For the Olympic men's gold medal, Brazilian players always attach great importance to it.
Brazil has won the World Cup five times, while the Olympic men's gold medal, Brazil has only won 1 time. Romario, Bebeto, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Ronaldo, Ronaldo... Generation after generation of Brazilian stars have continued to pound on Olympic gold medals, but again and again. It was not until the Rio Olympics in 2016 that the Brazilian team with stars such as Neymar, Jesus, Maquinhos and Augusto came true to the olympic dream of gold medals in men's football.
At that time, in the final between Brazil and Germany, the two sides fought to a penalty shootout, and the last to appear was Neymar, who was under great pressure, and Neymar steadily scored the ball, locking the championship for Brazil and ending brazil's Olympic men's football game without a crown curse. After scoring the penalty, Neymar was already in tears, and Brazil had been waiting for more than half a century for this Olympic gold medal.
Now, defending champions Brazil have announced the 18-man roster for the Tokyo Olympics, once again attacking the Olympic gold medal.
This time, Brazil's players of the right age include Gabriel (Arsenal), Malcom (Zenit) and others, while the three overagers are goalkeeper Santos (Atlético Parana), 28-year-old centre-back Diego Carlos (Sevilla) and 38-year-old right-back Alves (Sao Paulo).
For the desire for Olympic gold medals, veteran Alves is stronger than others.
During his time in Europe, Alves, who played for Sevilla, Barcelona, Juve and Paris Saint-Germain, gathered La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 titles, including 3 Champions League trophies with the team during his time with Barca.
In the Brazilian national team, Alves won two Copa America titles and two Confederations Cups with the team, including in the 2019 Copa America, when the 36-year-old Alves was in quite good form, and was finally elected the best player of the tournament.
So far in his career, Alves has won 42 championship trophies.
In his national team career, Alves is undoubtedly most eager for a World Cup title and an Olympic gold medal.
So far, Alves has participated in two World Cups, and both times he has returned disappointed.
In 2010, Alves made his world cup debut with Brazil. At that time, brazil had the luxury of having two top right-backs at the same time: McCón and Alves, when McCón firmly occupied the position of the main right-back, in the first two rounds of group matches, Brazil coach Dunga was arranged for McCone to start, from the third group game, Dunga made adjustments, McCón, Alves started at the same time, McCone is still in the right-back position, Alves is active in front of McCone. McCon and Alves started three consecutive games at the same time, and finally lost 1-2 to the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.
In 2014, Alves was the starting right-back in Brazil's first four World Cup matches, and in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, Brazil coach Scolari replaced the starting line-up at right-back with McCone. In the semi-finals, Brazil lost 7-1 to Germany.
During the 2018 World Cup, Alves made 17 appearances for Brazil, all of which were starting appearances and firmly occupying the main position. Originally, Alves would launch another assault on the World Cup title in the summer of 2018, but injuries eventually blocked his progress.
In the French Cup final against Lesebier, after a scramble, Alves fell to the ground in pain. This time, he seriously injured his right knee and eventually missed Alves from the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
In the kingdom of football, excellent full-backs are endless. As the top right-back in football for more than a decade, Alves has made 118 appearances in Brazil, ranking third in the Brazilian national team's list of appearances, behind two legendary full-backs, Cavo and Robert Carlos. After two disappointments from the World Cup, Alves, now 38, took a shot at another goal: the Olympic gold medal.
But it is difficult to win the gold medal in the men's soccer competition at the Tokyo Olympics.
The groups of men's soccer teams at the Tokyo Olympics are as follows:
Group A: Japan, South Africa, Mexico, France
Group B: New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Honduras, Romania
Group C: Egypt, Spain, Argentina, Australia
Group D: Brazil, Germany, Côte d'Ivoire, Saudi Arabia
In the last four Olympic men's football matches, the champions have all won the Championship of the Americas: Argentina has won twice, and Mexico and Brazil have won one each.
This time, can Brazil successfully defend the title?