Flamengo presented this Thursday (20) the team that will compete in the competitions of the 2022 season of Brazilian women’s football. In all, Rubro-Negro announced nine new faces. The 26-year-old attacking midfielder, Brazil’s starter at the Tokyo Olympics and who was in São Paulo, is the main reinforcement and was one of those present at the press conference held by the club and broadcast by FlaTV.
“I am very happy to be here and to be part of Flamengo. We are working hard and I think this is what women’s football needs, work, to achieve its goals. We are on the right path and with great professionals, who will make us reach the top”, said Duda.
Another novelty is striker Maria Alves, who defended Palmeiras and also played for Juventus (Italy), where she received the nickname “Flash 2.0” from the crowd, on account of her speed. The 28-year-old athlete, who has already defended the Brazilian team, revealed at the press conference that she is a fan of the Rio de Janeiro club.
“In addition to being my favorite club, I believe in the project being carried out and I’m sure it will be a great year. Flamengo is big, with history. Being here is fulfilling a dream,” said Maria.
In addition to her and Duda, Flamengo signed the full-backs Monalisa (ex-Ferroviária) and Gisseli (ex-Grêmio), midfielders Leidiane (ex-Ferroviária), Cris (ex-São Paulo) and Kika Brandino (ex-Grêmio) ) and strikers Gica (ex-São Paulo) and Anny Marabá (ex-Vasco). Rubro-Negro kept 18 athletes from the 2021 team, among them the experienced striker Darlene, 32, who also participated in the press conference.
“We have great signings, Flamengo invested well and the trend is only to improve. We will fight to be in all the finals. I’m sure it will work out. [a temporada] start soon”, commented Darlene.
And this trio, huh? There’s only a crack! ? #MeninasDaGávea #CRF
?: @mcortesdasilva8/ CRF pic.twitter.com/6ok2KZWP9S
— Flamengo (@Flamengo) January 20, 2022
Debut
Flamengo’s debut in the 2022 season will be on February 6, against Esmac-PA, for the Supercopa do Brasil de Futebol Feminino. The place and time of the match have not yet been defined, but the Cariocas will be the principals for Rio de Janeiro to be better positioned than Pará in the ranking of federations of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). In the event of a tie, the match will be decided on penalties. The winner takes Grêmio or Cruzeiro in the semifinals.
In 2022, Rubro-Negro will seek the second national title in women’s football history. The first came in 2016. Since then, the Rio de Janeiro team has reached the semifinals in 2018 and 2019, but has not even reached the quarterfinals in the last two editions. Last year, the last commitment was the Ladies Cup, a friendly tournament held in Santana do Parnaíba (SP). The Flamengo team debuted beating River Plate (Argentina) 2-0, but the defeats to Palmeiras (0-1) and Santos (1-4) cost them a place in the decision. The event marked the debut of Portuguese coach Luís Andrade, hired in December.
“We’ve been working for a few years. It may not be clear to the fans because the club’s choice was, first, the structural issue. We organized the department from the inside out. We hired qualified professionals, structured a medical and logistics department, did a market study to know where to invest and when to invest. [nos investimentos] happened with the growth of competitions, when we started to have a well-defined national calendar”, explained André Rocha, coordinator of women’s football at Flamengo, at the press conference.
Rocha said that last year reinforcements such as Darlene and Rayanne were hired and base athletes were used. “At the end of the year, thinking about the investment in the field, we brought Luís, who was a study, it was not by chance. We wanted something different for the moment the club was going through. Our expectation is to be among the biggest teams on the national scene”, added the manager.
