August 12 – Following in the footsteps of United States manager Emma Hayes, Brazilian player Rafaelle Souza (pictured) has called on FIFA to review the Olympic football tournament, citing exhaustion.
In the aftermath of Brazil’s 1-0 Olympic final defeat to the US, Rafaelle, Brazil’s captain and one of the their players but who was forced to the subs bench for the final, criticised the demands the tournament put on players after a long club season. Brazil, like the US, reached the final playing six matches in the space of 17 days.
She said: “We played six matches in six cities, always travelling and this was very draining, even more so when you just have 18 players. We had to sacrifice and I am still in pain from the France game. It is a message for FIFA – this tournament needs to be reimagined, maybe with more players, more time, or less travel.”
The Brazilians played 120 minutes of injury time across six matches in France with FIFA and its referees sticking to the mammoth stoppage times that were introduced at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Rafaelle’s words came after Hayes had already flagged the tournament structure as problematic in her news conference before the final, arguing that player welfare should always come first.
She explained: “I think long-term potentially they (should) look at that calendar and considering there are Olympic games in LA in a few years time, to maybe adapt that schedule or think about that and give more time. Player welfare should always come first.”
Hayes and her team went on to win the gold medal match after a moment of individual brilliance from striker Mallory Swanson in the 57th minute, condemning the Brazilians to silver for a third time in their history, having lost both the 2004 and 2008 Olympic finals to the Americans by a single goal.
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