How Endrick became the face of Brazil aged just 17 after ‘lost year’

For the first time in 60 years, Brazil ended 2023 with more defeats than wins. Having beaten only Guinea, Bolivia and Peru and conceded more goals in their first six qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup than they had in the entirety of qualification for 2022, it was a true annus horribilis for the Selecao.

Since Tite left after the penalty-shootout defeat to Croatia in Qatar, Brazil’s men’s side have existed in an odd state of limbo, with two equally disastrous caretaker managers overseeing staid defeat after staid defeat.

Youth manager Ramon Menezes lost two of his three matches in the senior job, once having to leg it from the U-20 South American Championship in Argentina to announce the squad. His successor, supposed visionary Fernando Diniz and Fluminense boss, had an equally bad record, winning two of his six games at the helm. 2023 has been called a “lost year” for Brazilian football.

Enter Dorival Junior, he of the oversized glasses and 26 clubs in the past 22 years. Dorival has a reputation in Brazil as a firefighter, often parachuted in to salvage relegation battles, a chaotic existence which means he has only once spent longer than a season at any team.

But recent success with Flamengo and Sao Paulo has convinced fans and the board he is capable of taking the role long earmarked for Carlo Ancelotti. The Real Madrid boss had even been publicly announced by the Brazilian Football Federation before he confirmed he would be staying in the Spanish capital.

Dorival’s first squad marks a clear new era for Brazilian football, with 18 players included with fewer than five caps. Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Joao Gomes, Porto duo Galeno and Pepe and Girona pair Savio and Yan Couto are some of the more popular names among this fresh crop.

It’s not even that these new faces are particularly young – Pepe and Galeno are 27 and 26 respectively, while Flamengo defenders Ayrton Lucas and Fabricio Bruno are 26 and 28. None of the three goalkeepers included have ever played outside Brazil or been capped before. This is not Joga Bonito as you remember it.

In part, this is down to injury. Alisson, Ederson, Casemiro, Gabriel Maghalhaes and Gabriel Martinelli are all ruled out. Neymar, who successfully played under Dorival as a youngster at Santos, is another long-term absentee. Playing his football at Al-Hilal, it is still up for debate whether he will feature in this side again.

Of course, there are still familiar names in this Selecao selection. Their midfield will likely be made up of Lucas Paqueta, Bruno Guimaraes and Douglas Luiz when they face England at Wembley on Saturday evening. Richarlison may well lead the line – in fact he’s the second-most experienced international in this squad, with 48 caps. Real Madrid pair Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo are also both available, although neither have particularly impressed for their nation so far.

And then, of course, there’s Endrick. The 17-year-old striker has long had his £52m move to Real Madrid on the table, which will be confirmed when he comes of age in July. He’s already had to play down the Pele comparisons, but they’re increasingly hard to ignore. The pair are even the same height.

Similarly to Kylian Mbappe, Endrick has the cool demeanour of someone who’s had their whole life to prepare for fame and glory. He’s reserved off the pitch but all-consuming on it, already the face of New Balance and with his name seemingly pre-inscribed on a Ballon d’Or some point this decade.

He already has two caps and has won two league titles with Palmeiras. He was named the best player at the 2022 Montaigu Tournament in France, a competition for U-16s.

And he comes equipped with the expectations of a nation on his stocky shoulders, as he has since he was 11 years old. When there’s so little to smile about in Brazilian football, he’s expected to light the fire underneath the next regeneration of the Samba soul. By 2026, it will have been 24 years since Brazil’s last World Cup win, their joint-longest drought.

And so the firefighter and the firestarter will head to Wembley in search of a victory no-one expects them to achieve, perhaps for the first time in the modern age, with a team almost entirely dependent on Premier League talent.