Mining talent at the U-17 World Cup

Welcome back to the Brazil Sports newsletter. This week, we’re looking at the rough Brazilian diamonds on display at the U-17 World Cup, being hosted right here at home. Plus, an innovative idea to combat piracy and boost shirt sales. Happy reading!

Mining talent at the U-17 World Cup

One of the most satisfying things about covering football in Brazil was the opportunity to watch future world-beating players in their formative years, showing off their talents at home before heading to Europe. There were the ones who made it and others who didn’t, but the thrill lay precisely in this uncertainty, of young humans thrust into a high-stakes environment where character is often as important as natural talent.

This happens a lot less nowadays. When youngsters break into the first team of Brazilian clubs, they often already have deals agreed with Real Madrid, or Barcelona, making but a brief cameo in front of their home fans before heading off into the European sunset. The most recent wave of starlets—Gabriel Jesus, Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo—managed to dazzle Brazilian audiences before leaving, but many set off before even appearing for their home clubs.

Go younger. Now, the only chance Brazilian football fans get to see a pool of undiscovered talent is by watching youth football. Before it was the U-20s, now it is the U-17s, with the World Cup taking place as we speak, and hosted in Brazil.

The desperation for finding the next wunderkind is so high that the eyes of the world’s biggest clubs are also fixed on these precocious players. Brazil’s game against Angola had scouts from no less than 80 clubs watching in the stands, and advanced video scouting means that almost every medium to high-level club will have someone keeping an eye on these kids, who are barely old enough to drive.

The World Cup is already in the last-16 phase, with Brazil blowing past their opponents and boasting the best record of all 32 qualified sides. Beating Canada, New Zealand, and Angola, Brazil now face Chile in the next round. 

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