Brasilia: The Brazilian women’s national football team say they are confident looking ahead at the Copa America tournament in Chile in April. They hope to hoist the trophy for the seventh time.
Six months after five players, including No. 2 scorer Cristiane, quit to protest the firing of the squad’s first-ever female coach, the storm has passed, Efe news reported.
The Brazilian women are heavily favoured to prevail in the April 4-22 competition.
Brazil will be represented by a team that includes all-time leading scorer Marta, a multiple recipient of the FIFA award for world’s best woman footballer, and 39-year-old Formiga, putting on the Canarinha shirt for a seventh campaign.
The side won the Copa CFA in China under new coach Vadao and all of the players who walked out in September 2017, have since returned to the fold.
The Copa America has become a priority for the Brazilians because it is a gateway to the 2019 women’s World Cup and the 2020 Olympics.
Despite their dominance in Latin American, Brazil’s women have yet to win an Olympic gold — they took the silver medal in 2004 and 2008 — or lift the World Cup.(IANS)
