Coluna – Brazil faces goalball World Cup with rookies at the helm

As happens every four years, the World Cup dominates Brazilian news. The sporting world, however, goes beyond the ball that rolls in Qatar. This Wednesday (7), the goalball World Championship began in Matosinhos (Portugal). The current two-time champion, the Brazilian men’s team debuts this Thursday (8), at 7:10 am (Brasília time), against Algeria. Later, at 1 pm, the women’s team, who are looking for their first title, will face Great Britain. Competition matches will be streamed live on Kuriakos TV’s YouTube page. Men’s team can win the tri, and women’s team lift the Cup for the first time in this year’s edition in Matosinhos (Portugal) – Renan Cacioli/CBDV/Rights Reserved In the men’s tournament, in addition to being the current holder of the title, Brazil arrives accredited by winning the unprecedented Paralympic gold at the Tokyo Games, last year. Four of the six players called up for the World Cup were part of the winning squad in Japan: Leomon Moreno, Josemarcio Souza (Parazinho), Romário Marques and Emerson Ernesto. The first three – in addition to André Dantas – were world champions in 2018, in Malmö (Sweden), with Leomon and Romário still lifting the cup in Espoo (Finland), four years earlier. “The selection has to do, mainly, with performance. We tested 13 different athletes during the training phases and nine of them in two different competitions [Copa Ancara, em julho, na Turquia, e Copa das Nações, na Alemanha, em outubro]🇧🇷 I wouldn’t say that, by coincidence, it’s a very experienced team”, analyzed coach Jônatas Castro, to Agência Brasil. “Brazil is the reference, so everyone mirrors our goalball and, mainly, trains to beat us”, he said Jônatas Castro, coach of the Brazilian men’s national team – Renan Cacioli/CBDV/Rights Reserved The main novelty in Brazil compared to other editions is precisely in the coaching staff. In March, after winning the Campeonato das Américas, Alessandro Tosim left the team after 13 years and passed the baton to Jônatas. Despite two World Cups as an assistant to Dáilton Nascimento in the women’s team, it will be the first time that the 39-year-old from Paraíba will lead the team at the event. “It’s a different experience, but the dedication we deliver is the same. As a technician, the responsibility increases a little, the decision-making power is greater, but I will have the collaboration of my committee. Having experienced the competition twice brings a better rhythm to understanding how it works. It is a commission, predominantly, with less experience in international goalball, but with a lot of experience in goalball. These are people who have been working with the sport for at least a decade”, said the coach, who debuted in the role in 2004, at the Instituto dos Cegos in Campina Grande (PB), and even became a referee. the year in charge of the women’s national team, as a substitute for Dailton. The Brazilians also lifted the Cup of the Championship of the Americas, with the right to victory, in the semifinal, over the United States, tormentors in the Tokyo Paralympics. Auxiliary of Paraíba, Gabriel Goulart took over the women’s team after the continental tournament and will experience, in Portugal, the first World Cup of his career. “It’s been ten years in parasports preparing me for this moment. I try to control anxiety with meditation and prayer and pass on to the group that our concentration has to be on the details we work on, remembering every opportunity we had, this year, to face most of the teams that we will have ahead of us at the World Cup”, said the coach. Mineiro, 34 years old, who was also ahead of the Brazilians in the Ankara Cup (where they were champions) and in the Nations Cup. Unlike the men’s team, however, the women’s team that is in Matosinhos is quite renewed, with two remaining ( Jéssica Gomes and Moniza Lima) from the bronze medalist team in the 2018 edition. The other four athletes are new to the competition. Among them Kátia Aparecida, who was in Tokyo. Kátia and Jéssica, by the way, are the players that Gabriel knows best, since who manages them at the Special Physical Education Training Center Association (Cetefe), in Brasília, where he is also the coach. The average age of the women’s group is 24.6 years – that of the men, for stop, is 27.1 years. “We work to unite the group, to be together as much as possible in the training phases, not just on the court, to get to know each other better. This will help us when difficulties arise. We also count on the help of the multidisciplinary team. The fact that Kátia , Moniza and Jessica participating in the last Paralympics brought them baggage. Let’s try to suck as much as possible and bring it to the group [essa experiência]“, described Gabriel. selections divided into two groups of eight. The teams play each other in the key, in a single round, with the four best advancing to the quarterfinals. The dispute for the medals will take place on the 16th, a Friday. Brazil is in Group B, with the USA, Japan (bronze in Tokyo, surpassing the Brazilians), Israel, Australia, Egypt, Great Britain and Portugal. In the men’s category, the key to the green and yellow team is C, alongside the Algerians , Japanese, Turkish, Canadian, German, Belgian and Portuguese. Silver and bronze in the last Paralympics, respectively, China and Lithuania are in Group D. Before taking over the technical command of the women’s goalball team, Gabriel Goular was coach Jônatas’ assistant Castro, who led the team – Rena n Cacioli/CBDV/Rights Reserved “Brazil arrives as the main favorite [entre os homens], due to recent history. We know the responsibility. It will be the first important competition with this coaching staff, with a new game concept, conceived from observations and the evolution of international goalball and not because of disagreement with the previous concept. To confirm favoritism, we had to go through this innovation process. Brazil is the reference, so everyone is mirrored in our goalball and, mainly, trains to beat us”, projected Jônatas. “[A seleção feminina] It has a new cast, but with girls who love this modality, who have a lot of time on the court and are aware of the responsibility. The group is very willing to seek this final, get the vacancy [na Paralimpíada] and [conquistar] this unprecedented title”, added Gabriel. * Lincoln Chaves is a reporter for TV Brasil, Rádio Nacional and Agência Brasil

Agência Brasil