Manchester United youngster Andreas Pereira has earned a call-up to the Brazil national team for the upcoming international friendlies against the USA and El Salvador, as reported by Manchester Evening News.
Brazil coach Tite will be aiming to use the games to discover new combinations on the pitch and experiment, following Brazil’s frustrating 2018 World Cup. While Brazil did reach the quarter-finals of the showpiece, they are a team that sets a target of nothing less than winning every major tournament that they play in.
They were also the pre-tournament favorites to win the event in Russia, but did not look to be the top-dogs that they were during the late 90’s and early 2000’s whilst the likes of Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Cafu and Roberto Carlos were all spearheading the team.
After impressing during pre-season for United, Pereira was rewarded by being included in Jose Mourinho’s first-team plans for this season.
The 22-year-old made his Premier League bow during United’s 2-1 victory over Leicester City last week.
While Pereira has Brazilian heritage, he is eligible to play for Belgium, having been born in Belgium.
He has previously represented both countries at youth international level and now faces a tough decision as he will have to commit himself to one of the two power-houses.
Even though Pereira may feature for Brazil during their upcoming friendly internationals, this will not rule him out of playing for Belgium in the future.
FIFA rules only dictate that a player becomes illegible to represent another country once they have played for one country in a competitive fixture i.e in a major international tournament, or qualification game for the World Cup or a Continental Cup.
