Column: Brazil showing proved off-pitch work is paying off
Brazil pushed Sarina Wiegman's England as hard as anyone has at Wembley last week. They're growing amount of young stars look set for a big future, but it's not down to luck.
Formiga has hung up her boots. Cristiane is out of the picture. Ludmila has a long-term injury, and Marta and Debinha were unavailable due to shorter-term injuries.
While echoes of the past remain, circumstance dictated Wembley witnessed the future of the Brazil national team last week, rather than what has gone before.
What it saw was a team which pushed the European champions, unbeaten in 30 games under Sarina Wiegman, as hard as anyone has since the Dutchwoman took over in 2021.
An energetic no-fear high press saw Pia Sundhage's young chargers go after England, make them look uncomfortable and force them into mistakes which have been rare under Wiegman, to the extent even FIFA Best award winner Mary Earps fumbled a last-minute attempt which led to Andressa's equaliser.
Brazil has only been a consistently good side in the women's game, but never got close to the heights of their men's dominance on the world stage.
They reached the 2007 World Cup final, but that is the furthest they've been, and in recent years they have been on the wain as plenty of European nations have overtaken them as chief pursuers of the USA.
Out in the round of 16 of the last two World Cups, Brazil has needed structure, investment, and more than anything, leadership, to get back to where they once were, a team with a chance of going all the way on the world stage.
Recent results, even before Wembley, have offered hope. Brazil won the Copa America last year, as they often do, but since then have beaten Norway, Italy, Canada and Japan, as well as a narrow 2-1 loss to world champions USA in February.
A large part of that has been down to the hiring of experienced head coach Sundhage, formerly of Sweden and the USA, in 2019.
Fluctuating from average tournament to average tournament, Brazil passed between Vadão, to Emily Lima, and back to Vadão, before another sub-standard World Cup in 2019 forced the CBF into radical change.
Sundhage's arrival has forced the CBF to take greater responsibility for its women's game, while there has been structural change behind the scenes too to enforce positive changes.
Duda Luizelli was hired as women's team coordinator and former national team player Aline Pellegrino as women's competitions coordinator, with Pellegrino replacing Luizelli as coordinator last year.
Ana Lorena Marche was hired last year as Development Coordinator and General Supervisor of the national teams, and the CBF is gradually developing both its youth championships and its youth teams at national team level, with the hope of introducing more youth age groups soon.
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Issues still remain. Last year, Giovana, a promising 13-year-old at Botafogo, left to go to the USA and train with FC Florida because there wasn't an age group for her, meaning she had to train and play with boys.
Some teams are falling behind. Ceará sit bottom of the top division six games in without a point, a goal, and have conceded 46 times in those six games. Real Ariquemes are fairing no better, with a similar record, except they have managed a sole goal in their six games so far.
Both teams were promoted last year but have found the step up hard, with a big difference in investment between teams, all of whom have to have a women's team after CONMEBOL threatened to remove clubs from competitions such as the Copa Libertadores if they didn't fund a women's team alongside their men's team.
Giants São Paulo disbanded their team for 15 years between 2000 and 2015, while Palmeiras, now one of the leading clubs in Brazil, outsourced their women's team for several seasons before taking things back in-house.
Others have led the way, such as Corinthians, Ferroviária, Kindermann and Santos, but gradual change at both club and country level is allowing for the development of this exciting new crop of Brazilian youngsters.
Over a dozen of the current squad are 24 or under. The standout is Geyse, the oldest of that group, now at Barcelona after a superb 2021/22 campaign in Spain with Madrid CFF.
There is Kerolin, Gio, Tainara, Nycole, Aline, Ary, Tarciane, Bruninha and Lauren, another set of names among the current crop of young stars progressing through the senior ranks, all of whom are nowhere near the peaks and should theoretically be around the national team set up for at least another decade.
Aline, at 17, is one of the most promising and has just receiving her first senior call-up. Geyse, Tainara, Kerolin and Benfica's Ana Vitoria were all part of a Brazil squad which floundered at the 2018 Under 20 World Cup, finishing bottom of their group with no wins from three games.
Brazil's youth teams though are looking much stronger than just relying on a few individuals, as their third-placed finish at last year's Under 20 World Cup showed, a huge improvement on their 2018 debacle.
Teams all around the world now are looking to Brazil for talent, such is the amount coming through a system now allowing for player development.
In the last 12 months alone, Kerolin, Bruninha, Ary, Adriana and Julia Bianchi have all moved to the USA and the NWSL, while the current injured Angelina is also there with OL Reign.
Many others, besides Geyse, are at top European clubs, such as Gio at Arsenal, Tainara at Bayern Munich, Lauren at Madrid CFF and Nycole, who plays alongside Ana Vitoria at Benfica.
More will follow, and Brazil showed at both the SheBelieves Cup last month and in the Finalissima they are close again to competing with the very best, under a head coach who knows how to win.
This World Cup, which sees them in a group with France, may come too early for this exciting group of young players, but there is little doubt the nation is on its way to becoming a formidable presence in the women's game once again. Long may it continue.