileirão defender on Flamengo's Pedro: “I'd take him to the World Cup” | OneFootball

Jacy, from Coritiba, ‘couldn’t stop’ Pedro in the last round of the Brasileirão

Pedro shone in Flamengo’s ‘farewell’ before the break for the World Cup. With one goal and one assist, the number 9 helped Mengão beat Coritiba 3-0 in the Brasileirão. A center back for the Paraná side, Jacy commented on how difficult it is to mark the striker and lamented the Flamengo player’s absence from the World Cup.

— We look at Pedro and think he’s that big penalty-box center forward who will hardly ever hold the ball up. But no, he has so many tools. On Lino’s first goal, I think any center forward would have controlled the ball first and then made the pass. If you look at it, when the pass comes in, he had already seen who was making the run, and then he flicks it with his heel. He thinks a little bit ahead of everything, he has so many tools, it’s very hard to get near him — Jacy began.

— On the goal he scored, he stays deeper and then, after the ball is played, he attacks it. I was covering the near post, my teammate was tracking the diagonal run, but he (Pedro) was even farther back and still managed to score. If my teammate sticks to him, he makes that quick dart and goes to the byline. He’s very intelligent, has so many tools. Whether it’s for short balls, long balls, or to set someone up (drop back and provide an assist). Personally, I would have taken him to the World Cup. He makes all the difference — added the defender, in an interview with the ‘Charla Podcast’ this Thursday (04).

WHAT DID PEDRO DO AGAINST CORITIBA?

Right at the start of last Saturday’s match (30), Coritiba made a mistake while playing out from the back. Then Pedro, alert as ever, produced a beautiful backheel pass for Samuel Lino to open the scoring. In the second half, the number 9 took advantage of a cross from the left, lost his markers, and tapped the ball into the back of the net like a typical center forward.

PEDRO AT THE WORLD CUP?

Despite his excellent form this season, Pedro was left out of the World Cup. The Flamengo player did appear on the list of 55 names, but he did not make the final squad of 26. Therefore, the only chance for the striker to play in the tournament is if someone is ruled out through injury by next June 12, 24 hours before the debut against Morocco.

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