The Brazilian national team is ancient and great, but it is not a candidate to win the World Cup

Brazilian Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior said that his country is not a candidate to win the 2026 World Cup, which will be held from June 11 to July 19, before playing a friendly match against France tomorrow, Thursday.

Vinicius attended his first press conference with the Brazilian national team after more than two years, coinciding with his remarkable brilliance recently, as he scored 6 goals with Real Madrid in February, in addition to two consecutive braces against Manchester City and Atletico Madrid in March.

The Brazilian star, who scored 8 goals in 45 international matches for his country’s national team, said during a press conference on Wednesday in Boston, “I think we are not the most prominent candidates to win the World Cup because of our results in the qualifiers, but the Brazilian shirt and the wonderful capabilities of the national team’s players who play in the best leagues in the world will be strongly present.”

Brazil finished its qualifying campaign in fifth place, 10 points behind Argentina, the leaders.

The Real Madrid star added, in statements highlighted by ESPN, “All we lack is harmony,” and praised the performance of veteran Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti, who has been leading Brazil since May 2025.

When asked about facing the French trio of Kylian Mbappe, Aurelien Chouamini and Eduardo Camavinga, his teammates at Real Madrid, Vinicius replied, “There are no friendly matches, and we refuse to lose even in training. We are on the verge of the World Cup, and every positive result will be important to raise confidence levels.”

The Real Madrid star concluded his statements by saying, “Mbappe, Tchoamini, Camavinga, and the whole world confirm that Brazil is an ancient and great team, but we are not the favorites to win the title, and we do not want to be that. Rather, we must understand our game plan.”