COMMENTATOR IS SCARED BY FLAMENGO'S PERFORMANCE WITHOUT DE LA CRUZ AND SHOWS: "MEDIOCRE TEAM"

Doctor Luiz Antônio Vieira, responsible for Pedro's surgery, commented that the attacker's recovery has been very positive. The surgeon was responsible for reconstructing the anterior cruciate ligament in Pedro's knees — on the right in 2018 and on the left this year. Vieira believes that the player's return will be better than his first injury, which occurred six years ago.

In an interview with the 'GE' portal, the doctor, who also operated on Bruno Henrique, detailed the surgical procedure, highlighting Pedro's physical and psychological qualities and reassured Flamengo fans about the possibility of the striker being present at the Club World Cup, in June next year.

“He was lucky not to have a meniscus injury , so joint rehabilitation is faster. We're still in September, I mean, he'll be there for about eight months, because that's around the time he turns around, between the eighth and ninth month. So I believe he has a chance. He is very dedicated, super focused on rehabilitation, does everything you tell him to, has strong legs, good muscles... I think he has a chance. He will be around the time he would more or less return”, said the doctor.

Luiz Antônio Vieira commented on the way Pedro is coping mentally with the situation. After suffering the same injury in 2018 to one knee, the attacker now has the anterior cruciate ligament in his other knee torn. The doctor highlighted that Flamengo's Shirt 9 is very calm and sees this as a learning experience for his life.

“He has one good thing: he is quite religious. So he believes that it is part of his life learning, that he had to go through this. He accepted, in a way he resigned himself a little. He said: ‘Doctor, I’ve been through this, I’m going to have to go through it again, it was supposed to be like this, it’s part of my life, let’s face it’. He is super calm about it”, explained Vieira.

In addition, Vieira mentioned the time that Pedro will be able to spend with his twin daughters, who were born just over a month ago.

“He’s at a stage where he just had a baby, right? He has one-month-old twins, so I told him: “Everything in life has a good and a bad side. You will now be able to live with your one-month-old daughters because playing football two or three times a week would be impossible, right”? So let's put it this way, there will be this good part, in inverted commas, of his drama”, concluded the surgeon.

Léo Ortiz is one of the new additions to Dorival Júnior's pre-call for October's FIFA Date. As happened in September, the CBF will use the maximum period of ten days to announce the 23 players who will defend the Seleção against Chile and Peru. However, the preliminary list was already sent to the clubs last Friday. At Flamengo, in addition to Ortiz, there are Fabrício Bruno, Ayrton Lucas and Gerson.

Improvised as a midfielder, Léo Ortiz has been one of Flamengo's highlights in this second half of the year, earning the admiration of the fans. However, in the match against Peñarol, Ortiz was passed over by Tite and started on the bench.

Interestingly, it was Flamengo's current coach who gave Ortiz his first opportunities in the national team. In 2021, the defender was called up for the Copa América, in which Brazil finished as runner-up.

If Ortiz is a surprise, the other three red-and-black players are already household names. Fabrício Bruno and Gerson were in the September squad, and Ayrton Lucas was called up by Dorival Júnior in March.

FIFA regulations allow the 23 players to be defined up to ten days before the presentation, but the clubs that have pre-summoned athletes must be informed 15 days in advance. Therefore, the CBF already notified the clubs on Friday.

Dorival Júnior's official call-up will be announced on September 27th, at the CBF headquarters, in Rio de Janeiro. The players will perform on October 7th, in São Paulo, where they will train at CT Joaquim Grava, from Corinthians, until the 9th, when they will head to Santiago.

Brazil will face Chile away from home in the on October 10th and, on the 15th, they will face Peru at the Mané Garrincha Stadium, in Brasília. Currently, with ten points, the Seleção occupies fifth place in the Qualifiers.

Flamengo remains in the hiring market. After agreeing on Michael's return, the red-and-black team is now focusing its efforts on signing two full-backs, one right and one left, and a midfielder. For the midfield, the name of the moment in the corridors of Gávea is that of Argentine Carlos Alcaraz, which for former athlete Mancuso is the wrong move.

Mancuso, who played for Flamengo in the 90s, gave an interview to the channel 'Paparazzo Rubro-Negro'. The Argentine said that, despite Alcaraz being a great player, Flamengo needs a midfielder with different characteristics, treating as a priority a reserve for Arrascaeta, comparing the Southampton youngster to another Uruguayan in the Flamengo squad.

“If Flamengo has the wallet, pocket, money, go to the market and hire three or four bombs. You don't need to go to Europe and sign a player for 20 million, 25 million, you have to sign well. They were talking about Alcaraz, it's good, but it's box to box. Same characteristics as De La Cruz. We made the same mistake again.”

Box to Box is an expression in English for the player who goes from one large area to another, the one who attacks and defends with a similar quality. At Mengão, two players are the ones who most present these characteristics, De La Cruz himself and captain Gerson, who has been playing more advanced in the last matches with coach Tite.

Flamengo even agreed to negotiate with Southampton as forwarded for 18 million euros (R$ 108 million) and tried to convince Alcaraz to return to South America, but the English club asked that a young man like Victor Hugo or Iago be included or that the red-black team would increase the offer for 25 million (R$ 150 million) and the business crashed.