Guilherme Dalla Déa, head coach of the U-15 National TeamCredits: Rafael Ribeiro / CBF
The Brazil U-15 National Team is going through another stage of preparation for the Liga Evolução, which will be played in September. With an eye on the continental competition, the team led by Guilherme Dalla Déa will play two friendlies against Uruguay on August 19 and 22 at Granja Comary, in Teresópolis (RJ).
For Dalla Déa, this stage of preparation represents a time to deepen the concepts worked on throughout the cycle. The coach believes the players are now entering a phase of “technical refinement,” with the goal of arriving better prepared for the continental competition.
“The idea is to keep increasingly passing on our content, our ideas to these athletes, so that we can refine them more and more,” said Dalla Déa.
The coach also emphasized the importance of working on the emotional aspect with a generation made up of 14- and 15-year-old players. According to Dalla Déa, preparing for a South American tournament requires attention not only to on-field performance, but also to the athletes’ ability to deal with pressure.
In the coach’s assessment, opponents may try to exploit exactly that aspect during the competition.
“When it comes to a South American tournament, we know that our rivals will certainly want to affect our Brazil National Team emotionally in some way,” he explained.
Dalla Déa also believes that the two friendlies against Chile, played in July, were important in bringing the players closer to the reality they will face in the Liga Evolução. Brazil won both matches, which were played at the opponent’s home ground.
For the coach, the away experience helped the athletes better understand the level of demand of a South American competition. Now, against Uruguay, Dalla Déa intends to observe how the team will build on the performance shown on that occasion.
“The idea is to keep the momentum going, to give all the athletes here the opportunity to experience minutes on the pitch and get them all playing. That will be a very important benchmark for me in making the decision for the final call-up,” said Dalla Déa. “This generation has a lot of talent, technical talent. And that’s where I place a lot of emphasis, not only on the technical side, but also on the cognitive side, the intensity, the volume of play,” he added.
Brazil U-15 National Team training sessionCredits: Rafael Ribeiro / CBF
Dalla Déa also highlighted the simultaneous presence of the U-15 and U-17 National Teams at Granja Comary as an opportunity to expand integration between the youth categories. According to the coach, living and working together allows for a constant exchange of information between the coaching staffs and helps project the players toward the next levels of development.
“This integration is very important, especially because of the interaction between the U-15 and U-17 coaching staffs. Dudu [Carlos Eduardo Patetuci], who is the U-17 coach, was present at our training session, and now I’ll be present at his. That’s integration: us talking about our athletes and projecting them into the future. There’s nothing better than having both national teams here, even so the athletes can have this coexistence. I always tell them: ‘Get ready, because in one or two years you’ll be in the Brazil U-17 National Team.’ This integration between the coaching staffs is very important, and it’s important that we exchange daily feedback about those athletes we see as major prospects, with the potential to reach the U-17 National Team in the coming years,” he concluded.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.